Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Sweaty Beast

Yep – come summertime, that is me. I am a sweaty beast. To the max. And for the most part, I’m A-ok with that. I’ve never been one to shy away from a little sweat. Through running, Niger, and more recently Bikram Yoga, I have become accustomed to being completely drenched -  it’s not gross. Sweat is a natural by-product of work. And I like to work.

However, since moving to DC (and Niger), I’ve completely revised my evaluation of how much sweat is humanly possible. I mean, there’s sweaty, and there’s sweaty. And a run when the dew point is 70 degrees falls into the latter category. 

A moderate run leaves me wet, and a long run results in me just-got-out-of-the-pool soaked.

You know it’s humid out when you have to hang your clothes to dry before you wash them. And when you pull out your hair tie and water (aka sweat) splashes onto the bathroom floor (is that just me? Too much information? Welp. We're all friends here.)

So humidity…nope…not my fave. I’d never really experienced it until a couple years ago. Sometimes Petaluma gets hot, but never humid – always dry heat. And Colorado is dry heat as well. So DC has been new and *interesting* weather-wise…I’m surviving, but only barely. Luckily the humidity broke last night and my apartment stopped feeling like a sauna. Win! (I appreciate the small victories.)

Unfortunately, humidity is not an excuse to stop running. (It’s a reason to blame for how extraordinarily crappy I feel on my runs, but no excuses, play like a champion.) So I will be out there, every other day, doing my running thing and just praying for fall to bring me some cooler weather.

If you’re in the same sweat-drenched boat, frustrated with bad workouts and tired of feeling like a soggy lump of wanna-be-running, check out my Examiner post for Tips for Running in DC Humidity. (You see what I did there? Cross-blogging. Yep. Thanks for reading!)

Yes. Yes I do.