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| Wringing the water out of my rain-soaked shirt |
Needless to say, I didn't add many rainy day runs to my life list when I lived there.
Florida, not surprisingly, has changed that situation right quick.
Today, with an 8-miler on the calendar, Hubby and I drove home from a blissful, sunny, 24-hour mini-vacation in Panama City Beach and drove right into a rainstorm. (Maybe I should have run before we checked out of the hotel? But the storm was heading toward us... Earlier departure = more dry driving time, and I hate driving in the rain.)
We got home, unpacked the car, and I surfed the weather radar for an hour. When I finally saw my opportunity -- no rain outside at that moment, and a clear spot on the weather map -- I laced up my running shoes and headed out.
Lesson learned: I was not cut out to be a meteorologist.
Within 2 blocks of home, the sky opened up. (So much for that clearing on the weather radar!)
I considered turning around and picking the run up again later, but really, the rain didn't hurt. And I don't melt. Plus, I have a streak to maintain, so I had to get in at least a mile.
Once I got used to the squishing, I realized that running in the rain is kind of fun. The roads were nearly empty. All the off-leash dogs were inside staying dry. The world was quiet. And I got to splash in puddles like a little kid.
I sloshed past a house where a woman was sitting on the porch, in a bathrobe, smoking a cigarette. I thought to myself:
I'll bet she thinks I'm crazy.I also wondered:
And I know I think she is.
To each their own...
If I hadn't started out on this odd little holiday run-every-day streak, would I have braved the rain?The answer is... I probably would have rescheduled. (San Diego turned me into a bit of a weather wuss.) So I'm glad I had an incentive to get out and run today, despite the rain. It was much more relaxing than I thought it would be.
Do you brave the elements, or do you head for the gym at the first sign of bad weather?
