Back home packing, I waffle over whether I can get away without bringing a jacket. Finally, I decide to try it. I know it’s risky, but keep it light.

Fast forward 24 hours: I land in a Berlin that’s not only hot, but so hot that the city is skimming temperature records, with daily highs like 34 degrees (93F). Thoughts of jackets are quickly forgotten; replaced with brainstorming on how to strip off as many layers as possible while avoiding arrest for public indecency.

Berlin has some amazing running routes, but this year even a few kilometers are oppressive. A painful workaround is to go early – like really early – ideally 5:30 or so, when the mercury’s “only” in the high teens/low twenties. Long daylight hours (the sun rises before 5 AM) combined with jet lag make the ambitious schedule possible.

This photo’s of the wilderness along my favorite run – follow the Spree southeast out of Friedrichshain, into northern Kreuzberg (say “hi” to the people still partying), passed the sunken MS Dr. Ingrid Wengler and Molecule Man, through Treptower Park, and then south by and around the ruins of Spreepark (scroll down at that link for some great photos, and hundreds of anecdata points from people sneaking passed the fence). This year, the fallen tyrannosaurus is gone, but the creaking old ferris wheel still stands.