Welcome to "Tough Stuff" Season

Here in our neck of the woods one of summer's best known events kicked off on Sunday - RAGRBRAI (rag - bri).  It is the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.   Thousands of people from across the US and the world come to indulge in a weeks worth of riding, eating pie and pork chops and generally having a great time.

And while RAGRBRAI is on my list of things to do someday - that is not why it is blog worthy to me.  For me, I know that the hardest part of my running season kicks off with the weather that accompanies RAGBRAI and now won't end until middle of September.   It's like the heat and humidity, which has slowly gained steam over June and July, reach and stay at a constant boil for the next 6-8 weeks.  Yes, we are officially in "Tough Stuff" Season!

But because, "runners run anyway", I kicked it off with a hell run on a hilly course with heat,  humidity, and hell wind.   I am not much of a fan of hills but I have been adding more to my running diet in preparation for the Bix7 this weekend.   This famous little race celebrates hills!  Look at that diagram on the right- isn't the course amazing!  Can you imagine starting a race on that hill or after the turnaround running up that hill?  ugh.   But CoffeeBetsy tells me it will be ok.   Sure, this is coming from a woman who's tag line is "One Tough Mother" - so I am a little cautious of what "ok" is in her book.   

I couldn't (or maybe didn't want to) replicate the course, but I did my best to add hills (see my elevation on the left).  What made my run even more difficult was the fact the sky dumped about an inch of rain the night before and the dirt roads I was running on were like running on a sandy beach.  Right at about 5 miles, I took on a mile long hill that just about killed me.   For the entire hill the only thing I could do was chant to myself, "the hill won't win".  "the hill won't beat me."  And then I borrowed a phrase from my son who uses it when he is in the middle of something tough, "I can and I will."   Those three phrases got me up the hill and cut through the mental and physical challenge of heat, high humidity, hell hills, and soft dirt roads.

Sometimes it is the simplest things that help us overcome our biggest challenges.

We are looking forward to your posts this week for Take It and Run Thursday about overcoming the "tough stuff" with your running - whatever it is.   Tell us about what makes running hard and how you overcome it.

Related Stuff:  Check out the articles, posts and tips in the Weather & Environment in the Know How section.

Side note:  If you couldn't tell, I really don't care for heat and humidity.  At all.  Thanks to my little "Personal Lesson" for Dam to Dam this May, I have had a more difficult time dealing with heat.   Has anyone ever had heat exhaustion or heat stroke and then struggled with running in the heat?   

Comments

[Kent A]

Glad to know I won't be the only Des Moines lounger making their way to Davenport this weekend. I haven't hit the hills especially this year any more than the first mile and the third mile of my daily run typically feature a quarter to half mile hill.

[Running Knitter]

Thank you for this great post!

[FrayedLaces]

even people down here in Hawaii talk about that bike ride!

You rocked those hills. Way to go chicka! I saw a quote on someone's blog that says "I eat hills for breakfast". That's what gets me through them. I say to myself "yum, these taste great!" on the truly nasty parts.

[CoffeeBetsy]

Less than a week to go! I can promise you, the Bix won't be easy, but I can also promise you that it WILL be fun.

[Felice]

That's right -- the hill won't beat you! Once you conquer the hills in that race (and it looks like there some major ones!), you'll feel awesome. Good luck!