When I woke up on Sunday morning it was pouring rain. For several minutes, I wondered whether two and a half years of monthly racing would finally come to an end. I've been talking about ending the streak for a while, and if I let this race go by, it would be done...
But I just couldn't let it end. Not that day. I decided to take my own advice: "Shut up and run."
I rarely - if ever - run in the rain. At first I made a makeshift slicker out of a garbage bag to wear over to the race start. But as we all know, it's not how you feel, dahling, it's how you look. And I looked like a dork. So I went back upstairs and finally found my one running windbreaker and headed down to Aquatic Park.
When I arrived, I could barely get under the tent to register, because everyone was huddled in there trying to stay dry. It struck me as strange, since we'd all be out there running in it before long, but who am I to judge? Where was that Hefty bag now, I wondered.
At the stroke of 9 am, we were off. Running along the Embarcadero normally means dodging tons of tourists and bikers. Instead of that, we were dodging puddles.
After several minutes I realized that running in the rain isn't so bad if it's not cold. I was actually rather enjoying myself. I had a chance to relax and think random thoughts.
"I wonder how The Waterfront stays in business."
"Oh, there's that Peruvian restaurant, La Mar, people keep talking about. Have to check that place out."
"I can't believe I watched 10 hours of Oscar nominees yesterday."
"Are we there yet?"
"When you fall off the face of the Earth, where do you land?"
Stuff like that.
Along the way, I seemed to be keeping a good just-under-10-minute mile pace, which was encouraging after my (lack of) performance at the Miami Half. Race results have yet to be posted, but according to my watch I finished the 6.4 miles in an hour flat.
After picking up my ribbon (everyone's a winner at DSE), I headed home to get ready for my big date with Hugh.
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