Still in Dallas for the Neural Interfaces Conference with no running shorts. Didn't want to miss another day, so I asked around and borrowed a pair of basketball shorts. Ran 8.4 miles easy (my hotel to downtown, halfway on a rather muddy bike trail under a ridiculous amount of construction, and then randomly around a surprisingly crummy downtown) at 6:31 AP at 11 PM in disgustingly humid conditions (98% relative humidity). Garmin had 8.21, but I lost connection for over a minute going under a bridge (it dropped satellite and didn't add the lost distance when it recalculated, so a mile previously at 6:20 pace prior to dropped satellite ended at 7:40, so I just applied the average pace for that mile over that gap in time). Once again, despite disgustingly humid conditions, running in basketball shorts and a t-shirt that got obscenely drenched (needed one since I was staying in a hotel and had to walk out through the lobby), and having had a massive dinner and 2 beers shortly before my run, the pace for an easy (ie, very aerobic) run at nearly sea level (400') was SO MUCH FASTER than in Salt Lake. This effort would not have been within 20 seconds per mile even under ideal flat conditions in Utah. Altitude makes all the difference in the world. That said, despite the fast sea level pace and the ability to run on very flat terrain if so desired (I literally had zero feet of elevation change registered on my Garmin in the first 2.12 miles, which was mostly on a toe-path, and the high point and the low point of my run were only 28 feet apart), that humidity was so disgusting that I have very little interest in ever running here again. Excited to get back to Utah tomorrow.
Other notes:
1. Boy is it humid here. This is 5 minutes after finishing my run:
I'm pretty sure I'm actually in a swamp.
2. Do Texans not care at all about the Mavericks? I thought they were popular, but their stadium, at least from the outside, appeared really tiny.
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