Beating the heat

Hello from in the Ohio River! A family member recently got a condo on the Ohio River so we went down last week to relax and unplug for a couple days.  It was a LOT of fun and the kids, especially Summer, loved the water.  It was a warm weekend, and the water was pretty warm as well.

Love this photo of Dawn and the kids. <3

I actually took last weekend off of running as well!  I have had some plantar fasciitis issues so wanted to let that rest some and see how I felt coming back.  I did get in some miles this week and foot is feeling ok.  I have to finish the Great Virtual Run Across Tennessee and then I plan on taking a break from running for a few weeks.  I have some projects plants around the house. 

My brother Marcus is back from Hong Kong for the summer.  He had to quarantine for a couple weeks and once he did that he was free to be out and about (whatever that is nowadays).  Anyway, he came up to visit Summer last week and they had a tea party in the backyard with a tea set he bought.  Summer LOVED it and they chatted about fun stuff kids like to chat about. 

My sister also visited for the first time since the pandemic broke.  She has been at home with my parents now that she is out of college.  Not many jobs out there hiring for fashion design right now, so she is enjoying a little break before starting her career.  The kids loved having her visit as well.   Ice cream has been a nice treat after these hot days. 

 

It has been great being at home again.  I love doing the Augmented Reality forecasts from the backyard. The gear you see is all I use when doing the forecasts from the backyard. But I wish the grass was a little greener because we NEED some rain.  Not much on the way for us this weekend. 

Hot weekend on the way! Today we will have some morning clouds and patchy fog then mostly sunny skies by the afternoon with high temps around 90. Humidity will be a little lower today, but remaining cooler. The lower humidity will allow overnight temps to dip into the upper 60s with mainly clear skies. Saturday will be mostly sunny and we warm to around 93 with humidity slowly going up. Nearly all models keeping most of Ohio dry on Saturday with a very slim chance of a few pop-up showers/storms to the south, so let's drop that chance of rain to 10%. We will be muggier and hotter on Sunday, 94, so leaving the 30% chance of rain popping up. 

An approaching cold front will park over the region early next week and help to trigger a little more rain later Monday and Tuesday. We still stay in the 90s for the first half of next week with high humidity, so we will have decent ingredients for storms to pop. We really could use the rain and the latest drought monitor has 59% of Ohio in abnormally dry conditions and 3% of the state in moderate drought conditions. Those numbers will be going up if we don't get some good rain soon. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Hilltop USA 5k, July 4th, outdoor fun, & heatwave ending

We all did it!  We all did the Hilltop USA 5k!  Evan rode in the stroller, but this was the first 5k for Summer and Dawn.  They walked it and I walked the first mile with them to warm up then ran my 3.1 miles, new PR (20:14), then walked the last couple laps with them again.  We did it in Strongsville while visiting the in-laws since my mother-in-law had her birthday on the 4th.  It was exactly 8 times around their block for the 5k.  Summer was nervous the night before, but I talked with her to pump her up and let her know after the first lap then it is only 7 more and then she can keep counting down.

We had a lot of fun while up there and spent most of the weekend on the back patio.  We also went to 808 Shaved Ice.  Evan and I shared, but we all loved our cool treat. 

Sunday morning I ran 15 miles on the trails at Hinckley Reservation and it was a beautiful morning.  I have not ran since. I have been dealing with some plantar fasciitis.  I HATE not running, but I have been doing other workouts to try to stay active.  I may go out for a short run today and just take it nice and easy.  Maybe a bike ride would be smarter because that would probably be the best, but I feel it is just not enough of a workout for the same amount of time I get while the kids sleep. 

One last running thing... I did break 1,000 mile mark for the first half of the year.  I am hoping to rest up and then start tackling the second half of the year. It would be pretty cool to run 2020 miles in 2020.  The most I have ever ran was 1152 miles in 2017.  I should easily be able to surpass that this year... KNOCKS ON WOOD.

Summer has been very interested in fishing lately.  Still has not be able to catch one, but we only get a short window while Evan is taking his morning nap.  I want to go back and try some different bait with her.  We have been staying cool as best as possible and Evan loves playing in the water.  The bigger the splashes the bigger the giggles. We hit 97 yesterday for the 9th straight day in the 90s.

The pattern rolls on! Hot, muggy, with sunshine before pop-up rain. Today we will see a slightly lower chance of rain compared to Tuesday, but still a slight chance of pop-up spotty showers and storms. We look to continue our stretch of highs in the 90s for a 10th straight day today with 95 expected. 90s expected Thursday and Friday as well. Humidity will also make it feel 95-100 for the next few days. Our chance of rain will be spotty again Thursday then a better chance for more showers and storms Friday into early Saturday as a cold front moves through. Most of the rain Saturday will be early then we dry out with highs in the mid-upper 80s for Saturday and Sunday. Sunday looks dry most of the day then more isolated rain possible later in the day with a weak disturbance. 90s look to be back by the middle of next week. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael