I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to join one of my bungalow-mates on a run this morning.
For one, she is training for a marathon three weeks from now. She’s a fast runner, judging by the fact that she can place or win her division (and sometimes overall) in shorter races, and she’s been in Tahiti running almost every day for a week so she is used to the weather. I, on the other hand, have been traveling a lot and have not run for three weeks, have never run more than 6 miles at a time, and lose all functionality in hot and humid weather. It is a hundred million degrees (it was a zillion yesterday) and the only time to run is the early morning, before the sun really starts to heat the island.
We were up and out of the bungalow at 6am. The running route is great – a flat road right along the water, where we can watch all the crabs scurrying in and out of their burrows for added entertainment. But, I’m used to running with Q and Marcus, who pretty much do not need me to carry on a conversation. For the most part, I run along, huffing and puffing and listen in. Running with just one other person means that I am required to talk! After only a few minutes I was flirting with critical core temperature, which would result in total and irreversible full body failure. When we got back to the research station, we decided to splash down before hiking up the nasty hill to the bungalows for a cool shower and some water.
The other thing that running near the equator does for you? Instant blisters. My roommate’s feet are trashed and I am sporting my very first blister from running. Anyway, I don’t think I will be doing that again, though I felt good afterwards. Actually, the real reason I won’t be doing it again is that I’ve just noticed that the tank top I put on the clothes line to dry this morning is gone. It has fallen into the void below the bungalow (which is built into a hillside so on fairly high stilts on the end with the clothes line). Perhaps I should have used a clothes pin…
I did, however, learn an interesting thing today. Seems as if I have an excuse for my inability to function in humid weather! I am at a physiological disadvantage because the first 4-6 months of my life were in the winter to early spring months! Apparently, some Japanese researchers did a very careful study many years ago to understand why soldiers from particular areas in Japan did better when deployed into a jungle than others. They found out that although everyone has about the same number of sweat glands per unit area of skin, if people were born into a cold climate, they use only a fraction of them and so when adapting to a humid climate, are starting at a lower baseline. I love when I get a physiological excuse for my wussy behavior!
As for now, I am sitting on the veranda watching the sky change as the sun goes down and a major rain storm moves in. We are supposed to have a bbq tonight and I have to say, the sky does not really scream ‘BBQ’ to me right now. It kind of screams, ‘close the doors and hide in your bungalow’ but I guess we’ll see what happens.
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