Running at 60 and hot…

I can only wish the hot part of the above statement relates to hot, as in wildly attractive.

But, no.

The hot I’m talking about is the giving off heat hot; like I’m gonna pass out hot if I don’t get rid of some of these clothes.

This was my dilemma while running this morning. I dressed too warmly for my intended 5 mile run and figured this out by, oh, the first half mile or so.  I had on long running pants, a white wicking shirt, a sports bra, my Marine Corps Marathon visor and a brushed  flannel vest.  The vest is from 1998; I remember this because I had bought it for my daughter Jane when she was a senior in high school.  No wicking properties, nothing techie; just a vest with pockets, a vest that I’ve become attached to wearing on cold days.

Problem was that it wasn’t cold today.  It was hot, as in temperature hot, surprise April in Rhode Island hot.  For some unknown reason, Rocky Balboa came to mind… “Life’s about how much you can take and keep moving forward.”

OK. That was random. 

I was running up the first slope into Colt State Park when I thought to myself, I’d better go home and change because I’m dying. But I didn’t want to go home because this was my first 5-mile run in awhile and I didn’t want it to be interrupted. I kept running, kept moving forward.

By mile-1, I couldn’t take the heat, so I did something I’ve never done.  (When you turn 60, you do lots of things you’ve never thought of doing.)  I took off my vest, then took off my white wicking shirt, while running… then tied the shirt around my waist and put the vest back on.  Just to be clear, I had a sports bra on, but I never, ever, ever run with just a sports bra. I may have heart, but I don’t have a 6-pack.  I also twisted my visor around to catch a little more air on my face.

I was free.

I ran my 5 miles right to my front door.  When I passed a mirror in my home, this is what was staring back at me…

I looked like Rocky.  And you know what I thought?  Yeah, something from Rocky…  “You know, the older I get the more things I gotta leave behind. That’s life.”

Like caring if I have a 6-pack.-

If I hadda run one more tenth mile, this hot as-in-giving-off-heat 60-year old woulda been runnin’ in nothin’ but my bra. Yo.