9.41 miles, 1:16:31
Heat is not good. I’m not used to the heat anymore. The cozy confines of SF foggy mornings and late afternoons have turned me into a puff pastry. Put me in the sun and I expand and toast.
K. had an interview to start working a weekend day or two up in Sonoma and we decided I should go up there and run during her interview. I’ve always wanted to run up there because of the unbelievable air quality and scenery. Unfortunately, I squandered it by picking my route and attire poorly. It wasn’t even that hot (around 88 degrees) but the humidity was much higher than I expected. I forgot my hat and I haven’t picked up any GU yet. I did bring my water bottle but taking on water every mile sort of made me queasy. But worst of all my socks and sneakers were soaked after only a few miles.
I’ve read that washing your sneakers (Vonhof as quoted in Runner’s World) can be beneficial as it cleans out dirt that prevents ventilation. But I have also heard that washing your shoes does structural harm to them however, that seems to be related more to putting them in the drier which I do not do nor recommend. So perhaps I just need to wash my sneakers but, I’m also toying with the idea of picking up a lighter, better ventilated pair for speed work and the DC marathon. With my luck it will be hot and muggy in late October in DC just to make things more difficult than they are already.
My route didn’t help. I ended up on a main road (route 12) where the shoulder eventually came to an end and dumped me into some scrub brush. This would have been fine if not for the tantalizing dirt paths of the many vineyards just on the other side of the barbed wire. Because of the expanse of vineyards and farm land there are not many side roads in Sonoma so it took a while to get off the main road. I had envisioned running between vineyards, communing with nature. Instead I got to pick brambles out of my socks while ducking into the shade of a phone booth. Next time: a map.
