Today's Run in the Sun

I know I've already posted today and I'm being an overachiever over here going for two in a day but it just couldn't wait.

I'm finally back to my normal running pace!

I decided to venture out for a run this evening, thinking (like the non-Oklahoman I am) that 5 pm means evening. Well let me share the lesson I learned today - 5:00 pm is the HOTTEST time of day in good ol' Oklahoma. 

I seriously think it's colder in Hell.

96 degrees, sun blasting on my back, no shade (actually in between a baseball field and a wheat field), wind for days (and I ran against it for more than half of the run). 

It wasn't very fun to say the least.

But something magical happened. Remember how I told you about my recent curse of the 12 minute mile? Well it might be over... but I don't want to count my eggs before they hatch.

Booyah, 12 minute mile!

Awww snap! That's right. Miss ten and a half is back in the game! (At least for today). And what's even crazier is this was my overall average. The first mile I ran was like 9:59 (we won't talk about the second one but that might have been 11:00.

Actually a reader left a comment on the 12 minute mile post about cross training and I have to say, I think she's right. I've been doing a lot of boot camp and other workout DVD's at work and I think the leg strength training is really helping!

But please know that while this was my fastest run in a while, this was definitely not the longest. And I can thank the blazing sun for that. Remember all the junk I said about the heat in North Carolina? Yeah, I take that back. That ain't nothin' compared to this jazz!

So lesson learned. Tomorrow I'm either running at 5:00 AM or 8:00 PM. But damn, I'm going to try to stay fast.

How do you beat the heat on a summer run?

I need some tips, people!