Heat: friend or foe?

Let me preface this post by saying I will never complain about it being hot. I love the heat. I hate the cold and I save my litany of complaints for when the mercury dips below 70.

That said, as much as I LOVE the heat with all my heart and soul, even this 111 "heat index" stuff, apparently, my overweight* 40-year old body does NOT.
*see below for interesting link*

Part of the allure of the heat is the sweat. I love to feel like I am really working out when I work out. I love feeling warmed up 30 seconds after I start. I love that tingly feeling the sun gives my skin. I love all of it. So today, in lieu of my typical Monday morning spin class I decided to do 4-5 miles on the trail by my gym. Now I am not a runner. I want to be, alas but I am not. I try. I WANT to! But I usually end up fast walking about 1/2 of my miles. Anyhow, the 1st 2 miles were great, in a groove, running more than walking, sweat dripping, good stuff. About 1/2 way through mile 3 I suddenly realized it was more and more difficult to lift my legs, and I was forgetting parts I had just run by. I got to the point in my 2 mile loop to start mile 4 and thought I might not make it. I had visions of my body laying on the side of the trail (of course the end part is mostly wooded and removed from the road) being approached by the turkey vultures I see almost daily on this same road. But then I remembered- I had my 3 kids at the gym in the childwatch. I was safe. Because I KNEW they would not let me go past that 2 hour limit without at least calling my cell phone. So I had 40 min. tops before someone would realize I was still gone. With this knowledge I pressed on. One foot in front of the other. Wiping sweat with my dripping wet shirt. As the last 1/2 mile faded, on my ipod came "The Final Countdown" by Europe, I kid you not. And I ran.

Then, as I always joke, but also always mean, the hard part of my day began- I picked up the kids and left.



*Here is some great news for those like me who are fat and fit (and not so good news for those lucky "skinny though I don't ever exercise" types). I am actually not sure what the whole the article said, I just know the guy who practically INVENTED aerobics, physician Kenneth Cooper said:

Having done more than 250,000 treadmill stress tests on more than 100,000 people in the past 30 years, I feel that I can safely say that you are better off being fat and fit than skinny and unfit.

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