Thursday, June 25, 2009

Hot and Humid run

It was a hot day today with a humidex of 37 degrees at noon in Ottawa. Some of my colleagues were going out for a run as well so it made me feel extra guilty about skipping my swim yesterday so I decided to go running in the oven.

I settled on a route alongside the canal which is very scenic. My goal was somewhere between 5 and 10km since I wanted to be well in under an hour. My colleagues were going on an easier run so I went out on my own and decided to improvise and possibly turn around Bank street for what was in my head about 6km. Turns out it was quite further than expected with a total of 8.75km without counting the distance between the building and the path. The new work location is not directly on the running paths so it takes about 4-5 minutes to go through the ~500m required before getting to the start point of this run.
I don't have all my running gear yet in my new office so I thought little of going out without a water bottle, especially since there are water fountains across the route. However, by the time I reached the first water fountain, I was parched. I drank way more than should be required because I didn't know how close the next one would be. Turns out that's the only functional fountain I found. The other one I spotted was still all wrapped up for the winter!! Needless to say I was very thirsty when all was finally said and done.

I think I did pretty well considering the weather. Tomorrow I will try to brave the elements and ride to work if the rain doesn't look too crazy since I've been itching to try the parkway route and see how fast that can be.

4 comments:

  1. Great job getting out there. It must have been roasting hot at noon. I find I need water for even the shortest runs in this weather.

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  2. Surprising to hear how hot it is up there!! I never run w/o water in FL or HI. There's a high risk of dehydration and heatstroke pretty much year-around and working water fountains are never guaranteed. Glad you made it OK!

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  4. I am totally not a hot weather person. I always carry a bottle with me but on longer runs need the water fountain to refill it. I was thinking on my 20 miler this Friday, "What would I do if the water fountains were broken?" I think the answer is "bake on the sidewalk." Good job on getting out there!

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