Gearin' Up and Heatin' Up

With some advice from Amber and others I decided that I had better get some new shoes and start running in them so I could be comfortable in them. I got a new pair today. They feel good, but when I run tomorrow, that will be the true test. I really liked my old ones as they were the first pair of "real" running shoes I have had. Sure, I have tennis shoes, but these were to be used only for running. (P.S. Who really plays tennis in "tennis shoes"? Why don't they call them "walking around shoes" or "going to the grocery store shoes"?) I also made some other purchases today, some socks that breathe and don't absorb a lot of moisture which I have been told leads to blisters. And, I got a new pair of shorts and some dry-fit shirts. I noticed I almost have all of the colors of Nike shorts they offer-you gotta go with what you like. Even if I can't run the part, I gotta look like it!
I guess I should mention the bad days I have too on this blog and yesterday was one of them. Grant and I had slept in yesterday and I just got off to a late start. I decided to run at 3:00, yes that is right folks, 3:00 p.m. in Lubbock, Texas or basically, the desert. It was a hot 97 degrees when I began. Before I left I told Grant I probably wouldn't be long since it was the first time I had ran here since we got back from Indiana. I was feeling really great as I was running so I ran a bit of a different route and a longer one than I had planned. But I felt good and the heat wasn't really bothering me. I guess I did notice that there weren't a whole lot of trees on the roads I was on, but it didn't bother me...then. When I turned around to come back I ran and then decided to walk for a block. Bad idea. All of the sudden I felt the heat, I felt the need to get a drink and I felt mad that I was farther from home than I had planned. I looked at my watch and also realized that I had been gone longer than what Grant probably thought. I hoped that he wouldn't be worried. I just wanted to go home to be in my air conditioning, fill my bathtub with ice water and drink it all from a straw. But if felt like I couldn't get there fast enough. I didn't want to run anymore but needed to to get there faster. I stopped for a drink at a park then kept on trucking. As I continued on my arms started to feel numb and my fingers swelled. As I walked in front of our house, I heard a honk and it was Grant who had been looking for me. Poor thing! He was so worried. But I was thankful that someone would try to look for me because there were several times I thought I was going just fall down in someones yard and lay there till that darn sun went down or try to drink out of a puddle in the road. I was told to get in a cold shower, drink lots of water and then put some ice packs on my body. I know that a normal person would have not ran outside at all yesterday, but I will blame my new runner mentality. Lesson learned though. I will never again try that little experiment, and neither should you!