Real runners

Real runners run in the rain. Real smart runners look at the weather radar, see the severe weather still in the area, and find a treadmill on which to run. No one has ever accused me of being a smart runner. I do hate to run in humidity (a real handicap here in the generally sunny, hot south) and rain is nothing if not over the top humidity but I didn't melt when I ran in the rain before so I convinced myself I wouldn't melt this time either. My sister wants to run the Disney half with me again in January and I am not only considering that (although I'd hopefully train for it this time!) but I am unexplainably attracted to the idea of the Inaugural Rock and Roll Savannah Marathon and Half Marathon in November. Any takers who want to shuffle along with me? Of course, I have the running bug about as long as it takes for me to get out the door and start sweating. Who knew I was such a lame baby? --about the weather, about exercise in general, about hills, about everything except signing up online and forking over the money.

Anyway, despite the nasty storms lingering in the area, I liberally applied Body Glide (how can I possibly be almost out of it when I haven't done any long runs in a coon's age?) and popped out the door to a pleasant surprise. No, it wasn't the sun drying up all the rain ala Itsy Bitsy Spider but it was a break in the deluge. And really, it's good to find happiness in the small things, right? Of course, that means I used the last of my precious Body Glide for a short run that didn't require it. Ah well. Consider it my small contribution to the working of the economy when I buy the next stick.

It was still nastily humid but I discovered that my new iPod (shhhhh! Don't tell anyone D. got me a replacement iPod instead of the Zune. I just can't change my corporate allegiance if I love a product--and already have a good iTunes library--just because MS is now paying our bills) clips to my clothes and was already fully charged. Bonus! The neighbors haven't heard me belting out my playlist for quite a while now. I'm sure they missed the off-key serenade as well as my fabulous listening choices. It's funny when you listen to songs you haven't heard in a while. They do take you back. I was in the locker room at college with the rest of the swimmers as I caterwauled along to December 1963 (Oh What a Night). I smiled and hummed to The Shores of Les Cheneaux by Mary Gerwin as I imagined running up at the cottage. Incidentally, she's got a gorgeous voice if you are unfamiliar (and in the spirit of full disclosure, my daughter and her niece are friends). I remembered the Erasure concert with an old boyfriend when I heard Take a Chance on Me. I could see my daughter shaking pom-pons in one of her dances from years ago during Avril Lavigne's Boyfriend (of course, mine is the explicit version and hers was not only the radio track but cut out even further so not exactly the same song). I suspect I was running very strangely during Flo Rida's Low since that and Kid Rock's All Summer Long take me directly to The Islander Bar at the cottage and evenings spent dancing there with J. so the run started to look like a weird jerking run/dance combo. And there are so many more songs connected to people and places in my life. I might have to do a long run just to hear and enjoy them all again. (See how I can happily plan for more--and longer--running when I am safely ensconced at the computer and nowhere near the vicinity of my running shoes?)

So did the weather hold out for me you ask now that I've finished with the digression down the song inspired memory lane? It did. Not that you could tell by the time I got home given I was dripping with sweat and looked like a cloud burst had centered its efforts all on me. As much as I'd like to claim I worked that hard, it really is a function of the humidity combined with my appallingly overactive sweat glands rather than any impressive exercise chops that I looked like I had been running for hours. I also learned that my contacts help keep more sweat out of my eyes than I knew. How did I discover this little known perk of being blind as a bat? Well, I rubbed an eye to wipe some sweat out of it and promptly swiped my contact out too. I used to regularly lose contacts in the pool when I swam but I never imagined I'd sacrifice one to running. Life is just full of surprises. And once that tiny corrective piece of plastic was gone, salty water seemed magnetically attracted to that particular eye. Sopping wet, weeping from one blind eye, and only capable of barking out every tenth word of the songs on the iPod, the end of my run was really some kind of wonderful. Well, it was some kind of something but I'm trying to keep things G rated on here.

Running wasn't all bad though. If it had been, I wouldn't even begin to contemplate the races, even from the safety of the computer chair. I do feel smug about going out and going 3+ miles in nasty weather when I certainly didn't have to, not even for exercise purposes. I've played tennis twice this week already and have another match tomorrow (could I actually win for once?) so adding in a run as short as this was hardly impacts the exercise front at all. And I have mostly been good as gold with what I've been eating and am at almost 25 pounds lost since January so I'm a mere 6 pounds up from my lowest adult weight and what I weighed when we moved here three years ago. Feeling pretty good in general. Maybe that's what it takes for me. I won't be on the roads tomorrow (unless it rains and my match gets called off) but I very well might take running shoes with me to the dance competition and take a run during one of our very long breaks. Then again, the competition is in the mountains and, well, did I mention I'm a big lame baby about hills?!