Haven’t written about my running for a bit, so thought I’d enlighten folks as to how my run went this evening. For those of you who live in hotter climates, you’ll appreciate how those of us who run like to wait for temps to cool down a bit prior to heading out—if at all possible.
Today was warm where I live—quite, and it took until this evening for the temp to drop to a “cool” 92 degrees. So, I waited until then, which just so happened to put me at the start of my favorite mountain trail at 7:00 PM. I wasn’t worried about this, since I knew it would still be somewhat light out by the time I finished my run, and I’d be surrounded by a host of other athletic folks who, like me, had waited for the temp to drop before exercising.
But…not far into my run, I recalled why I don’t like running at this particular time of day, especially on the mountain. Bugs! Lots and lots of bugs swarm the area, for they, too, have waited all day for cooler temperatures.
So, running along, I found myself repeatedly pelted by bigger lethargic bugs. Then there were the swarms of hundreds of littler ones that managed to get in my eyes, mouth and attempt to hitch free rides when possible. Of course, I don’t believe in freeloaders and gave those unwanted hitchhikers the heave-ho. My least favorite insects of the evening are the larger black gnats that seem to be everywhere you don’t want them to be.
Since the other insects were already assaulting my eyes and mouth, my nose soon began to run. And that—nice moisture—is an exceptional draw to those pesky black gnats that just love to crawl up one’s nose.
Ew!
So, not only was I near suffocating cause I couldn’t breathe properly, having to keep my mouth closed while running uphill to avoid a lovely bug appetizer, but also I had black gnats attempting to invade my lungs via my nasal cavities.
Yuck!
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the swarms of hundreds of littler insects had a ball colliding with my face and clinging for dear life to my eyelashes. Now this wouldn’t be such a problem, except that, seeing as I have to keep my eyes open while running, and in them is appealing moisture, the cling-on bugs then crawled into my eyes, temporarily blinding me as I attempted to rub them away.
Seriously! And I thought running was supposed to be relaxing….
I managed to finish tonight’s run, completing it faster than normal. No doubt, my quicker time was due to my frustration and overwhelming need to get the heck off the mountain and away from all the bugs. As a bonus, I learned something with tonight’s run. I am not a fan of waiting until the temperatures cool off to run, especially if it means having to share my mountain with all those horrible bugs!
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