A nice, relaxing weekend. Not so much...

Tough, tough couple of days.

Saturday morning; 11 mile run, felt easy and smooth and springy while maintaining a crisp pace. Those long, chill runs are really helping out.

Quick shower, gather up Zoe, and off to the Region 13 Junior Olympics. Huge track meet for kids, and the top qualifiers go onto to Nationals.

Trouble was, I agreed to help officiate for all day Saturday. 1200 kids competing, And hot: 90 degrees. Not East Coast sweltering, since we don't have much humidity out here. But still hot.

After I had finished my early run, I saw 155 on the scale. Haven't seen that since college. Great, but also not so great. Some of that was water weight, so I headed to the track meet already dehydrated.

Water, please....

I ran the Turbo Javelin area; this is basically a lawn dart on steroids, and a nice soft rubber tip. Thrown like a regular jav, it's a great learning tool for kids.

Turbo Javelin

The runway is basically the same surface as the track. And it's like a radiator; early temperature readings on the surface went from 119F to 142F to 150F.

Doesn't look hot, but trust me...

I was chugging water like a bas-ackwards camel. I guess it helped, but there were many head rushes going on. And I was assigned to be there all day. On the field. No shade.

Pretty soon, I was praying for some of that Olympic Trials prodigious precipitation. No such luck. But nice shirts.

Next morning, up at 0400. Ugh. Scheduled for a long run today, and was tempted to skip it. But I had added a few pounds of water weight and figured I was ok. So I carried 2 bottles and refilled many times at water fountains.

After 5 miles, I was heading into a prolonged section with little shade, so I decided to buy some extra water at a convenience store; you know, the stores with the sign that says, "No shirt, no shoes, no service." I left my shirt at home.

If I can't refill, I'm cutting the run short: not going to be stupid today. Right then, the kid who pumps gas walks out of the store. I ask him to buy me a couple liters, and keep the change, dude. He hooked me up!

Two liters is four pounds. That gets heavy after awhile, but it's better than running dry. The rest of the run was uneventful if a little long: 16 miles the day after getting cooked like bacon.

Feeling ok now. That was one nice shower afterward.