Kid Amnesiac

We’re bumping into them all over the place.

Endurance Limits:

Today’s training run was 6 miles (should have been 5, someone misread the schedule) in 90-something degree heat with a dew point of 74 and a heat index of 109. The only way I could imagine it being more humid would have been to have it rain, a condition that would have been a significant improvement! To my surprise, I made it the whole way with no stomach issues or walking breaks, both of which have cropped up in similar miserably hot runs. The difference? I dropped my pace back to 10:30 minutes. I’m hoping that once it cools down I can work on my pace again, but for now slow and steady beats slightly less slow and sick any day.

Stomach Limits:

I also ate nothing after 2:00 p.m. and not much all day. Breakfast was my usual yogurt with granola, but lunch found me at a zoo cafe with no vegetarian options. I settled for a hot pretzel, and felt no queasiness for the first time in ages when I ran tonight. So until it cools down, I’m holding off on eating within 4 hours of running. I need the calm tummy more than the energy.

Tolerance Limits:

It’s unfortunate timing that I typically arrive home from my weekday runs just as Simon is getting ready to go to bed. Our routine is that Matt helps him brush his teeth while I get into bed and wait for him. Actually, I’m waiting for “Baby Kitten” at this point, an imaginary creature who has grown from a squeaking animal of 1 nanometer to a meowing one of about 3 inches. But that is perhaps a topic best elaborated on in a future post. Anyway…. Mama Cat waits for Baby Kitten, Baby Kitten crawls into bed, we snuggle for two songs, and I get kicked out when the third begins. On running nights I have time for the sweat to mostly dry before Mama Cat is on duty, but no more than that. So when I crawled into bed with Simon, I had to laugh when he made his highly unusual request:

“I think Baby Kitten wants Daddy Cat tonight. Mama Cat is too stinky.”

And I was. No hard feelings, Baby Kitten.