Rain Running

Southern Californians are generally ill-prepared for inclement weather of any kind. Take rain for example...

This weekend, I drove down to San Diego with some of our brilliant team from SGCF to attend a Children's Ministry Conference. It had been raining off-an-on the day we went down. We counted six accidents on the 15 South. Then, on the way home, two more accidents.

I have a cautious streak that's pretty wide, so I slow down in the rain. And, I'm not inclined to run in the serious rain. 1) I don't have sufficient rain gear and 2) I really don't want to slip, fall, pull something, twist something or otherwise injure myself.

So, today I ran on the treadmill at Reps For Life (a local gym I joined in January to help compliment my marathon training). My workout assignment was just 45 minutes of running at about 60% of my maximum heart rate. In other words, an easy run where I could "theoretically" hold a conversation.

This "rain running" caused me to think about a few things...

1) since I was in control of the incline and speed on the treadmill, I had a sense of command over my environment and my body--that was cool for the first 15 minutes, and very boring for the last 30 minutes

2) even though I was running a good pace for me, the extremely fit gal 4 treadmills over was totally going for some kind of record and I couldn't help but occasionally see her in my peripheral vision and get that jealousy vibe

3) just when I imagined I was finishing mile 26 in my race and the endorphins were pumping and Paul Coleman Trio was singing me to victory...I hit my ear-buds with my hand and dropped my entire ipod on the floor which resulted in me having to do the "straddle" on the machine--it completely broke my rhythm and gave gold-medal gal a big advantage

4) all-in-all, I prefer running outside. I think we are made to enjoy a little bit of uncertainty, to travel while we exert ourselves (versus "standing still" on the mill), to feel the wind in your face and wonder whether you can make it home instead of plodding along...knowing you can hit the stop button anytime

Rain, rain...go away.