The Runners are Coming

I woke up to gray skies and a steady stream of continued rainfall. It wasn’t what I wanted to see first thing in the morning. Certainly not, first thing in the morning of my last 20-miler. I silenced the alarm and rolled over in bed — AWAY from the window. It was sort of game with Mother Nature. “I’ll close my eyes for 1 hour”, I suggested, “and, when I open them, please make the rain be gone.”

But Mother Nature was not playing along. An hour later the rain was coming down even harder. I went downstairs for a cup of coffee and returned to the warmth of my bed to send out a few text message of inquiry. Was ANYONE running today? Or was I the only crazy one? There was no response. Apparently, everyone is sleeping in today.

In desperation, I tried to move my hair appointment from Sunday afternoon to Saturday morning but to no avail. So, I resigned myself to running… as planned… only IN the rain.

I was struggling to gather some enthusiasm as I located all of my long run garb when myPhone began singing a familiar tune. It would appear that I was NOT the only crazy one willing to run in the rain. I was thrilled at the prospect of having company for the 1st 12 miles of my run.

Starting out, it would appear that we were the ONLY crazies out that day. But as the time and miles passed, we saw more and more runners and cyclists out there with us. Everyone was bright and cheery — including me. It was so refreshing.

The sun even peaked out from time to time just to see what we were doing. We had a hard time pretending not to notice. You know, we’ve been having a lot of WET these past many days. I didn’t even try to pretend that I didn’t see it leave and the rain return.

But, by then, I’d run the majority of my miles with company. I bid farewell to my friend, changed into a dry shirt and jacket, and returned to the road.

When it was all said and done, I’d run my 20+ miles. 20.8 miles to be exact. I returned home, to my hustle and bustle, a whole lot worse for wear. Yes, I was hobbling a bit, thanks to a few bloody blisters. I was also running seriously late for guitar lessons with YaYa. But…I got it done: The long run, guitar, and a load of laundry.

I can now relax (just a bit). It’s taper time, and I’ve earned it.

As if in confirmation of my completion of the hard training, my Welcome Packet from Boston arrived. Woo Hoo! It appears that the folks in Boston are now the ones rushing around preparing for my arrival. Listen. Can you hear them calling out Paul Revere like,”The Runners are Coming. The Runners are Coming?”