July is supposed to be cooking us, but I feel like this summer has been more of a warming plate than an oven. Oh, we've had a couple of toasty days, but mostly our summer here has benefited greatly from last winter's frigid temps; there's an ice sheet up in Canada that keeps sending care packages of cool air our way.
And because I live in a no-air-conditioning home, you'd think I'd be ecstatic, wouldn't you?
But this summer I've got other irons in the fire, so to speak. In particular, all eyes are on the IronMan that comes at the end of August down in Kentucky. It bills itself as "the hottest IronMan", and it promises race-day temps in the 80's or 90's. That's a lot of heat to struggle through on one long day.
So instead of basking in the sun (or rather in the shade) of this miraculously tepid set of months, I'm trying to heat acclimate my body. Temps in the high 80's? Great day for a run! Getting ready for bed? Throw on a few extra blankets! Heading for a friend's home? Put on long pants and bring a sweater!
I've turned off the air conditioner in my campus office. I go outside to read books. I pretend I am a turtle, and I seek sunny spots on warm rocks.
***
There's supposed to be a point to my writing this. Maybe the point is, after you read this you get to say, "Oh, thank goodness, I'm not her!".
But when I walk across my campus during these surprisingly moderate breezy days, wearing my long sleeves and my knee-length jeans, what other people actually say to me is, "Wow, is this heat killing me!" And I think, "what heat?"
So maybe all my heat adaptation is really starting to kick in. We'll know how well it really works in 7 weeks!
And because I live in a no-air-conditioning home, you'd think I'd be ecstatic, wouldn't you?
But this summer I've got other irons in the fire, so to speak. In particular, all eyes are on the IronMan that comes at the end of August down in Kentucky. It bills itself as "the hottest IronMan", and it promises race-day temps in the 80's or 90's. That's a lot of heat to struggle through on one long day.
So instead of basking in the sun (or rather in the shade) of this miraculously tepid set of months, I'm trying to heat acclimate my body. Temps in the high 80's? Great day for a run! Getting ready for bed? Throw on a few extra blankets! Heading for a friend's home? Put on long pants and bring a sweater!
I've turned off the air conditioner in my campus office. I go outside to read books. I pretend I am a turtle, and I seek sunny spots on warm rocks.
***
There's supposed to be a point to my writing this. Maybe the point is, after you read this you get to say, "Oh, thank goodness, I'm not her!".
But when I walk across my campus during these surprisingly moderate breezy days, wearing my long sleeves and my knee-length jeans, what other people actually say to me is, "Wow, is this heat killing me!" And I think, "what heat?"
So maybe all my heat adaptation is really starting to kick in. We'll know how well it really works in 7 weeks!
Heat adaptation really does happen. I now wear pants in the summer. Anything below 95 outside seems reasonable.
ReplyDeleteToo bad it's triple digits most of the summer. :(