Praying for a Cloud

I managed to hammer out about 4.5 miles this morning. It would have been a 5 mile run if I hadn't stopped a couple of times to walk. At 7:30 am it looked beautiful outside. A cool overcast morning which led me to decide that an attempt at a run was in order. I dropped the kids off at school and by 8:15 am when I finally was out the door to run the clouds were breaking up. Ugh.

The run started out great. My calves felt good, no screaming at all. I wasn't woried about my pace and didn't feel any nagging urge to hurry myself up. At about 1.75 miles the heat was starting to get to me. Seriously, I should have refilled my half-empty water bottle. What was I thinking? I was running into the sun at this point and there was absolutely no breeze. At the 2.5 mile turn around point I got my second wind, a breeze had picked up and I was feeling good again. It didn't last long. At about the end of 3 miles I felt sick. The sun was to my back but it the heat was beating through my shirt and my back was burning. I also started to feel sick to my stomach and really wishing that I had not already finished my water. I walked for about half a mile more and had crazy thoughts running through my head. I prayed for just a cloud to block the cloud, any breeze at all. Mostly I just wished for water. I wondered how crazy I would look in my near heat-stroke madness walking up to someone's front door and asking for water. Even the water surrounding a sprinkler head looked appealing. My stomach, head and skin started to feel a little better and I figured I wasn't going to get home any faster walking so I started to jog.

I live amongst a golf course and remembered that there is a bathroom for the golf course right off the road. I figured, if it was unlocked, I could at least fill my water bottle from the sink. Even nasty water sounded great, refreshing, beautiful at this point. I hobbled over toward the bathroom and there was the most wonderful sight: a cooler full of water. The water was even cold. I guzzled some down and within a few minutes I felt like running. I finished my 5 mile journey. I am spent but I feel accomplished. I also feel wiser in knowing not to underestimate the amount of water I need.

For the past two hours the storms have been rolling through. Maybe my cloud prayer was answered, just a little later than I would have liked.