How To Stay Cool During The Summer Run

So. Just one week after my sweltering Saturday run where I had to stop and walk every 5-10 minutes, the morning came and went with me asleep and I missed my opportunity to beat the heat of an afternoon run.

I set out in a tank top and shorts at noon fearing a repeat of last week's heat exhaustion and tried running this Saturday.

Except surprisingly, my fears came to no end. The only time I stopped running was to remove a leaf that caught onto my sock and was bugging the back of my ankle. The rest of the run was hot but with an occasional wind gust that I think made all the difference.

But that might not always work. So when I got home, I found my first issue of Runner's World sitting on the coffee table - which is a really really good thing to come home to after a run.

I found some suggestions to keep hot runs less excruciating:

1) Put ice cubes on a sponge under a baseball or other kind of hat to wear before going running. The ice will trickle down and cool you off

2) Similar idea but different execution: Soak a baseball cap in water and put it in the freezer the night before going running to wear.

3) This is just plain obvious: stay well hydrated

4) My personal favorite: Find sprinklers during your run and DON'T miss them :)

Let me know if any of them work for you!

Running/collapsing in the heat

Everyone always looks forward to summer for their best runs. No snow, no cold weather and no potential pneumonia.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like slipping on snow when I'm supposed to be running on pavement any more than the next person. But I can wrap up in spandex layers to stay warm. There's only so far I can strip down in the heat before I start catching some stares...

Today barely hit 90 degrees, but in a tank top and shorts, I still could barely finish my 6-mile run. As it is, I took a slight short cut to skip one of the hills up A Street and 1st Avenue. I walked at least a third of the run because the heat was just too much to handle.

To be fair, it was partly my fault. Smart people go running in the morning or evening when the heat is less severe. But not me. My royal genius self decided that 1pm (hottest part of the afternoon) would be a great time to run and it would help increase my tan. Neither of those were great ideas.

There was a point where I nearly skipped the Bonneville Blvd loop part of my run and turned back. A bicyclist witnessed my near breakdown as I turned around twice during my indecision. I battled with the idea of just running 4 miles and calling it good.

In the end, I ran the rest of the loop and finished 6 miles, only skipping one hill out of sheer heat exhaustion.

It would be nice to be a guy and run shirtless, but I have a hunch that wouldn't work too well. For multiple reasons.

My second option is to get up at 6am to go running. Screw that, where's my gym membership card again...?