Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head... and sneakers

I normally avoid running in the rain; it's one of the reasons I have a gym membership.  On Friday, however, I needed to do a 15 mile run and it was raining and there was no way I was doing 15 miles on a treadmill -- a girl needs some standards.  And because of scheduling conflicts, I couldn't put this run off.  In the back of my mind I knew that running in bad weather was a necessary evil.  After all, what if it rained on race day? I needed to know I could power through, even in less than ideal conditions.

So after weather.com assured me once again that it was not going to stop raining for the rest of the day, I laced up for what was going to be my longest run ever and my first experience with rain running.  Water belt: check. ipod in plastic baggie: check. Waterproof headphones: check. Baseball cap to keep rain out of my face: check.  Route mapped out: check. Could everything on my person get wet and would I still survive?  yes and yes.  And so I was off.

The first few miles were pretty nice.  I actually found that since I was concentrating on the rain, I wasn't thinking much about running and so the distance sort of melted away.  It also turns out that the rain feels pretty nice when you're running, especially in humidity.  I ran along Rock Creek Park and down past Watergate at which point the trail opens up and the Potomac appears on your right.  I watched the rain hit the water's surface; an uninterrupted downpour of grey on murkier grey.  I passed the Lincoln Memorial and the brave tourists with their umbrellas and their cameras. I passed the Korean War Memorial with the troop of hunched soldiers in their heavy ponchos and was reminded that there are much more challenging things than running.  That monument always gives me chills.

Every time the rare runner passed I felt a sense of camaraderie; we're both braving this weather to run!  We're both sopping wet! We're hardcore!  Of course, it wouldn't really be fair to call myself hardcore at this point -- I never run in the rain. These people passing me probably ran in the rain all the time.  Weather probably meant nothing to them.  They laughed in the face of weather. If there was a way to eat weather for breakfast, these people probably did it as a pre-race snack.  I was an impostor, pretending to be a part of their hardcore, weather-eating club when this was in fact my inaugural race.  I was accustomed to oatmeal!

By mile 10 the rain was coming down a lot harder and the puddles were getting bigger and I knew that I could either duck out now and finish at the gym or, because of my route, be committed to finishing the last few miles in the storm.  Maybe it was a lame decision, but I opted to finish on the treadmill.  I felt confident that 10+ miles in the rain were adequate to prove to myself that I could do it and honestly, I was just completely soaked - sneakers, pants, hat - the works.  So I finished my run at the gym and then ran back home. And I felt good!  The last few miles were tough and my legs were definitely tired, but this was one of the first runs where I have started to feel like I can actually reach 26.2 miles.  Maybe it was crossing the half-marathon point and getting closer to the length of the full race.  Or maybe it was that even at 10 miles in, I still felt pretty strong.  In any case, my rain run gave me more confidence going forward and made me feel good about training (I had sort of started getting nervous and psyching myself out a little, and I know that that is a big danger with distance running).  I feel good knowing I have almost 2 months till the race and things are on track.  Oh god, a track -- can you imagine running 15 on a track?  60 laps. SIXTY. Maybe rain isn't so bad after all.