Rain Runner

I woke up last night to the sound of the pouring down rain. Absolutely pouring! Pouring so hard, in fact, that it took me a minute to figure out what I was hearing.

Enter Brenton at who knows what time. All I know is it was early. Too early. He climbed on in, snuggled close, and I dreamed of dreaming...

Brenton is usually the best bed snuggler. He rarely kicks or tosses. Not never. But, rarely. This morning was not one of his finer moments. His sweet noggin bonked my chin more times than I can count. He tossed. He turned. He kicked. I was about to send him away...

Enter Ella. Sweet Ella. Who hasn't been a good bed snuggler since, well ever. Between the two of them, I should have just gotten out of bed before I got any crabbier. But, I just had such hopes of sleeping!

Finally, they both exit stage right and at this point I need to get up because my sweet, wonderful, amazing sis-in-law was on her way over to watch the kiddos so I could go for my 10 miler.

Crabby would be a good word to describe me. Gray, wet and rainy would be some good words to describe what it was like outside. Warm, cozy, noisy and chaotic would be some good words to describe what it was like inside my house. With Cory gone, a 1/2 that I want a serious PR on next weekend and a Brooks jacket that I wanted to test in the rain, I knew I had to get out there.

So, because I'm so tough, I wore this...

Rain Runners was our team name for Hood to Coast. I thought the shirt would be a perfect mental push for me. Embrace the rain. Embrace the pain. Embrace.

I focused on taking it slow. Paying attention to my form. Adding some strides here and there. Trying to soak up the beauty of the day. (Ha ha, soak!) By mile 8 my legs were heavy and my quads were so tight that I dreamed of the stretches I would do when I got home.

Still, 10, you just don't do good things for me!

Finishing strong. A little walk down the hill and headed for home.

I was soaked! Completely soaked.

After the run. Soaked. But your really couldn't tell. Until...

I took my jacket off!! Soaked to the gills! Only two 1" patches of fabric were dry on the sides of my shirt!

I was thankful for my jacket during my run. I felt that it definitely kept me visible, especially in the rain. I'm not quite sure that it kept me dry, however. Was my shirt soaked from my sweat since I was so nice and toasty warm? Or, did the jacket do nothing to keep me dry? Not sure, but I think that staying dry while running in the rain is a relative term. Because, let's face it, running in the rain gives you one thing and one thing alone. A soaking wet self!