Rain? Not Today

I worried for nothing.

I really did not sleep well last night in anticipation of today's run. It wasn't a positive anticipation though as I knew there would be challenges. But I did well to meet them head-on and got a massive dose of good luck.

Last night when I checked the weather, it was supposed to rain in the morning, through 9 a.m. But when I checked the weather this morning, it was only supposed to rain until 6:30. But when I stepped out my front door at 5:50, it was not raining. And it did not rain at all during my run!

I still wore my rain gear - gloves, hat, jacket, wicking shirt - but I didn't need it to keep me dry.

The night before, I'd realized I had no Gu (HATE when that happens) so I improvised. I took a Clif bar with me and ate half of it around the 4-mile mark, and the other half close to nine miles.

I tried to run about the same pace as I do on Sundays, so I didn't set any new course records. It took me just over an hour to hit the six-mile mark.

Towards the end of my run, I decided to take run through a neighborhood near my daughter's school. My attempt at six miles out, six miles back didn't quite work so I had to make up some miles somewhere. This was my attempt and it was not my greatest idea. The neighborhood is a "working class neighborhood" which is a nice way of saying it's a sh__hole. Ghetto. Junk cars and dirt lawns everywhere, chain-link fences hanging by threads surrounding many of the houses and, of course, dogs. So many dogs everywhere. Most of them were behind some sort of fence, and since I had my iPod on I couldn't hear them too much, but my eyes were constantly scanning the houses in front and behind me.

I made it about three-fourths of the way through this trashy area, nearing the 10.5-mile mark, when I saw two German shepherds up ahead. They were probably 50 yards in front of me, and they were both just kind of hanging out. They saw me. I saw them. We made eye contact. The hairs on my thighs stood up. I decided it would be best to turn around, so I slowly did. I looked back and they'd stopped looking at me. I went back to the street I'd been on, and made a left to get out of this trashy area.

And wouldn't you know, some other dogs were hanging out in front of their houses as well. One of them ran at me, barking. This dog was a smaller dog. Unlike the German shepherds, I could have taken this one on with my right foot, but the dog wanted only to incite me. So the dog kept its distance.

Finally, I was near my house and maybe it was the time (it was almost 8 a.m.) but there were more dogs saluting me on the way out than on the way back. But I got my 12 miles in, actually 12.1, in about 2 hours, 10 minutes.

Even though it didn't rain on me, I was drenched. I guess the warmth of the jacket made me sweat more than normal because my shirts were soaked, and my shorts were too.

The Clif bar worked well, and so did the iPod. I made a Rainy 12-Miler playlist which I may post later this week (too lazy to do it right now, sorry) but some songs worked well (Led Zeppelin's Fool in the Rain) and some didn't (Prince's Purple Rain).

All in all, a great way to start off a Sunday.