There’s nothing quite like running in the rain. I love the rain, because it cools you off while giving you a little extra opposition. It quiets everything down so you do nothing but focus on the sounds of your footfalls, your breathing, your heart thumping, and (optionally) the conversation of whoever you’re running with. Tonight it was raining, and I had an amazing run.
Wednesday night is run night for me and four of my good friends. We’ve been hit with bad weather on almost every Wednesday since the start of December, and tonight’s forecast was freezing rain (the weather people were right for a change). Every Wednesday morning there’s a role call, with everyone telling everyone else whether they’re in. Most folks don’t like to run in the freezing rain, so three of the five indicated they’d be going straight to the pub. That left the two idiots who run in anything.
The two idiots are Pierre and I.
While Carol, Terry, and Iz went straight to the Fergus for food and bevvies, Pierre and I wanted to run. We also wanted to avoid the streets, and decided the canal was the place to be, because no one would be skating on it in weather like we had.
We jogged down to the canal after being told how silly we were, and had a flat, smooth, empty running surface 50 metres wide. It was grey, it was dark, it was raining, and it was on. The rain drowned out all the sound from the city, which allowed us to focus on the run and catching up with the last week. We started at a 10km/h pace, and slowly worked our way up to a 14km/h pace. This gets the blood flowing, and heart rate into Z2. We ran hard, we ran far, and we kicked it up to 18-20km/h for the last 300 metres or so.
It was awesome. It took away the stress of the day, the chill of the season, and the sluggishness of the night. We ran what normally takes 45 minutes in 36. That may not seem like a lot, but it’s a world of difference. I can’t tell you how alive I felt (I know it was the endorphins… be quiet) afterwards, and I’m ready to go do it again.
Whoa.
P.S. – We did make it to the Fergus afterwards for some well-deserved food and bevvies. Can you tell how much I love running?