Web wrap-up: July 16 to 22

Running Home: 50 Years Later, Little Has Changed. Amby Burfoot writes about knowing his hometown roads so well that he can judge mileage by cracks in the pavement.

It made me think of my own home turf, where I'll measure sprints from a mailbox to a different color pavement, or road signs that signal "start your engines" as well as "aaaaaaand done!" And I'm working on acquiring a few of those around here.

'Chafing': Weird and Wonderful. Mark Remy's book "C is for Chafing," which I can't believe I haven't read, was included among some website's compilation of weird books. You should click the link to see the screen grab of his cover among several far more bizarre-looking works.

I will, however, share his summary of the contents of "C is for Chafing" so that you don't miss it: "illustrations of roadkill and advice on farting during group runs."

Natalie Dee comic. On the same day I posted about the runner's heat index, Natalie Dee posted a comic about people who would disregard said heat index. (Click through, give her some traffic, and also read the small text above the image.)

The two posts were back-to-back in my friend Ashlee's Google Reader account, which makes it even funnier.

Out There: Lace Up Local. We start and end sentimental today (sorry). Susan Lacke joins the "buy local" chorus and sings the praises of her independent running store.

I won't lie and put myself up on a no-chain-stores-for-me pedestal, but I do agree with the thrust of her column: that the community experience of heading to a store where salespeople know, use and enjoy the products they sell ... and where they end up knowing you (right, Runner's Image?) ... can be worth the extra few dollars that a chain or online store might save you.

A runner's heat index: Blessing or curse?

Yes, when I most recently blogged, I linked to a motivational poster that scolded runners who whine about the heat. So what am I gonna do today? Write about oppressive heat, of course.

One of the Runner's Digest entries on RW Daily linked to a tongue-in-cheek post titled "The runner's heat index." The author included a serious chart — one that combines temperature plus humidity to tell you how safe or dangerous running under certain conditions is — and suggested that math-savvy runners create one more specific to them.

Miss Zippy proposed a formula adding temperature, humidity, miles run, pace and time of day, possibly subtracting degrees depending on how hydrated you are. If I were actually qualified to build said formula, I'd drop time of day in favor of whatever figure measures sunshine (maybe UV index?) and the type of terrain. During yesterday's mid- to late-morning bike ride, it was remarkable how much different I felt on the forested parts of the Neal Smith Trail as opposed to the wide-open ones.

Which reminds me that wind — speed and temperature — would be other important variables in this now-very-complex equation. (I'd need to build an app where you just plug in a few numbers in order for anyone to use my hypothetical formula.) Thus far, though the humidity in Des Moines makes me perpetually droopy, the breezes around here are basically perfect: gentle and cool, as opposed to the fierce and blazing ones I encountered in the Rockford Half Marathon.

Joking aside, I think I'm glad I found this blog post. I say "think" because it doesn't exactly endorse some of the running-related decisions I've made.

For example, it confirms my decisions over the past two days not to run at all — highs were in the upper 90s, and it's safe to say the humidity was high enough to warrant "extreme caution" — and, over the past week or two, to run at night when the temperatures fall into the 80s.

But on the other hand, it's like a delayed scolding for runs that, while not resulting in heat stroke or heat exhaustion or dehydration, were technically ill-considered. Example: Fourth of July midmorning run. And let's face it, when you're a heat-hating, fair-skinned late-comer-to-running, do you need any more encouragement to sit on the couch?

I know, I know. Knowledge is power. Forewarned is forearmed. Always be prepared. Still, I can't help wanting to use that chart as proof of my toughness afterward, instead of arguments for joining a gym (UGH).