10.25 Mile Adventure Run

Jo and I got up ridiculously early today to do our long run. This was in an attempt to beat the heat, as it was predicted to be in the 90's with unbearable humidity. We started our run before 6 am. Up at 5 am to run on a Saturday??? What can I say, she is a slavedriver.
Even at 5:30am, it was 75 degrees with nearly 100% humidity, and it was hard to breathe. Imagine two goldfish running around and around their fishbowl, wearing black running pants (because these two fish are too self conscious to wear shorts in public) after someone put their fishbowl next to a sunny window...the water kept getting hotter and hotter. That's pretty much how we felt, except that if we were fish we'd have had an easier time breathing the thick, wet air...with our gills, and all. Oh, and it wouldn't have been such a big deal when our water bottles ran dry, since we could have simply opened and refilled them...or not carried bottles, at all, just drinking out of the bowl... but whatever. What I mean to say is that it was humid. Very, very humid.
We ran to the county park outside of town. I hadn't noticed just how hilly the route was when I rode it on my motorcycle last week.
On our way out, while running down a quiet, tree-lined country road, an older man in an equally old pick up truck honked and hooted at us. Oh yeah, we were looking hot. Must have been the sweat stains and beet-red faces that made us look irresistible.
Once in the park, we ran from shelter to shelter looking for a bathroom for my very....regular....running partner. Can you believe that not a single bathroom was unlocked? I would have thought that by daylight they would be opened for business. In the end, my running partner dove into the woods and polluted the land. When she came out soaking wet, she swore that she had not peed herself. Hmmm.
We ran two laps around the park, which included many large hills. This was the toughest "hill workout" I've done. My glutes didn't like me so much...or my lungs. (or quads, hamstrings, calves, anterior tibialis, IT band, abdominals.....)
As we finished our trek through the park, I desperately searched for a bubbler, as my Gatorade bottle had run dry. Since no shelters were open, there was no water available and we started the run back to town. I prayed that I would see someone outside of their house who would be kind enough to give us water. It took a couple miles, but He came through and a nice young lady was out watering her garden. She looked fairly frightened as two exhausted and overheated-looking runners came towards her. She gave us water and ran away.
Nearing the final stretch the wind picked up and we noticed, with a start, that we were being followed. By a nasty looking black sky. For as far as we could see in either direction, a solid black sky was moving towards us. It was amazing to see, actually, because it was a perfectly straight line of clouds. And it was moving fast. When it passed overhead, we saw that the blackness was made up of the most amazing cloud formations. I've never seen anything like it. Swirls and waves.
I ran straight into the house, grabbed my camera, and ran back outside to try and catch some of it for you. I was too late for the best of it, but you'll get the idea.
















Edited to add: On the way back from the county park, we saw, running toward us, this older man (maybe in his later 60's) wearing only shorts and an iPod. He was ripped for an old guy and after we waved a friendly 'hello', Jo did a fast u-turn and started following him! (okay, so maybe it wasn't Jo who did it, but whatEVER) Anyway, the guy passing on his motorcycle got a really good laugh out of it