Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke
Nashville’s famous humidity has returned. It arrived with all the subtlety of an uninvited guest who not only stays for dinner but also adjusts your thermostat. Let’s tell you that running in Nashville humidity is hard.
This year, the rainy season seemed to arrive later than usual, which means we are now enjoying the unique experience of combining heavy humidity with even higher summer temperatures. It is an impressive achievement by the weather, if not a particularly enjoyable one.
Running in these conditions is… memorable.
Every breath feels as though I am inhaling warm steam from an oven. The air is so thick that it almost seems to have texture. Instead of cutting through the atmosphere, it feels as though I am negotiating with it.
By the time I had run a short distance, my shirt was completely soaked.
At one point I honestly wondered whether I was sweating that much or whether the humidity had simply decided to wear my clothes for me.
Running through a Nashville summer can sometimes feel remarkably similar to jogging inside a sauna, except the scenery is better.
Not surprisingly, I finished more than a minute behind my target pace.
That was disappointing.
I have spent a long time gradually improving my running speed, and I always hope to inch a little closer to my next goal. Lately, however, the weather has been making that progress considerably more difficult.
On mornings like this, I remind myself of something that is easy to forget.
The most important part is showing up.
Speed matters.
Improvement matters.
But neither of those things happens without consistency.
When I think back a few years, I realize just how much progress I have already made. I have improved my pace by more than a minute per kilometer. That is not the kind of improvement that happens overnight. It is built one ordinary run at a time, including the frustrating ones.
Sometimes training is about setting a personal best.
Other times, it is simply refusing to let miserable weather decide whether you will run at all.
Today’s run belonged firmly in the second category.
There was one final piece of good news.
The 10-kilometer run did not take off much weight this time. I lost only a fraction of a pound compared to yesterday, which means my carefully negotiated relationship with the bathroom scale remains intact.
Even better…
Cake is still on the menu after our weekly grocery trip.
Sometimes the greatest reward for surviving a humid summer run is not a faster pace.
Sometimes it’s dessert.