RUNNING
There’s Something About a Run in the Rain
Adventure, exploration, and learning how to play again
“…I don’t just wish you rain, Beloved — I wish you the beauty of storms…”
― John Geddes
About a mile and a half from the trailhead where my car was, I got caught in a storm. It was cloudy all day, but the weather wasn’t calling for rain for a few more hours. As many runners often mistakenly do, I thought I had plenty of time to get in my run. Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’t pay attention to the forecast and decided she needed to show up a couple of hours early.
It was one of those cold, sideways, between sleet and hail type of storms, and windy in the way that blows over semi-trucks on those flat, open plains. I was soaked within a minute, my shoes and socks sloshing as I tried to not trip on the rocky downhill.
With about a mile left, I took a quick break in the snake tunnel, a pedestrian passageway under Interstate 10. The rain was coming down hard, and I had to decide to go for it or wait it out. I had no idea about the forecast and whether it would worsen or let up, but it didn’t matter. The rain was there — no need to check if something was already happening.