Not as much fun

You know how sometimes you imagine doing something and you think how much fun it would be? 

And then you know how sometimes you actually do that thing and it is NOT that much fun?

Yesterday morning on my commute, it was hot.  According to the weather on my Garmin data, it was 84 degrees, "feels like" 90 degrees, 7 mph SSW wind, humdity 66%.  Ugh.

It's only been the last few mornings where it's been in the 80s even at 5-something in the morning.  I'm not really used to it yet.  When I set out on my commute, I was still wet from getting soaked with sweat at boot camp about an hour earlier. 

I think I've mentioned before that there has been construction on my commute for about the last six months?  Not sure how long.  I really should keep track of when it starts, where it moves, etc.

Anyway, given the current construction status, when I get to about mile 2.3, the road is closed (to vehicles) but I am able to run on it anyway.  Sometimes one side of the street is completely torn up, or in the process of being repaved, and sometimes the other side is.  When the construction first started, they did the 3 blocks directly south of the last "big" intersection of my commute.  When that was done, they moved a few blocks further south.

This is roughly what it looks like as of a couple months ago:

 

So yesterday morning it was fully paved on both sides, but they are putting in rebar or something at the cross streets and sidewalk areas. 

 

There was a truck out there in the construction zone connected to a fire hydrant and it was spraying down the concrete for some reason. 

 

I can't find a good picture of what it looked like on the web, but this is similar:

 

 

But it didn't have such a big tank, and it was connected to the fire hydrant, so the water stream was much more forceful.  It was spraying to the side and directly behind the truck.

 

Did I mention it was hot? 

 

For about a quarter mile, I could see the water spraying truck ahead of me as I approached.  I've run through lots of sprinklers before on runs, and sometimes it feels so refreshing.  I've also run through misting stations in races and enjoyed that.

 

I will note that I actually try to avoid misting stations and sprinklers in any kind of marathon or very long run.  It was a painful lesson to learn, but when you get sprayed with water, it eventually runs down your legs to your feet, and when your socks and shoes get wet, your feet move more in your shoes and that usually results in blisters.  Horrible, horrible blisters.  So I actually try to avoid having any more water run into my shoes besides the sweat that rolls down my bod on those lovely summer long runs. 

 

But my commute is only about 3.75 miles.  And I was more than halfway done.  So no particular reason to avoid the truck's water spray.  And given the weather, all the more reason to purposely enjoy the truck's water spray.  And given that it was in the middle of the road, spraying to the side and back, and the sidewalks were torn up, it would have been very inconvenient to attempt to bypass the water.  And since I think the construction crew could forbid me to run through the zone in the future, I try to be very speedy and out of the way when I run through the construction zone.  I decided to go for it, running in a straight line that would pass directly through the side water spray, which looked stronger than the spray behind the truck (which looked more like the spray in the photo above). 

 

What a mistake! 

 

I ran through it, attempting to have it hit roughly on my thighs so that I wouldn't get my phone belt (with my new metronome!) wet. 

 

I misjudged a bit, but my mistake mostly was not realizing how forceful the stream of water was.  It hit my leg so hard and so high that my shorts got completely soaked, it actually hurt, I almost tripped, and my shoes got muddy and wet. 

 

Definitely not as fun as I expected it would be.  Live and learn I guess.  I have new sympathy for the people in those photos where the police turn fire hoses on them -- that $hit hurts!!!  Can't even imagine if it was pointed at me with an intent to cause injury and it lasted more than a second.  Owww.