10 miles in the heat

So this past weekend/week we had a heat advisory in the DC area, with the heat index registering temps of 115. Yuck! Of course given my luck, I needed to put in a long run this weekend to stay on track with my training plan. I debated whether or not to do it on Saturday or hold off until Sunday when the temperatures were supposed to be cooler, but it was also my birthday that day and I really didn't want to wake up early to run. In the end I decided to go with Saturday so I could go ahead and get it over with.

Saturday morning I popped up at 5am and was out the door at 5:20ish, to set out. I was a little hesitant about running on the Mount Vernon trail that early and by myself, but there were tons of people out and about running, walking and cycling. I have never seen so many people out that early in the morning exercising.

My route took me down King Street to the Potomac river and I followed the Mount Vernon trail to the Regan airport before turning back. It was a really great route and reminded me a bit of being on the C&O canal. I was running by the water, in the trees and even through a swampy marsh area, which I definitely did not expect (pics below).

The run was definitely cooler than I thought it was going to be, partially because it was so early and partially because there were so many trees. Some people say that when you run, you are competing against yourself, but Saturday I was competing with the elements, especially the sun. I was at about mile seven when I saw the sun start to rise and knew that I didn't have too much time before it started to warm up. That was definitely the motivation I needed to keep going and even pick up my pace a little bit.

All in all it was a really great run and a perfect way to end my 23rd year. Looking forward to this week's long run! Also, I thought it might be nice to include some pictures from my run, but apologies for the blurriness of some of them as they were all taken from the iphone while running. 

Below on the left is the Potomac on my way out on the trail and in the distance you can see the blur of the US Capitol. On the right is the unexpected marsh I encountered. In the center below

is a close up of the hibiscus that seem to be growing in the marsh. I admit I was a nerd and had to call my mom to see if they were actually hibiscus, because I have never heard of them growing in swamps.