Elemental Allies

It's just equator hot here. I'm not even kidding.

From the house to the car, sunglasses experienced instant onset fog, and the heat index yesterday reached 102. 102 because of humidity is friggin' equator hot.

Tomorrow's SEBA #3 should be pretty interesting with this wonderful humidity. It's actually supposed to storm again all day, which would be pretty cool as long as it stops for the bike leg. VM and I will take off from Jean Klock Park around 8:30, and by the time we get down the 1.2-mile stretch of beach to the swim start at Tiscornia Park, the actual swim leg will likely start around 9:00. Tomorrow is really the last major workout before Steelhead, the big 20-mile run before the marathon. Everything after tomorrow is a wind-down, so I really need to make it count.

Man, I just can't believe that this race is almost here. It's very much going to be a showdown with the sun. I thought for sure that the water would be my antagonist for this race, but it hasn't turned out that way at all. Even the idea of the biggest, nastiest chop doesn't send me scurrying. If you'd have asked me a few months ago, though, I'd have probably turned white at the idea.

No, it's fefinitely about the heat this time, in fact, it's about the humidity, so maybe the water and the sun just teamed up on me. Wow, now that really came out of the blue. I guess that I started on the right track by thinking that the water would be the major hurdle. I just hadn't realized that I had all of this trauma from the marathon, that the extra hour it took me to finish because of that ridiculous humidity stuck to me as much as it did. Seems that I'm learning a lot of things lately.

Yep, that has to be it, I even catch myself thinking about the Chicago Marathon as this redeeming race and I get all excited about it. But, actually, by then it won't really be a fair fight as there will be no humidity to contend with, at least not to the degree that would qualify a fair fight. So, I suppose the grudge match has to be now. Heh, so the war has been with the heat all along...well, at least now I know my enemy.

Two weeks until the first cannon.