It's right around this time of year, when the heat and humidity really start to set in, that everyone in DC starts talking about how the city was built on a swamp.

Come here in the summer and you'll feel the gross humidity, the sweat dripping down the back of your neck, your clothes clingy uncomfortably to your body, and you'll know what I mean.

However, it turns out DC wasn't actually built on a swamp. My meteorologist friend informed me the other day that DC was actually built on a tidal basin.

But really, swamp, tidal basin, it's all the same to me. It's humid, it's gross and it makes running kind of miserable.

Even if you go really early in the morning.

Despite all that, I was proud of myself for getting up early this week to squeeze in some runs. I kept things short, three miles on Monday and Wednesday, four this morning, and didn't try to push the speed.

I was actually surprised how well I handled the heat. Sure I was sweating buckets, but it wasn't as bad as I remember summer running to be.


Check back with me in a few weeks though, and there's a good chance I will have very different feelings about summer running. Feelings full of hate and dreams of crisp fall running weather.