A Rainy Running Revelation

I am one of the sick individuals who is actually a morning person. Most of the time I'm pretty good at pretending I am not, but I underneath my wicked ability to hit the snooze button with an addiction typically reserved for crack heads, I truly feel the best when I get up early and get on with my day.

Yesterday, a Saturday, I woke up at my parent's house in Idaho, after having heading down for the weekend to spend some quality time with my brother, sister-in-law, and baby niece who are visiting from Denver. It was about 6:30 am. And I was wide awake. There is something about my parents house that prevents normal people from being able to sleep-in. My thoughts wandered as I lay there, fighting my natural urge to be awake. And then it hits me --- Once again, my rest day from running had morphed into two - and I knew that I needed to get my run on. No problem right? Plenty of folks get up first thing and head out ---but as I listen for sounds of life from the other parts of the house, I hear one thing: the steady thump of the rain outside. Perfect. I need to get super motivated, and the rain is all that greets me.

I have come to the realization that for me to run I just have to plunge in. So I crawl out from under the covers, and pile on my running gear. Taking a look outside, I resist the urge to tough it out without a jacket, and make a quick recon of my parents laundry room - finding an adidas windbreaker that had been purchased in the mid nineties. I'm sure I looked ready for the runway - beat up dirty sneakers, incredibly tight compression running capris, an oversized pull over adidas jacket and a winter cap.

My goal was to simply make it to the railroad tracks and back, approximately 2.2. miles - I had no intention of going for the gusto - just trying to dust the cobwebs off and get my heart pumping. Not to mention it was raining pretty steadily at this point and I was not motivated to do more the minimum However, as I turned back at the tracks to prepare for my 1.1 miles back to the Krebs' casa - I had an incredibly urge to just see how far I could actually go. At this moment the weather decided to throw in a challenge at the sleet started. Thank god for that funky adidas jacket! Undaunted, I ran to my mom and dad's driveway and kept going - figuring i just make it a 3 miler. But as a I continued on I decided that instead of doing what was the minimum - I'd make it my long run and folks, I ran 4 miles that morning. It was a great feeling to accomplish my longest run yet on this journey, and not even had planned to do so.

I felt like with every step, one more piece of the "becoming a runner puzzle" fell into place. I made it home soaking wet, and feeling great. It served as a reminder that there is more strength buried in your soul then you can imagine, you just have to keep digging and keep running.