Waiting and Wading

Last night, I was hoping to head home after work and get in a quick 5 mile run in order to beat the forecasted humidity in the morning... but I had to wait. Being a technical director in tv that I am, you sometimes have to stay late into the night during the summer months when severe weather is prone to happen. Last night was one of those nights. Severe weather was whipping through the area and I had to stay late to help put the severe weather alerts on the air. I was finally able to leave the station and head home at around midnight, but by that time, I was pretty much worn out from the days events. So I decided to wait until morning, even if that meant running in a steam bath. When I got up this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see (and to feel) that the humidity and heat that was predicted yesterday was no where to be found. It was actually overcast and cool... my favorite. With that, I strapped on my running shoes and headed outside to get in my run. But... again I had to wait. As soon as I stepped outside, the skies darkened up pretty quickly and got somewhat ominous looking. I headed back inside to wait a couple minutes to see what would transpire, and almost immediately the clouds started gushing water from the heavens... tick tock, tick tock... more waiting. Finally, at around 10am this morning, the rain let up and the thunder stopped booming to where I felt it was safe enough to try and get in my run. When I stepped outside for a second time, I was still pleasantly surprised that the humidity still was not there. It was still very cool and overcast and there was actually a light, refreshing rain falling. No more waiting... It was time to go. My opening miles were quite enjoyable. It had been so long since I had started out a run in a nice, relaxing rain and the pure enjoyment of running in the morning mist made me click off the first three miles at 7:35, 7:24 and 7:15. A little over a minute into my fourth mile, I was running on the Capitol City Bike Path when I encountered a huge section of standing water that had pooled from last nights rain storm. It was at least ankle deep if not higher. If you remember, this is the same area that I had written about in my June 9th post, where I decided to batten down the hatches and plow right through it, leaving my shoes and socks totally soaked and squishing for my remaining miles. Once again, I was waiting... this time to decide what to do. I really didn't feel like doubling back because I've always hated running the same route that I just came from. Plus the traffic was fairly busy from whence I just came. Plowing through the water wasn't much of an option either. It was fun, almost exhilirating, to do that on the June the 9th, but I still had three miles to go, and the thought of running those final miles with soaked shoes was far less appealing than it was a month ago. So... instead of wating, I waded. I just decided to stop, smell the proverbial roses, and take off my shoes and socks to wade through the waterhole of a bike path... and you know what... I really loved it. By that time the light rain had ceased and the cool rainwater that was lapping up again my feet and ankles felt equally as refreshing as the rain shower I had been running in. It was really heavenly. Once I crossed through and got to dry land, I just sat down in the middle of the bike path, put on my socks and shoes, and continued on my way. Sometimes when you stop for several minutes during a run as I did this morning, it's sometimes hard to get that pace and rhythm you were running with earlier back. That was not the case today. In fact, it had the reverse effect. I actually picked up the pace and ran faster. My last three mile splits were 7:25, 7:07 and 7:04. It's amazing what a little walk through the water can do to lift your spirits. Maybe that's something we all need to keep in mind in our every day life. I don't mean just the act of walking through a cool puddle of water. I'm talking about just taking some time to enjoy the simple things this world has to offer... life's little pleasures. I truly believe that the world as a whole forgets to do that. Everybody gets so caught up in keeping their schedules and appointments, sending text messages and making calls on their cell phones that they forget to enjoy those special little moments in life. It really can make a world of difference to just stop and smell the roses once in awhile... it did the trick for me.

Today's workout: 6.2 miles > 45:34 > 7:18 pace

Miles this week: 23.4