Nice weather: Please come back soon!

It’s still very hot and humid. Since I can’t entirely avoid running in these conditions, am better off acclimating to it. I just get out and survive this weather to the best of my abilities. On October 10th, when the marathon comes, it’s either going to be in equally horrible weather in which case I’ll be damned glad I spent time acclimating, or it’ll be in much nicer conditions in which case I will feel like a million bucks due to my preparation.
I am in the second week of intensive training for Chicago, so far am surviving the weather. My speed is not where I want it to be but I can feel the effort every time I run a quality workout so my speed should come back when the weather gets better. I ran 49 miles last week. I did 16 miles on Saturday. It was raining and then became very humid. I met four random guys while running mile 1. They invited me to join their group and I did it. It was nice to run more than half of my long run with those guys. I put together a very nice run, running with other people invites me to test my limits and run faster. I felt great for the most part of the run. I struggled a bit in the last 2 miles mainly because I didn’t hydrate well and my muscles became tired.
This week has been good too. I ran 8 and 6 miles on Mo and Tu respectively. Yesterday (Wednesday) I did a tempo run: 7x5 minutes with 1 min rest in between for a total of 8.5 miles. The weather got the best of me and my times got worse by the minute. I am really looking forward to running in nice conditions. Today, am going out with Scott for an easy 8 miler. It’s hot but not humid… It should be fine. My right knee keeps bothering me a bit and I hope it gets better soon.
When am struggling in the heat, I visualize myself running fresh in the corner of Ashland Ave. and 18th Street in Chicago (yeah, in Pilsen). That’s where the 19th mile marker is…and that’s where am planning to push the pace to the high 6’s or low 7’s for the first time in the marathon. In other words, that’s where am going to push my pace up and attack until mile 26. The key is to stay focused and believe that I can run my fastest marathon in less than three months.