IT HAD COOLED OFF TO 96 DEGREES by 6:30 p.m., the start of the regular Wednesday evening run from Running Fit downtown. At least there wasn’t any doubt about what clothes I’d need; as light as possible on everything (man, my new Kinvaras feel really good in this weather). And lay on the suntan lotion.

Only eight runners showed up. Most were only doing 4 miles, but a few of us felt up to our usual 6. We started at a nice easy pace of around 9:00 per mile. Then the regular faster runners split out ahead, and guess who had to keep up with them. But I did fine, even when we hit a 7:15 pace toward the end. Carrying a wet washcloth helped a lot, as did two water stops, although I felt much hotter standing around than running. I even pushed my group a little to get going again after the second stop.

Back at the store, I drained a bottle of Gatorade and perused the photos in the window from Sunday’s Dexter-Ann Arbor half marathon. None with me in them. Nuts – looks like I’ll have to get one from the official photographer’s web site, and let’s just say the price would buy me a very nice lunch at Zingerman’s. Next year I’ll have to find someone to snap a few pictures of me along the way, at the very least at the finish line.