Sweet Mana From Heaven

Finally, a cold front is pushing through and things have already cooled off considerably. After the first line of thundershowers pushed through, I headed out the door, hoping that a second line of thunderstorms would hit midway through the run and cool me down and thwart any deer flies.

For the first half of my run, those incessant little buggers were out in full force, and they weren't just swarming, they were biting as well. This forced me to pick up the pace, giving me a good tempo workout on some technical trails. I was also flapping my arms the entire time waving them out of my face, getting a great upper body workout. This was aided by the hand-held water bottle I was carrying (think dumbell).

I drew a picture to better illustrate this concept:

But at about the halfway point, as expected, the skies rumbled and the rain began to fall. Ahhh. I was already completely soaked in sweat, which was soon replaced with the sweet cool rain falling from above. And, as it began to pour, it kept the deer flies at bay! Ahhhhhhh. Yessir, life is good.

Ran 7.3 miles @ 8:25/mile pace.
AHR/MHR - 152/168
Trails, fire roads.
Very hilly.
Upper 70s falling to lower 70s, extremely humid, partly cloudy and then thunderstorms.
Shorts, short sleeved shirt, cap.
Deer flies killed = ~28-34
Deer fly bites = ~15-18
Deer flies flying into mouth = 3 (one down my throat)