Running In The Rain

I think I like running in the rain…almost love it, in fact.  I don’t overheat in the rain and, growing up in Oregon, rain is just a part of who I am.  I’m serious.  When I was in high school and was emo before emo was known as emo, I would go for long walks in the rain, in the dark, without an umbrella.  I would just walk and walk and think about life.  It was very cathartic for me and it continues to be. 

Last week when I went to run 15 miles, I wasn’t looking forward to it.  I was verging on dreading it.  In fact, I was thinking at some point after the run, maybe over the weekend, that I don’t seem to much care for running farther than a half marathon distance and that maybe this will be the only marathon I ever run because I haven’t found any joy in running longer than the half marathon distance.  It was different today.  today I ran the entire 16 miles in the rain.  While it was slow, about 12:41 average per mile (which is perfect because I could have held that pace all day if I needed to and it was only 11 seconds slower than my marathon goal pace), it was still a great run.  Unlike where I wasn’t looking forward to last week’s 15 miles, I didn’t have to talk myself into making it out the door this morning.  I was looking forward to running in the rain! 

I set out to run slow.  I didn’t want to go fast and burn out and then go SUPER slow the last couple/few miles like I did a few weeks ago when I ran 14 miles in the rain.  I succeeded.  I was and am very happy with how today’s run went.  I got an odd pain…my right knee was hurting.  If I have to stop at an intersection and wait for the light to change to cross, I usually will stretch at least my calves, but today my quads were feeling tight, so I stretched those first and then the calves if there was still time. 

Not only was it raining today, but it was COLD.  When it’s colder, I don’t feel the need to drink as much water.  Also, when it’s raining, I wear my hydration pack under my rain jacket, so, while not difficult to unzip the jacket a little and get out the drinking tube, it’s a bit of a hassle.  So I decided to just drink when I felt the need to instead of my usual every mile.  Part of the reason for that was that my Garmin was covered by my jacket sleeve, so I couldn’t look at it as easily to see where I was in regards to the next mile.  So, it just ended up I only drank when I took in a gel at miles 5, 9 and 12.5.  I felt good throughout the whole run.  My fastest mile was 12:06 and my slowest was 13:09 (and I think that was when I forgot to pause my Garmin when I stopped to wait for an intersection light to change in my favor).  Most of my miles were in the 12:40’s and the 12:50’s, so I was pretty steady with holding my pace.

But, anyway, I have now run the furthest I have ever run in my life: 16 miles!!!  Of course, that will change when I run 17 miles next week, but hey, for now, I’ve ran my longest!