Chris Hayden shortened his stride, took a deep breath and then used his T-shirt to wipe the sweat from his face as culminated his run around Woodward Park Monday afternoon.

It wasn’t that Hayden – an avid runner that likes to mix-up his routes throughout town – wasn’t in shape or unable to handle the distance that he had set for himself.

He just wasn’t ready for the summer heat that has been all but absent so far this year.

With breezy conditions last week and temperatures in the 80s – warm compared to the fall-like weather that seemed to linger throughout the spring – residents are finally experiencing a string of 90-plus degree days seemed to evade the Central Valley until now.

The change, Hayden said, will just take a little bit of getting used to.

“Last month I was running in long sleeves and that was pretty unexpected,” he said. “This is what I should be used to by now but I’m not. I’ll be fine in a few days.”

Accuweather has the temperatures hovering right at or above 90 degrees for the remainder of the work week. Forecasters predict that the mercury will hit 95 degrees today and reach the high 90s by the weekend.

It’s all a little much for Rachael Wainwright who was out at the park playing with her two young sons – both of whom seemed unfazed by the blazing sun – while she hovered nearby.

While it’s not the triple-digit heat that will be engulfing the region before too long, Wainwright says that she’d much rather be in the confines of her air conditioned house while her boys played with the litany of toys that they have at their disposal.

“They like coming down here and running around and I like being out here with them when it isn’t so hot,” she said from beneath her wide-brimmed hat and behind oversized sunglasses. “I’m not originally from here – I’m from up north where things are a little bit more tolerable during the summer. I love the winters here because it doesn’t rain non-stop, but the heat is something that I can’t get behind.”

Grant Bryson, however, was unfazed.

With his skateboard in one hand and a soda in another, the teenager said he’s used to spending summer in the Central Valley at his father’s house and doesn’t really mind the heat until it gets above 100-degrees.

Monday afternoon, he said, was actually kind of nice.

“You spend so much time inside the rest of the year, this is a chance to enjoy the sunshine,” he said. “Isn’t this why we live in California?”