Running Indoors?

In 2022, I wrote about marking the milestone achievement of having run for 30 years.  And then last year, I wrote about all the health issues that had recently befallen me that almost ended my running.  Thankfully I have overcome those health issues, and I am able to continue to run.  But this summer, my running was impacted by something other than my health.

One of my main selling points for wanting our family to move to our current home was that the neighborhood had a wooded, 2-mile paved trail around the 35-acre lake in our subdivision.  A runner could not ask for a much more pleasant place to run a mere half mile from our house.  And over the more than 25 years we have lived here, I have enjoyed running along this outdoor path more times than I can even count.

In the winter, I typically do not run around the lake unless the outside temperature is above 45°F.  Unlike my wife who loved running in cold weather, I have never been a cold weather runner.  To accommodate my aversion to cold weather, I need a warm gym where I could run indoors.

Over the years we have lived here, we have belonged to three different gyms.  The smallest of these only had treadmills which I hate to use but still would on those cold days to keep myself in good running form over the winter.  Fortunately, the other two gyms each have a 1/10 mile running track which is a far cry from an outdoor run, but it beats a run on a treadmill hands-down.

I have said many times before, that I would rather run in 100-degree weather than 30-degree weather any day.  As I have gotten older, it seems that I cannot tolerate the heat as much as when I was younger and I have ratcheted down that upper temperature number in my statement.  First, I dropped it down to 80-degree weather but this year I had to drop it down even further.

June 20^th this year marked the official beginning of summer as that was the date of the summer solstice.  After a fairly pleasant but quite wet spring, the first day of summer here in Memphis recorded near record high temperatures.  The high 90s persisted for many days accompanied with more than 90% humidity.

I typically get out the door to run before seven in the morning to take advantage of the coolest part of the day.  On that first day of summer, I checked the weather, and the outside temperature seemed a very nice 72 or 73.  But what I failed to notice was the 90% humidity which obviously made it feel much hotter.  I struggled to run the half mile to the lake and then the approximately 2-mile loop around the lake.  When I got home, I thought wow I can’t even run in 70-degree weather anymore.

Since the hot weather in Memphis stayed almost the entire summer with highs in the 90s, I had to resort to going to the gym to run.

After so many years of pleasant runs around the lake in the summer, I feared those days were gone forever.  Was I losing one of my main selling points of this neighborhood due to the heat?  Had climate change, that controversial topic, spoiled my enjoyment?

With fall approaching and the Northern Hemisphere Autumn Equinox arriving on September 22^nd, hopefully I will be able to again run around the lake.

But at least there was one silver lining to my running at the gym all summer.

Last year I wrote that I had put the top down on my Mazda Miata in May and had left it down the entire summer.  With it being able to reside inside our 2-car garage, I even left the top down over the winter, occasionally driving it (sometimes with the heater on) just to keep the battery charged.  And with the arrival of spring, I was even able to my give my in-town granddaughter her first ride of the year in my convertible sports car.

So, the silver lining I mentioned was that each morning I went to the gym, I drove my Miata.  I typically run twice a week and also twice a week, I do weight resistance training followed by a mile walk.  Thus, four mornings (unless it was raining), I got to drive my Miata with the top down.

And after a vigorous run, it was really nice to cool down with the wind blowing on me.

With cooler weather this fall, I won’t have to run at the gym but will be able to again run around our lake.  Hopefully, we will have nice weather this fall.  And then next summer, I will likely return to driving my Miata to the gym to run in an air-conditioned environment—obviously with the top down.