The weather has finally cooled down in New York and I'm missing out. I had to skip my run for an early morning dentist appointment because apparently I'm a teeth grinder and have been busy grating my molars down to nothing every night while I sleep. Who knew? I wouldn't have said I was feeling particularly anxious or stressed, but my dentist thinks otherwise. Anyway, I've now been fitted for a night guard so I can grind away on rubbery plastic instead of delicate tooth enamel.
It's a pity that I'm missing this one day of moderate temperatures though, since I think it's supposed to warm right back up tomorrow. Yesterday morning was brutal, even though it really wasn't even that hot. Thank goodness I had Alison to run with, since without the distraction of our conversation, I'm sure I wouldn't have managed to struggle through more than a short four-mile loop before calling it a day. There just wasn't any oxygen, it felt like. The humidity really created the illusion that we were plowing through some dense otherworldly plasma, much thicker than our familiar earthly air. As it was, I logged an impressive nine miles and was pleased with the effort. It's just so difficult to stagger home afterwards, overheated and exhausted, and then immediately rush through my morning routines in order to get to work on time. Sometimes it feels like trying to fuel two separate lives with the time and energy that are really only sufficient for one.
This weekend's team points 5K will again test my body's ability to acclimate as the race doesn't start until the inhumane hour of 10AM. We're also going to be having an informal intramural competition between the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox fans on our team, making our exertions even more challenging as we'll be covering our heat-dissipating scalps with the hats of our favorite teams. I'm planning on doing a little experimenting tonight with some sort of homemade ice-yarmulke that I can jury-rig to the inside of the cap with duct tape. Which begs the question...is there such a thing as a store-bought ice-yarmulke? |  |
