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"They waited for me as for the rain, And opened their mouth as for the spring rain."

Job 29:23

The rain came on and off all day. A sunless day, a day that you want to sleep in, wear fuzzy jammies, drink coffee and cuddle on the couch.
Or for me, another day to taper. I was able  meet Lacey to find ridiculous matching running outfits, have a fun lunch date with her and Melissa at Honchos, get a massage and still make it home to coach.

The rain really picked up for XC. It wasn't looking like we were going to get to run.
The thunder was rolling in the distance.
If I was running on my own I would run outside with bells on.

Rain Runs are MY FAVORITE!

I kept looking at the radar hoping I could take the kids out.
Then I saw a window.

I grabbed my group of 7 and together we headed out into the rain with pure joy.

The rain was coming down so hard we could hardly see. I couldn't stop laughing as the rain saturated my face and hair.
The smell and taste of the fresh rain water was very invigorating.
Initially, it chilled me as the cold damp water touched my warm skin. I knew the best way to get acclimated to the rain was to be completely sopped, drenched in wetness.
Hence, when I saw the biggest water puddle I could find, I lead the way right through it, jumping in the middle! Water splashed in all directions, my shoes were heavy with puddle juice and my running pants were now dripping. The kids were startled at my childlike behavior but all followed my lead giggling and laughing.

40 kids were running around the campus, all within about 15 minutes from the school. This made it easy to return if it should start thundering or lightning.
We were a minute farther out when we heard what sounded like a distant BOOM. It was hard to tell if it was thunder.
We were at mile 2, "Hey guys, I think that was thunder, we better head back in."
My group all started complaining. They did NOT want to come in. We headed into the coverage of the woods to see if it cleared up. The other kids began to thin out around campus as my group begged to go farther.
We snuck another mile in with no thunder and this allowed us to try and go for 4 miles.
One of my athletes says "Coach, can I head in? I got vaccines today and my legs are sore."
Being that there were no other athletes still running other than my group I replied "Yes, great job."
However, he wasn't gone a minute when he returned! " I don't want to go in, I want to keep running with you guys."
I wish you could have seen the smiles on the kids.
I was so proud of them. When everyone else headed in they wanted more.
We looked like drowned rats. Very happy and smiling drowned rats.

Rain RUNS. These are my favorite runs. Jama and I had a trail run a couple years ago. We got caught in the rain, in the woods and all we could do was run. The fear was quite a adrenaline rush.
Lacey and I got didn't just get caught in the rain last year, Andy actually came around to drive us home. The radar showed heavy downpour and storm. We waved him off and kept running. Oh Lordy! It thundered something fierce. We couldn't even see it was raining so bad. We laughed, tripped in potholes 10 inches deep, waved at people who sat on their porches shocked we were running and giddy in it.

When is the last time you ran in the rain? GO PLAY!

BIG SHOUT OUT TO ALEXIS N. She rocked out her 9th Boston Marathon!

Anita~