Well that is much better!

It is truly amazing what a little cloud coverage and 15 degrees less heat can do for a person. Today I ran my second half-marathon distance in as many weeks. But today I feel human after completing it.

Last Saturday was hot, humid and sunny from the start of the run. By the time I finished the 13.2 mile route it had already reached 87 degrees. To be fair, about 8 miles into the run I had decided it was hot and I would wimp out and just do the 10 mile loop. But then at my last water stop a fella stopped by to thank us all for what we were doing. Turns out he used to coach for Team in Training and was one of the first recipients of some drug for his type of cancer. (Sorry, the names are to confusing to recall the specific type or drug) ... Turns out he is now cancer free and he credits that to the research made possible by our fund raising. Which is all really nice and heartwarming and all... but all I could think was "Damn! Now I can't really complain about the heat can I? Guess I need to do the full run"

I walked more than ever in the final 2 miles, but I did finish...with a horrible time of more than 3 1/2 hours. I hurt and was pretty depressed because that pace would have me running closer to 8 hours for the full race and I wanted to try and beat 6 hours.

Today however, the skies were cloudy and the temperature was much cooler. It was still humid, but I think it's the heat and the sun that hurts me most. Anyway, I ran the exact same route. I was able to hit the happy "oblivious time" where my body is fooled into thinking that this running thing aint so bad on a few separate occasions and I finished in just over 3 hours! Still puts me behind the 6 hour mark, but I still have a couple months to cut it back some more.

Lets all keep our fingers crossed that there are no freak heat or sunny waves passing through Dublin on October 31st.

Ohhh yeah... fund raising is now almost halfway there. Still need to do more, but a few surprise checks of $250 a piece helped boost the current total to over $2,000

Mixed reviews on the choice of pictures for the site, but sadly that is what I look like when I run... icky!

www.active.com/donate/tntma/kathysrun