rain dance

I did something I thought I'd never do this morning: I ran a 5K race in the rain. Pouring rain. Buckets of heavy rain. I wasn't the only one, but there weren't a lot of us.

Here's the thing - I thought it would be awful. I thought I would hate it. I thought I'd run my worse time ever. So why did I do it? Well, when I woke up and heard the rain, I thought to myself that it was pretty comfortable where I was and that no one would hold it against me if I didn't get up. The whole day I could say, well I was going to run a race, but the rain...

Or, I could drag myself out of bed and have a much better story to tell.

The race was in Revere, along the beach that was notably empty on this particular day. It was beautiful in a stormy, full of character sort of way.

Registration was thankfully inside. We were greeted by amazingly cheerful volunteers who were wonderfully inviting even though they faced standing outside in the rain for the next hour or so. The runners were equally cheerful despite thoughts of having to run through a shower.

We were soaked from just walking across the street from the registration room to the shelter in front of the start line. While we stood there watching it rain like someone was pouring water out of a bucket, it actually started raining harder. Then came the thunder.
I admit that I almost hoped lightening would follow and they'd call of the race. But alas, no.

We lined up, the horn blew, and we were off to the race. And you know what? It wasn't that bad.

My jacket did get soaked through and clung to me like saran wrap, but the temperature was about perfect for running. It turns out that once you're completely soaked, it's not so bad. It's the getting soaked that isn't so much fun. On the way out, we ran into the wind and the pelting rain. That meant, however, that on the way back, the wind was with us helping to make up for lost time.

I expected to run slower than my usual slow pace, but as I neared the finish line, I heard DH yell to me that I could do it in under 35 minutes. In the distance, I saw 34 on the timing board. It seemed too far away to make it, but I kicked it up anyway and crossed the line at 34:53. My best time ever, rain or not.