It's still summer in Florida!!!

Today I decided to meet my daughter after school (she bikes to school) by running there. The school is only a mile away, and I wanted to run more than 2 miles, so I left the house a little early and got in about 4 miles, ending at the school in time to pick her up.

Now 2 pm is about the hottest time of the day. The temperature is 89 degrees, however with the humidity it feels like 94. Combine that with the over confidence I developed this week as I ran a 7.2 mile run on Wed after having that great run on Tuesday, and, well, I got this crazy idea that I could run in the heat of the day. Perhaps my flawed thinking was compounded by reading Dean Karnezes book "Ultramarathon Man" yesterday. Hey, he can run over 100 miles through the desert in 130 degree heat. What's 5 miles in 94 degrees?

I conveniently forgot that I run at 6 am because I don't like to run in the heat.

But I was feeling good, and strong and somewhat invincible, and set out at 2 pm to get my 5 miles in with a brief stop to meet my daughter on her bike.

This is actually a good story - the first mile felt pretty good, as did the second. As I turned around to head back toward the school I worried that I might not get there in time so I bumped up my pace from 165 bpm to 170 bpm. You see, I was trying to go easy since it was hot (see I didn't completely lose my mind). I even brought water along with me.

I got a bit winded, but I maintained the 10 min run/1 min walk pace and got to the school in plenty of time. I even got to chat with one of the moms I knew and talked about running.

Once my daughter came out, I ran the entire distance home at the 170 bpm pace. It was strenuous, but the tiredness that I felt is the kind that you feel good about after you finish the workout.

And I logged my best 5 mile time, although I may not have measured it right with my wanderings through the school yard. It is still one of the best paces I have maintained - just over 11 min/mile.

In Central Florida, we really don't get to enjoy the cooling of the fall season until late October or early November. September - well it is still summer here!