August

For those who know how much I love the summer, it is probably a surprise that I am not a fan of August.  It is not the heat or the humidity.  I love hot!  It means that I have 1 month left before my summer days end.  It really bums me out.  Now for the running part of my life, I will be happy that the heat ends.  Running in 50 degree weather is much preferable to the 76 degrees and 84% humidity I did this am, but those 50 and 60 degree run days are few and far between.  It seems to go from low 70's to 40's in a week or two around here.  I am trying to focus on the days that are left to enjoy this summer, but honestly, the coming of the fall is bearing down on me quite a bit.  As a gardener, I can already see some of the changes in the plants.  I took out of the pumpkin plants.  Disease made it devoid of female fruit.  My baby bear pumpkin plant has two pumpkins right now.  They are both turning orange which is good because I am ready to pull that plant out.  It, too, is no longer producing female flowers.  At least I got two out of it.  Need two with two kids....
Part of my heartache is that this summer has been wonderful in so many ways.  Our beach trips were good.  I can even find some goodness in the June one which was very stressful courtesy of my daughter.  I can see the excitement of learning to swim in the actions of both of my children.  They will miss swimming in the pool once it closes.  I will miss going to Water Country or Busch Gardens every weekend.  We have done so much this summer as a family.  I think our kids will really remember this summer.  My foray into longer distances this summer have certainly added to my general positive feelings about how this summer has gone.  My BFF and I have starting running longer distances on Fridays which has been great too.  There has been so much fun and enjoyment and just wonderful happiness.  I painted out bedroom lemon yellow.  It is a happy color.  It is something I have wanted to do for years, and now it is done....well, almost, but there is like 10% left maybe at this point.  I will always look back on this summer with great fondness and lots of wonderful memories of us enjoying time with the kids and each other and really taking care of ourselves too.  I hope my hubby does too. 
I think the coming of August just reminds me that time is winding down, and I hate that. I, on a daily basis, feel like I am constantly fighting the clock.  (My hubby says that he prefers "beach Tif."  Yeah, beach Tif is not fighting the clock all day every day....)  Once again, I am fighting the clock, but on a different level.  With August, I am fighting losing my warm, summer days that I love.  Is it sad that on August 5th, I am already praying and hoping for a short, mild winter?  We had a mild winter last year.  What are my chances of getting two in a row?  Do I need to probably purchase cold weather running gear and spikes for my running shoes to run in the snow?  Do not want to think about that these days at all, but they are there in the back of my mind. 
The half marathon is 3 weeks from yesterday.  Today was my last longer run.  It did 13.25.  The heat killed me today.  Next week, I have 10 miles and then the following week 8 so it is all downhill from here.  Once the half is over, I plan to do just 10 on my long run days.  I am going to add a 5k on Tuesdays instead of the elliptical to get that other 3 miles back.  That will keep me close to 25 miles a week.  These longer distances have done wonderful things for my body.  I look forward to longer distances again next year once spring hits.  My goal next year is to actually hit 15 miles since 14.25 is the longest I have gone.  The irony is that this year is the first year in 4 years I have removed the half marathon from my New Year's Resolution list, and this is the year that I do it.  I did have on there to hit 10 miles all at once.  Done that more than a few times, and will do that each week until it gets really cold out there.  I added a trail run of 8 miles that I have always looked at every year to my fall races.  My BFF and I are doing it together.  The hubby has started running again.  I think he should do the Turkey Trot here. I plan to encourage him to sign up. We will see.  I am definitely going to talk him into doing the Sweethearts 8k in February.  I just think it would be fun for us to do that together.
Today I just feel thankful for the ability to run!  It is pretty amazing,  I think!