I’m ashamed.
I’m an Oregonian.
What does that mean? It means rain is a way of life. If you live in Oregon, and you don’t like or can’t tolerate the rain, you move or you make your life (and everyone’s around you) miserable by complaining about it all the time. It’s as simple as that. I love the rain, welcome the rain, get tired of it periodically and rejoice when it’s sunny. I rarely, if ever, complain about it (unless I’m in a shitty mood) because I am an Oregonian.
I run when it’s raining because if I didn’t, I may not run for weeks at a time. So this morning when my alarm went off at 3:45 I heard the wind (which was howling) and the rain, but I got up anyway.
When I let my dog out I noticed it was raining harder than it had sounded through my bedroom window. Still, I went back upstairs and changed into my running garb. Gloves, Garmin, mace, all set. I looked at my Nike rain jacket, but dismissed it because I hate bulk when I run and that thing makes me too hot within minutes, even when it’s cold.
Let the dog in. Opened the front door and had to pause. Jeez. It was R-E-A-L-L-Y raining. Big fat drops, tons of them. And the wind was blowing fiercely. I went back upstairs and got my jacket and grumbled under my breath about how I was sure I’d be tying it around my waist in a matter of minutes and how stupid it was that I was even getting it. But I put it on.
Stepped outside, hit the Garmin and headed out for 8 miles. Immediately it was awful. The rain was coming down sideways and by the time I got to the main street (about a quarter of a mile) I was drenched everywhere my rain jacket wasn’t covering. I couldn’t keep my eyes open because the rain was being blown into my face by the wind. It was not pretty.
To add to my total frustration, I’m one of those runners who like to run in the street. That’s one reason (among many) that I run so freaking early. There are generally no cars running about between 3:45 and 5:30 a.m. and the streets are mine. This morning however, because the rain and wind were so noisy I kept thinking that I heard cars coming and the thought of being hit by a car was far too distracting to find my “happy pace.”
I tried using all of my push myself talk – but my heart wasn’t in it and when I reached the next turn I took it and made my way back home. Back in the warmth of my house I was a little disappointed, but once I put my warm pajamas back on and climbed back in bed I was totally over it! I was granted an extra 1 ½ hours of sleep by my actions!! Yay!
Of course, when I left for work it wasn’t raining nearly as hard as it had been at 4, but you know, I’m really okay with an extra day off.
***
On a completely different subject I am sure there is someone in your life that is extremely hard to buy gifts for. They have everything they need and if they don’t they are in a position to be able to just purchase whatever it is. It makes gift giving very difficult. You have to be more thoughtful with your actions.
I have a friend like this, actually I have a few, but one in particular has a birthday in March. I’ve been trying to figure out what exactly to give him for months. Literally at least 4 months I’ve been mulling over options. Asking friends who have similar interests, but don’t know him, for ideas. Taking it all in, mulling, stewing, it’s absorbed a lot of my free time. I got many good ideas, but they never felt right.
As March loomed, I worried that I would have to resort to something easy, a gift card, or something along those lines. And then, by a fluke, or possibly with God’s direction, I happened upon what I believe to be the perfect gift and I feel as though I’ve hit the lottery here. I have never been so excited to give someone a gift as I am right now. I get to pick it up next week and I will ship it off to him at that time. I can’t tell you what it is, because he reads my blog periodically and after the effort put into this gift, it would totally blow if he found out early – but I will share it with you and how I came about choosing it, once he gets it – (I’ll even provide pictures!)
The point here is small, thoughtful, concentrated effort and FAITH on my part produced an extraordinary opportunity. I want to remember that, always, because it is so simple to forget. Everyone in my life is special and important, or they wouldn’t be in it. To that end, they deserve my thoughtfulness where they are concerned, because very often, possibly more than I know, I receive theirs.
Have a wonderful rest of the week people!
How do you keep your feet dry in the rain? I’m very curious for this rain running. I need to figure out some plan Bs if it rains on my race days.
Actually unless I am doing trail running or running through puddles my feet don’t get that wet. It rained pretty much the entire time I ran the Portland Marathon and I carried an extra pair of socks, because nothing is worse than wet feet with three more hours of running ahead of you. Taking 5 minutes to change socks is worth it.
What sneakers do you use? I feel like my feet get wet easily in my asics, but maybe it’s cause I do a great job of landing in every puddle
I run in Sauconys. And you might be right, I have had friends complain about their feet getting really wet in asics. But they may be hitting all the puddles too.
I know you hate it when I say this, but I’ve NEVER run in the rain! I actually want to so that I can train a bit, but it’s never happened. I don’t think the rain would bother me as much as the wind, though. I hate running in the wind. It feels like it is pushing me off track and I’m going super slow.
And I LOVE finding the perfect gift for people. It is such a great feeling!
I don’t hate it when you say it, I actually enjoy calling you a bitch… 🙂 running in the rain is not a bad thing, it’s easy to get use to and it’s especially nice if it’s been warm for a few days. But if it’s super windy or very cold and windy it can suck. My only complaint in the rain is chaffing. My last 20 mile run was in the rain and my sports bra rubbed my skin raw at its base and then my underarms were close to bloody. It was painful and all produced by rain, friction and no Vaseline. 😦
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