Last winter was long and brutal. Morning runs were dark, frigid and slippery. Speed work was relegated to the treadmill and long runs required more layers than an Everest expedition. Now that warm weather has finally returned, I'm reminded of what I love best about summer running.

Shorter Races, Faster Paces
Enough with the freak in' marathons. They're not always kind to me, anyway. Give me a nice 5-miler or 5K and I'm happy. I run my hardest and the pain is temporary. No matter how I do, I'm back on the roads the next day. After a tough race, I don't have to wait six months for redemption.

Races With Beer/Beer-Related Swag
Running in the heat builds up my glutes, my stamina and especially my thirst. Beer is my favorite beverage (sorry, water) and the perfect race reward. Drinking empty calories motivates me to run even more. It's the ultimate cycle of life. The only thing better than a 5K PR is one celebrated with a 7 percent ABV, ultrahoppy craft IPA. And while beer tastes better in a glass, it tastes best in an age-group award stein from the local pub.

Permission to Go Slow
A hot day is the perfect excuse to take it easy. I'm not lazy, I'm prudent. I've read that every 10 degrees of heat slows your pace by about a minute. On a 90-degree day, I'll run an 8:45 pace, confident that if it were 40 degrees out I'd be running sub-4-minute miles right now. That's how it works, right?

That Perfect Country Road
There's nothing like running on a long country road when traveling away from home. I can remember almost every one of these runs over the years, breathing cleaner air, feeling more in tune with nature and trying to remember where the hell I am so I can find my way back. When my run ends with a dip in a cold river or lake, it's as close to perfect as it gets.

Running (Practically) Naked
One reason I took up running was because it was easy to throw on clothes, shoes, and go. I didn't need to drive to the pool, change, shower, swim, shower, change and drive home. Summer, when I can go shirtless and sockless, gets my prep time down to nothing. The time saved is worth the blisters, and I like having the breeze hit my body as I sprint to finish an evening speed session. Feels damn near like flying.

Whiff of Nostalgia
Summer runs trigger memories better than winter ones, perhaps because memory is so often tied to smell and the world is in bloom from April to August. I'll smell honeysuckle and flash back to my dad jogging four times around the old high school track "just to stretch his legs." A trail run will bring back tearing through the woods with my older sister in Vermont on vacation. I never know what image will come, but I know summer is the season for nostalgia.

Doesn't Last Forever
Summer training and racing is special because it's short-lived. Soon it will be time to suck it up again and start a new fall marathon training cycle. Out come the gloves, hats and long-sleeve shirts with front wind guards. I'll get up in the dark and test my mettle merely by getting out the door rather than hitting snooze.

But before that happens, summer offers one last perfect gift. Some cool night, after adapting to the summer heat, improving my speed in short races and logging hundreds of sun-drenched miles, out of nowhere I'll experience a burst of speed that is easy to mistake for pure joy. It's the last rush of summer happiness that has to last all winter long.

Glen Freyer is a television executive developing new reality shows in New York. He runs 30–40 miles a week as penance.