The evening is hot, really hot for Michigan standards, at around 95 degrees with high humidity it is more like swimming through the air than running through it. Luckily, a strong breeze slices through the oppression from time to time drying the sweat on my face and encouraging me to run just a bit faster. My friend says he runs faster with the wind at his back, but this night I find I ran faster with the wind cooling at my face. Each gust is just pure bliss, fresh and invigorating.
It seems nothing is out save perhaps some crickets and frogs, even the lightening bugs are less. I am a road runner. For good or bad, I run on the pavement. Having a serious allergy to most things that sting, I find my comfort zone on the hot blacktop where the bees rarely travel. As I swerve off the shoulder for yet another passing motorist I feel the first mist of rain. There is so little, at first I'm unsure if I am imagining it. However, a quick glance up shows the clouds coming and fast!
Soon my run transforms into something new and adventurous with cool rain pattering down into my eyes and against the road. The road immediately cools and soon each drop of my foot is met with a small splash. It is raining so hard that the water is forming puddles on the road. My shirt sticks to me as I pick up the face, feeling alive in this onslaught of rain. I'm not chilled, but instead I'm refreshed by the coolness. After the last 5 miles of padding through the heat this rain has brought on a welcome reprieve.
Under my feet I'm increasingly aware of the coolness of the road. I've read about barefoot runners enjoying the connection with their path as they run, but I've never really felt it. The last 2 miles zip by as I enjoy all the sensations of my run, the cool rain in my face, the hot air around me, but most of all the cooling splash of each step as a continue forward. Quickly, I cover the last of my distance feeling like a kid splashing for fun in the puddles outside. I have to say that this run, has been the best I've had so far.
It seems nothing is out save perhaps some crickets and frogs, even the lightening bugs are less. I am a road runner. For good or bad, I run on the pavement. Having a serious allergy to most things that sting, I find my comfort zone on the hot blacktop where the bees rarely travel. As I swerve off the shoulder for yet another passing motorist I feel the first mist of rain. There is so little, at first I'm unsure if I am imagining it. However, a quick glance up shows the clouds coming and fast!
Soon my run transforms into something new and adventurous with cool rain pattering down into my eyes and against the road. The road immediately cools and soon each drop of my foot is met with a small splash. It is raining so hard that the water is forming puddles on the road. My shirt sticks to me as I pick up the face, feeling alive in this onslaught of rain. I'm not chilled, but instead I'm refreshed by the coolness. After the last 5 miles of padding through the heat this rain has brought on a welcome reprieve.
Under my feet I'm increasingly aware of the coolness of the road. I've read about barefoot runners enjoying the connection with their path as they run, but I've never really felt it. The last 2 miles zip by as I enjoy all the sensations of my run, the cool rain in my face, the hot air around me, but most of all the cooling splash of each step as a continue forward. Quickly, I cover the last of my distance feeling like a kid splashing for fun in the puddles outside. I have to say that this run, has been the best I've had so far.
