I don't know what it's like where you live, but the weather here in Baltimore is downright putrid, and putrid is a few steps up from the weekend when the weather was positively Venuvian.

We had houseguests in from Iowa and had to rush out and buy another window-rattling AC unit for the guest bedroom because the heat index was absurd. It took no more than 15 minutes to install the damn thing, but in that time I lost about 18 pounds and became dehydrated.

We tried to take our guests--a family of four, the mother being a long-lost Filipina cousin of Cha's mother--to the Inner Harbor Saturday, but the Harbor wasn't there; in its place was a smeary fingerpainted field of gray smudges. Bands of hurricane Dennis dumped inches of rain at intervals, so our outing ended up being a 3-hour stay at the Galleria Mall. I can't abide shopping malls, particularly those geared at tourists, so my mood was foul as the weather.

I ran 4 miles on Sunday and it was HELL--I'd actually waited until it started to rain heavily before heading out, figuring that the rain would counteract the heat, but less than a half-mile out the rain stopped and Towson became Singapore. Agonizing. Today was a much better day for a run, but still awful.

I can't help but think that this was related to the weather. When the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory, 5k memorial runs should be cancelled.