I had planned to run an "easy" 8 miles this weekend, since I had not had a chance to run much during the work week; I do my easy runs in West Asheville, where it is fairly flat by the French Broad river. When I woke up on Saturday morning it was raining, so I took my time getting ready; by the time I began my run it was almost 10 am, which is very late for me!
It was overcast at 10, and I never gave any thought to the fact that there was a good chance of rain. Well, I guess I MUST have had a thought or 2 in the back of my mind, because I wore a ball cap and carried my "water resistant" wind breaker. I was just happy it wasn't too sunny, as I hate running in the heat. It began sprinkling around 2.5 miles, and I was thankful for the cool-down; it only lasted a few moments. That was just the beginning...
The skies opened up around mile 4. I was thinking that possibly it would pass quickly as the earlier sprinkles had; what an imagination I have! No such luck. I quickly donned my wind breaker, which was less than helpful, and couldn't resist laughing at the thought of the message on my baseball hat: "hello sunshine!" How ironic. I was soon completely drenched, jacket clinging to me, shorts sticking to my legs, and shoes sloshing. I ran through small puddles in order to dodge the larger ones. Cars passed, splashing water up from the street. I had several honks; whether they were saying "You idiot!", "way to go!", or trying to send a more perverse message, I'm not sure. All I know is that no one stopped to offer a ride...and for that I am grateful. Truly. I wanted to at least run back to my own car, which was parked at mile 5.5. And that I did. I briefly toyed with the idea of continuing with my run (why not; I couldn't get any wetter!), but the small lake in each shoe changed my mind. And thank goodness, because not 10 minutes later the rain began falling even harder...if that were even possible...and I was enjoying my veggie sausage biscuit at West End Bakery instead of running in it!
I like to think of myself as hard core when I end up running in the rain or snow, but the truth is I would not have even gone out if there hadn't been a break in the weather. I was just unfortunate enough to get caught in it! But I am thankful for the workout, and thankful for a sense of humor.
I commented earlier, but it didn't post. Here's the gist of it:
ReplyDeleteYou are hard core, Courtney! I like running in the rain -- in the summer, but I'm with you on the sloshy shoes. Just not right.
Thanks for posting! As you can tell, I've been out of practice.