Real David H.

These past few summers have been, well, pretty bad when it comes to running.

It’s gone a little like this:

2016: Injured

2017: Injured

2018: I got my long run back to 7 miles in July, but was miserable after. Instead of ramping up my mileage, I pretty much got stuck in a rut and didn’t run anything longer than 3-4 miles until later in the year.

That leads me to what should happen this coming Saturday: A run longer than 7 miles.

I ran 7 miles this weekend and didn’t feel horrible in the heat and humidity. I simply slowed to a pace that was incredibly slow and focused on getting it done. I also didn’t feel bad the rest of the day as I got rehydrated.

Summer running feels new again to me – it used to just be a thing I complained about, but now I’m looking forward to the challenges it brings.

While I hit a lot of my “longest since” milestones this past winter, my “longest since” marks this summer feel like they’re more important. After all, the last time I ran 10 miles or more in the heat was the summer of 2012.

I’ve got plans to build my long runs back up gradually this summer to distances that I admittedly struggled with in the winter and early spring … and then go even farther.

My body feels much more ready this time around …