Oppressive

 

Heck yes, it's oppressive. And I don't use that term lightly. This is about as hot, hazy, and humid as it can get. I don't like it.

I've only been back for a few days, but I'm trying to make up for lost time. My peeps didn't make it yesterday due to the thunderstorms, but I managed to run ten miles as things were calming down. Those were ten humid miles, and the run was tougher than it would have otherwise been. Today is worse. Much worse. At least I have my peeps back.

Five of us meet at Lake Medina in the early morning gloom. It's in the mid/upper seventies and the humidity is thick enough to cut with a knife. But there are fireflies galore! the woods are lighting up all around us. It almost makes everything else worthwhile. I say almost, because there are other bugs as well. Tons of other bugs, and some are of the biting variety. The others just get in our eyes, noses, and mouths.

We get back to the parking area to pick up two latecomers. Now we're a real troupe. Later, we return once again to drop four of us off. 

Now it's just us three. We're doing around four more miles. It's getting lighter, and there aren't quite so many bugs. The only ones that I notice now are the deerflies that take bites out of my back, neck, and head. They seem to like my greasy/oily/sweat-covered skin. They seem to like to make me more miserable than I already am.

I'm pretty exhausted when I finally return for the final time (I ran the last mile all alone to get my total up to ten for the day). I doubt whether I could have done this without a little help from my friends.