July comes to an end. I feel like I had the opportunity to be fully in the glory that is summer this past month, and for that I am very grateful. Of course there was my beloved lakeside weekend, but also a 5K, lots of time (sweating) on my front porch, plenty of sun soaked runs, and the general happiness that comes with long, bright days. I’m am appreciating them more and more as the sun seems to be greeting me a little later each morning on my runs.
My training this past week hit 52 miles. Here’s how it broke down: easy 5 miles, easy 8 miles, 10.5 mixed pace tempo, easy 85 minute run, easy 6 miles, 14 mile long run. Okay, okay. If you want to get technical about it that’s 51.5 miles. My easy miles were a little more sluggish than previous weeks, but it was also probably the hottest and most humid week of the year to date, so I didn’t really worry too much about it since I recovered fully and wasn’t especially tired otherwise. As it turns out, though, super wet running shorts are ripe for chafing. I may or may not have squealed in pain stepping into the shower yesterday morning after my long run.
While August is another favorite month of mine, I’m starting to feel the nostalgic twinges that come with summer’s close. I want to soak up as much time doing all the things that the warm weather permits, like all that sweating on my front porch, late evening walks under the pink glow of the sky, walking by the pool to smell the chlorine and wax poetic about all those summers I spent perfecting back flips and racing my brother for various objects we tossed into the deep end. Remember those hoops that you could sink to swim through? Or the smaller ones you could dive for, that you’d scoop up with your arm for speed? I’d spend all day at the pool and come home, exhausted, at 4 to crash in front of the TV with snacks and Nickelodeon. While I might be hard pressed to find Block Party Summer streaming anywhere, I have loosely vowed to take a few days off work before the end of the month to relive some semblance of this preteen idyllic life…except, you know, instead of snacks it’ll probably be margaritas.
I won’t deny that a large reason I love August, and probably also the reason I’m getting nostalgic about pool parties, is that I am an August baby. I’ve always felt lucky to have a summer birthday, and can’t even fathom celebrating it at any other point in the year. I’m not sure exactly what this year’s festivities will entail, but I’m sure it will be as beachy as a girl can get in Southern Indiana. Stay tuned.
Happy August,
Sarah
