I woke up yesterday morning to rain. Not just a little drizzle mind you, but an all-out sheets of rain downpour. All I could think was “Yippee!” Yes, the thought did momentarily occur to me that I could go to the gym and run on the treadmill…NOT! As you know, I love running in the rain.
I first discovered the pleasures of rain running when I lived in the south. There I experienced sudden mid-afternoon thunderstorms in the summertime that would come up from nowhere and absolutely drench you. Oh man, it felt so good in that hot humid weather. The steam would rise from my body like a pony express horse.
Of course, running in cold-weather rain requires the proper gear. With the right clothes made of wicking fabrics, you really don’t feel wet – even after an hour or so out there. I love my Nike jacket for this purpose. All the seams are covered and absolutely no wet gets in.
Well, this was the first time all winter I’ve had the opportunity to run in the rain and it was so terrific. I even managed to stay out of the major foot-soaking puddles until the last mile or so. My Asics are still not dry ;-). It feels so good to be able to do this again, and the 5 miles came easy with no pain at all.
As I was heading for home on the last ¼ mile I came upon a guy walking his dog. “You must be really dedicated,” he shouted at me. “Very!” “How many marathons have you run?” I paused for a second. Yeah, I could have lied. Or I could have combined the two half marathons I’ve done and said “One.” But we all know that’s just not the same. That’s one case in which 13.1 X 2 does not equal 26.2. “Absolutely none,” I shouted to him and laughed.
I’m ok with this. Really I am. I am a real runner, even though I’ve never subjected myself to 26.2…and maybe I never will. But I can tell you this. If training for a marathon means re-injury and more down time, I’ll do without it, for the rest of my life if necessary. I just can’t imagine missing another winter of running in the rain.
