Else what's a heaven for?

[Poll #1080373]

This post is out of order and will be put in its proper place in a few days.

On the one hand, of all the things I could do on a birthday that ends with 0, running - especially in 85 degree weather with high humidity - wouldn't be my first choice. On the other hand, the setting was so pretty, with herons and butterflies and water, I was delighted. And of course, it helped that the route was new.

Simba dropped me off behind the boathouse and off I went. I'd checked Google Maps and the park website beforehand, so I thought there was a 1.75mi loop, but on my first lap 'round, I came to the park info office far too soon. The nice gentlemen there didn't have a map or any real specifics, but they mentioned if I went *mumble*mumble*softball fields, I'd come to the underpass and the other side of the park. Oh, and they estimated it was about 5mi. *gulp* At least it was pretty? and there were lots of water fountains?

The humidity didn't bother me all that much - I had a slew of salty Clif Shot Blokz - but even though I put on sunscreen before going out, by the second loop around, I was looking for any scrap of shade and dreaded heading into the sun. I knew my face was getting pink and my arms were in terrible condition, but it wasn't until I got out of the shower that Nala pointed out that my calves were burned. I never put sunscreen on my legs, 'cuz who gets sun down there? Runners in Florida, apparently. I had visible sock lines for 2 weeks.

I listened to Cochrane, as requested by the lj-verse, for the first two laps, but even though he was a fascinating fellow, I got bored and switched to RopeCasts for the second half. By the fourth lap, I was taking walkies as long as my runs.

It was supposed to be a 20mi run, but really, I have no idea how far I ran. The articles I've read say that running more than 4hours, no matter what your speed, is counterproductive though, so when I finished the fourth lap at 4:12, that was that. Now that I've run the course, Google Earth and MapMyRun.com tell me it was about 4.5mi, so I fell short. I figure 4+hours under adverse conditions better be enough though - we'll see on Sunday. In the meantime, it was time to go to Disney World!