If you’ve read my blog before you know I love to run……in the winter, fall and spring. In the past I’ve actually stopped running from June through August because one thing I hate more than sweating (yes, I’m a runner that hates to sweat) is feeling as though I am running in a sauna. I can’t even sit in a sauna let alone run in one. And especially since my asthma diagnosis, I spend more time sounding like a hacking smoker even in the air conditioning thanks to what I can only guess is allergies and humidity. Plus, I tend to get more blisters on my feet. Overall, it can make for a very unpleasant experience and I can just as easily get a good workout in an air conditioned gym or by strapping on my rollerblades (they are cool again now, you know).

It was a humid May which does not bode well for June. I’ve been running with a neighbor a few times a week and every morning we strap on our shoes and complain about how uncomfortable it is outside. Today began a bit more pleasantly because it was slightly less humid. We started on a similar route as last week where we had spotted a number of squashed frogs and he suggested that we pass the time by counting dead frogs.

1.5 miles and 8 dead frogs later, we joked about a couple of vultures waiting for us to stop so they can feast on our bodies, and passed a dead, ridiculously smelly (thanks humidity) deer. (So THAT’s what the vultures were there for)

After we finished gagging, The Twelve Days of (Summer) Running began to take shape:

It’s the first day of summer running and what do I see?

A dead deer on the side of the street.

It’s the second day of summer running and now what do I see?

Two vultures eating

The dead deer on the side of the street.

You get the idea. By the end, this is what we came up with:

It’s the twelfth day of summer running and now what do I see?

12 near deaths (thanks to no road shoulder and inconsiderate drivers)

11 horse flies

10 for sale signs

9 candle scents*

8 dead frogs

7 mud puddles

6 funny looks

FIIIIIIVE WALKING BREAAAAKS (hey, its hot)

4 asthma coughs

3 drinks of water

2 vultures eating

The dead deer on the side of the street!

*Candle scents – on a recent (humid) run post rain shower, I mentioned that it was starting to smell like worms. Somehow this turned into a conversation about Yankee Candle creating “man scents” like freshly mowed grass and 2×4. We added a few of our own ideas, including sweaty sock, roadkill, body odor, morning breath, hangover, worms, dog poop, foot fungus and belch. What? Those are manly.