Okay, this is just getting ridiculous…

Just a minute after noon today, I ran upstairs and poked my head out to check the weather: the sun shone through patches of blue ringed by foreboding clouds. There was a stiff wind but, all in all, the conditions were far superior to those I enjoyed running cross-country in Massachusetts into November.

I poppped back downstairs, started chowing an apple for energy, and mapped out a 5-mile route for today. I changed into shorts, base layer, ripper, and Indestructo-boots. I was out the door by 12:20 PM.

The run started nicely: the sun had hid from me but the rain and headwind were light. I cruised the first section west and hit Towne easily as the rain started to fall harder. The downhill was quick and kept me charged me for the next flat (slightly uphill) section back east. I even enjoyed a happy tailwind and did not mind the increasingly strong rain. Once I passed College on 6th, the rain started to get bad, and by the time I hit Claremont, I had been running in little white pellets of hail for the last two minutes.

This is Claremont! In April!

I returned to my office, completely soaked, having completed just over 5 miles in under 35 minutes. My quads and hamstrings are sore, to say the least, but I feel amazing. I need a tattoo that reminds me to run, that whatever is wrong with my life, running will make me happy. What a lucky person I am to be so happy and healthy.