I have been offline for a bit because I’m on vacation visiting my mom.  My training has been gong well, so I will catch up on my weekly updates when I get home.  Until then, I thought I might share some reflections of lessons learned about running in Florida.

Ok well first….just in case you don’t know about Florida….in July…..there are kinda only two weather options.  1) Hot, and 2) Hotter than Hell!  Alright, so maybe there are a few variations, like Hot And Rainy or Hotter Than Hell and Pouring, but any way you slice it…..a Jersey Girl can melt into her sneakers on the sidewalk down here.  That’s just the Truth, gotta deal with it.

Down here, I set the clock for just before 6am so I could get my run in while it was only mid 80s (LoL) as opposed to the 95 degrees if I waited an hour or two.  I know that seems ridiculously early, lmao this IS vacation after all……..but i have all day to relax and recover if I want to.  But I typically won’t.  Might as well get the day started early.

My marathon training will have me running through the fall and winter months, kinda like my Half training did.  People ask me…..Diane, how are you going to get those miles in during those cold winter months?  As I run down here in Florida…..with temps as close to Hell on Earth as I want to get…….I contemplate the question….. Is it harder to run in the heat or in the cold??  Which is Worse?  Fire or Ice?  Well, after a week in Florida,  I think the simple answer is:  whichever once you are not used to!

Yeah.  It brings me back to a story that Marathon Brian told me once, about his double digit run in the gorgeous humidity of NJ at a nice summer temp of 105 degrees F.  He told me the trick to doing anything  punishingly hard…is to teach yourself not to mind.   Whew, well as this Jersey girl runs her couple mile runs in Florida, I’ve come to the realization that these Floridians have taught themselves not to mind this weather.  Neat trick.

So, I have more “not minding” to learn…and I will….a little at a time.  But until then, I’m going to keep hoping and praying and wishing that Florida has some freakish cold spell next Jan 13, 2013…….Ice Ice Baby!

Ciao for now…….Diane