Summer is Coming to an End

Summer may be nearly over, but one would hardly know it here in north Texas.  The temperatures are still around 100 degrees Farenheit, and people are still complaining about it.  In fact, people are complaining more than ever because they expected that things would have cooled down by now.  There is lots of excitement about football and school, and people are already starting to talk about being able to wear their warmer clothes.  Hot weather has no place in the picture.

Each year I find myself becoming more torn about the end of summer.  I love summer, and I love hot weather.  As I am fond of saying, that is why I live in Texas.  I grew up in Michigan, and remember the monotonous winters that lasted for at least five months.  I would walk to school backwards so that the frozen rain wouldn't sting my face.  Once in the classroom, it would take an additional 20 minutes for everyone to take off their outerwear, and the classroom smelled musty for the rest of the morning.  I had an uncle who lived in Texas, and when I'd see the temperature differences on the national weather map on the news, I'd think, "I need to move there".  Eventually, when I was 12, my family did.

However, as much as I like hot weather, I don't particularly love triple digit temperatures, and have found that they can really hamper my running.  I find it interesting that my best mile per minute time was achieved during the longest distance I ran this summer, when I ran the half-marathon in San Diego.  For those not in the know, San Diego temperatures in the summer are usually in the 70s, at least 20 degrees cooler than is typical in Dallas.

The weather will definitely be cooler (but not too cold) in late September and through most of October, but it gets unpredictable after that.  From November through March, just about anything can happen, weather-wise.  There could be a blizzard, or it could be in the 80s.  I like the fact that the weather isn't monotonous, but am dreading the cold in a way that I don't dread the summer heat.  Of course, when it gets really cold, that's when Bikram Yoga is especially satisfying.  The yoga room is the one place where a person can feel truly warm, particularly when it's just too cold to run.