Summer in Dallas

Today, Sept. 1, 2013, is set to be our 25th day at or above 100 degrees this year. 

I'm ready for it to end, but I felt compelled to post this so I could remind myself that this summer, as hot as it feels right now, really isn't that bad.

This summer has been record-breaking, but not in the bad way.

In mid-July, we had a record low high temperature. 

Last summer was also fairly mild.

But two summers ago, we had a streak of over 40 days in a row at or over 100. 

And even worse, two summers ago, we ended up with over 70 days at or over 100. 

That last line just needs to sink into my mind.  Two summers ago, we were rarely below 80 during the coolest part of the night/morning.  And we had over 70 days in the triple-digits.  This year, it's only 25. 

I need to quit my bitching.  It's already September now, and it always cools off in September.  And all I need to do is get through one more really long run -- about 22 miles next weekend, and then taper time. 

But oh, because of the holiday weekend, our long run was on Saturday, and it felt like 18 miserably hot miles.  I couldn't handle the marathon pace on the schedule.  I was so slow and wanted to quit most of the second half of the run.  The thought of doing 8 more miles, ugh... 

One more long run, one more long run, one more long run...

Plus, it won't be this hot in Berlin.  The next six days never get above 81 for a high, and never get above 57 for a low.  Dropping 30 degrees has to be enough to get 8 more miles and do it all more than a minute faster per mile.  It has to be!