So after reading the feedback to my last post I decided to go out and buy some proper attire. The stuff is annoyingly expensive, but up until this point all I’ve purchased is a pair of shorts from Old Navy so this seemed like as good a time as any to start investing in my workouts.

I purchased some polyester clothing (err…DryLETE or Dri-release, depending on who is asking) at REI that is meant for workouts, and is supposedly good at keeping you dry and ventilated and such. Well, it worked.

One of the major changes over the past week or two that I didn’t think about is that it has gotten warmer. Hot, even. We sort of switched from winter to summer with no spring in between. And while the gym, located in an underground concrete bunker (don’t ask…) isn’t as hot as the outdoors, the air is warm and humid, and that was probably the biggest factor affecting my treadmill runs.

Remarkably, this stuff performed as advertisied, and kept me pretty cool and dry, or as much as can be expected from mesh fabric as opposed to, say, air conditioning. That combined with a desire to really push myself and not stop no matter how tired I was getting, and I was able to run the furthest I’ve ever run, namely 4.1 miles. Now my only fear is that when I go to run today, I won’t get that far.

So some new clothes, a renewed desire, and probably some placebo effect, and now I’m pretty excited about the future of my professional running career. Or at least my chances in a 5k. 🙂