What is the antonym for epic anyway?

Today's six miler kicked my butt. Totally sucked. I blame it on my fueling (or lack thereof) and the humidity. Last night, I went to bed hungry (epic fail). This morning, I woke up hungry and didn't have any bananas in the house (epic fail). So I sucked down a gel, guzzled some water and called it good (epic fail).

Now that I've set the scene...

Hit the road at 6:30 this morning. I love to hear the frogs, crickets and other over-night animals that are incredibly loud here in Georgia! I checked the weather stats and saw that it was 67 degrees, 95% humidity and the dew point was at 66. Not good. I have run in worse humidity, but anything above 94% kicks my butt. AND before you Northerners ask, yes, there is a difference between 94% and 95% humidity. Trust me.

That first hill winded me more than usual. I hate that hill. I have to run up it every.single.time I go for a run. Then, because I'm a sick person, I run up it multiple times on Mondays and call it hill repeats. Commit me now hubby. It was too dark for me to see my first mile split, maybe that was a good thing?

Since school has started back, I'm running with a reflective vest so the drivers will see me. I swear it increases my body temperature by 10 degrees. I actually feel safer running in the dark with the vest on than during day light with or without the vest. These stinking commuters look right and left at a distance for other cars but don't bother checking their closer peripherals for pedestrians.

By mile 2.5 the hunger pains started and boy were they painful! I know that the humidity dropped a tad by the end of my run, but I could feel the temperature rising and with it, stomach cramping. I did get through the whole six miles and was shocked to only see one mile over 13 minutes, 13:09 to be exact. I did a lot of waiting for stop lights and cars as well as way more walking than I should have. Oh well, you win some and you loose some!

Lessons learned from today's epic failure:

1. Respect the distance, no matter how far or short it is
2. Fuel properly for said respected distance, both food and hydration. I didn't drink enough yesterday.
3. Have zero expectations other than finishing upright when the humidity is 95%+

Regardless of how much it sucked, I'm still thankful that I can get out there and run; fast or slow.

It's a great day for running y'all!