Summer Running Thread

[rocknrollgirl]

Happy Solstice and Strawberry Moon!!!

And so starts the season of BLECH running for me. I hate running in summer heat. Blech. Fortunately we are spending lots of time in the mountains this summer,so hopefully it will mean cooler weather and glorious single track. Until then it will just be the same report. see below:

I ran today and it was a million degrees with 1000% humidity

But the good news is school is out and the LONGEST year ever is over. ( my bosses boss went a bit cuckoo this year and really made for a toughie) SO glad to be done.

[Skierchickie2]

Agreed on the summer heat and humidity! Biking is so much easier than running when it's like that. We've hardly had any hot weather here yet. Lots of 50s & 60s, a few 70s, and maybe 2 or 3 days tha were 80-90°. Plenty of bugs.

[emily_in_nc]

Totally agree. I've been a running slug for long enough now that I think I'll just declare myself officially on hiatus until fall!

[rocknrollgirl]

I just have to power through. Get up early, get out and get it done. And dream of winter running!!!!

The bugs have been bad here too. Strawberry flies. They take a chunk. Some people call them deer flies. Not to be confused with a green head, which I grew up calling a horse fly.

[Crankin]

We called them horse flies, too.
Yes, riding is easier in the heat, but not by much. During my short forays into running, it definitely was a late fall through June activity for me. Trail running is a bit easier in the heat, but then, I'd be freaking out about Lyme Disease and getting annoyed by gnats.

[OakLeaf]

I got out of my car about half an hour ago and within seconds I had a deerfly bite on my arm. Running they're not so bad, but there is about a quarter mile near a pond and cattle pasture, where they will chase me down. For gardening, Bite Blocker keeps them off, plus I have a mesh hoodie, but I'm not going to put on repellent to go places in the car, dangit! They're just awful here. Our neighbor has horses ... There are a few horseflies around, but they're not terribly aggressive, and unlike the deerflies, you can see, hear and feel them coming before they bite.

[emily_in_nc]

There is some kind of blackfly here in Weston Bend State Park (near Weston, MO) that I've never seen before. They are driving us crazy. They are aggressive and bite with zero provocation. We used to have deer flies in NC, and they were nasty too, but this is a different beast. There are horseflies around too, but not too aggressive. We haven't seen any mosquitoes, but the flies are enough to keep us inside most of the time. They didn't bother us on our ride today, but hang around when we're sitting if we try to eat outside, or when I'm walking Paisley. Ugh.

[rocknrollgirl]

Black flies. There is no other creature like them on Earth. I grew up with them in upstate NY and thought I had experience until I went to Canada just about this time of year in 2012. Now I understand why the caribou jump off the cliffs. I was so chewed to pieces I looked like I had a disease. I swear it gave me fever. Deet was an aphrodisiac to them, it made them attack more. Only the bug nets slowed them down. Awful. I am shuddering just thinking about it.

Yikes....

[Skierchickie2]

Husband just returned from his run complaining about deer flies. Said he "may have gotten a little annoyed with them". We tend to have blackflies when it is cooler, deer flies when it's warmer. And mosquitoes all the time.

[emily_in_nc]

Husband just returned from his run complaining about deer flies. Said he "may have gotten a little annoyed with them". We tend to have blackflies when it is cooler, deer flies when it's warmer. And mosquitoes all the time.

Interesting! It was 99 or so degrees here today, but the black flies didn't seem to mind!

RnR, I read up on them a bit after I posted this, and yes indeed, that is what they are. We've only gotten a few bites, but I did read that if you get enough, they really can cause all kinds of symptoms, including "black fly fever" (fever, joint aches, all kinds of maddening stuff). They aren't that bad here, but bad enough. We have to be vigilant, and we've managed to kill a lot of them before they bit us. I have never seen one in NC, though I had heard of them. I guess traveling around the country, we get to experience insects from all over!

[rocknrollgirl]

The summer we went up to Canada, we were here:

http://vacancesessipit.com/condos-ho...ec-2-chambres/

We went with our friends to paddle in the St Lawrence River during the whale migration. We were able to store our kayaks on site down at the bottom of a small cliff on the property tucked into a cove. So the trip from the condo across the property down through the woods into your boat and out of the cove was when the got us. The only exposed part of my body was my neck and the crawled up along my hairline and my neck and just destroyed me. As soon as you were out of the cove and into the breeze you were fine. It was awful. But what an amazing trip.

Anyway. we got out this morning for 6. It was cooler but super humid. So blech. Slow and steady in this weather. I am carrying a hand held so at least i have water to sip on.

[emily_in_nc]

That looks like a gorgeous spot, RnR. I read that the black flies love the neck and head. UGH on what happened to you! The ones here go for our legs and arms most. I have not had one bother my neck or head, thankfully. I will have to remember to visit Canada in the fall rather than the summer!

Good on you for getting a run in in the humidity. We are heading out for a ride later. It has not been terribly humid here but definitely hot. Yesterday it hit 99 in the late afternoon, but we were done riding by lunchtime so not as terrible, but I was still a sweaty mess afterwards.

[Skierchickie2]

Our blackflies like everything, especially ears and hairline and faces.... They love to crawl right up in your hair and get your scalp. They release something that numbs the spot and keeps the blood from clotting right away, so you often don't know they bit you until you find the big old dried clot later. Hubby had bites in the corners of both eyes, right by his nose last night. Big red spots. When you know about them they drive you insane, all around your head. When you don't know about them they get you anyway since you don't feel the bite and they're so small.

[OakLeaf]

I'm just glad I'm not sensitized to the bites yet. The better I can keep them off, the longer I can delay it! As the summer goes on the welts will get bigger and bigger, until by the time the frost kills the deerflies, they'll be leaving welts 2-3" in diameter that last for a couple of weeks and itch the entire time.

Little by little. I've been trying to keep the pace down a little bit to help bump my mileage back up out of the pathetic zone. Where I live, the shortest way "around the block" is 7-1/2 miles (and that route has a monster hill in it), so until I can get the mileage built back up, I've just been doing the same out-and-backs from home, and it's getting pretty boring. Had to run a couple of errands in town today, so I just did a quick out-and-back on the bike path just for a change of scenery. It was humid and looked like it might rain a little more, so I had the place all to myself.

[OakLeaf]

Skierchickie, how's your knee coming? Hope it's healing well and you're hanging in there.