Rain Run

One of my simple pleasures in life is having a story to write--not just any stale story, mind you, but the fresh, interesting story of a Recent Experience. After a morning of activity and adventure, settling down to write the tale with a blanket and my laptop warming my legs gives me a thrill of satisfaction. Here I am, brimming with WORDS, ready to organize them into a story. When I am ready to write, my head fills so full of words that I am compelled to siphon them off through typing. I'm starting to think that the jumble of words in my head is unbearably disorganized and the act of getting them out, organized onto the page all in a satisfying order is a major allure of writing.

My weather app informed me that Wednesday and Friday would be partly cloudy, with rain on Thursday and Saturday. Based on this report, I decided to do my weekly long run on Friday. Bless spring break for her blissful freedoms! On Friday morning, I got up early and put on my running clothes, all mentally revved for a 13 miler. When I emerged from the dark basement and looked outside, I was confronted with a white wall of thick fog. I couldn't even see the end of our driveway through it! Fog that thick is dangerous for road running because cars can't see runners at a safe distance. I was also feeling quite groggy from my early wake-up, so at the last minute I decided to switch my long run to Saturday, in spite of the rainy forecast. 

Since I was already in my running clothes, I jogged a simple 4 miles through the fog on the nearby safe/zero traffic canal road on Friday morning. My preparation for a long run involves putting on several layers of mental armor, and it was weird to dismantle my assembled mental toughness for a puny four mile fog jog, but it also felt rather nice to expect 13 miles and only go 4.

Friday night before bed, I checked the weather forecast again in hopes it had changed for Saturday. It had solidified, with a 100% chance of rain at 7am, right when I planned on running. "Oh well," I told Jeff, "it will probably just be the average eastern WA patchy drizzle. We hardly ever get Missouri/Tennessee/Virginia style downpours here, and even when we do get them, they never last long." I went to bed with that expectation.

When I woke up at 6:30 this morning (Saturday), I dashed upstairs in my pajamas before putting on my running clothes to step outside and feel the air. It wasn't even raining! "Hah," I said to myself, "delaying my long run till today paid off." I still wore my most rain-worthy running apparel because a 100% chance of rain is still a 100% chance, even in eastern WA. My gear included a thin wool hat, my merino wool quarter zip shirt (time to test if wool actually does retain heat while wet), gloves, mid-thigh tight shorts, knee-high compression socks, and my new-but-already-beloved plush Altra Torin 2.5 running shoes. 

By the time I had gotten dressed and eaten some toast, it had started drizzling as expected, so I dashed down, grabbed my visor, and kissed Jeff one more time before heading out. A visor positioned low on the brow makes wearing glasses in the rain a breeze! I have never actually tried it before since we have such infrequent rainy days here, but with the visor I only got two or three droplets on my glasses during the entire two hours I was out!  As I jogged along through the rain, I kept marveling at the efficacy of my grubby old visor, which is normally reserved for the blazing sun that bakes our valley. My route was from our house in Sunnyside all the way to Grandview, where Grampa Dan's White family Saturday morning pancakes would be taking place. It is a treat to run a point-to-point run instead of an out and back or a loop--no retracing my steps today!

About two minutes into my run, the clouds let loose and rain started gushing down. My toes were squelching in my shoes within half a mile. How exciting! How COLD! This was not an average Sunnyside rainfall! It was about 45 degrees, so it was borderline too cold for comfort. I briefly considered turning back, but not too seriously. Right here, right now, THIS was my last chance for weeks to leave from home to go on a long run alone and by golly, I was taking that chance. Seizing the opportunity! As I squished along, I amused myself with inspirational chants like: when the day is gray with pouring rain, SHAINA RUNS ANYWAY! and when the winds pick up and the rain flies sideways, SHAINA RUNS ANYWAY! --etc. (distance running enhances my tolerance of and penchant for goofy/nerdy humor) 

There was a wind blowing the rain sideways into my ear for the first two miles. I tilted my head slightly sideways into the wind like Commander Riker so my visor kept the raindrops off my glasses. I made a turn and the wind was in my face for the next mile (tilt head down to protect glasses), but when I finally turned east for the last time to begin heading for Grandview in earnest along the bike path, I was quite comfortable among the fast-falling fat raindrops with the wind at my back. 

Since the light was red when I emerged from the country into town, instead of crossing Yakima Valley Highway on 16th Street to hop on the bike path, I stayed on the opposite side of the road and ran on the cracked, dirty, bumpy "sidewalk less traveled." This under-used sidewalk was littered in trash and very dirty puddles, which I did my best to skirt around. I persevered and eventually came to the sidewalk's end by the "Welcome to Sunnyside" sign. The irony of being welcomed to Sunnyside in a dark torrential downpour tickled my funny bone and inspired a quick mid-stride selfie. I dashed across the road and connected to the bike path at last, at almost five miles into my run.

The next stretch was long and straight bike path-style, with continual rain. I was soaked but I had chosen the right clothes for the day. My merino wool shirt and hat were retaining my body heat in spite of their sodden condition. My visor shielded my glasses from the rain. My knees were not hampered by wet pants. My knee-high compression socks were supportive of the whole excursion. I was cruising along at a faster-than-usual pace. Right around six miles, Jeff and the kids pulled over in the van on their way over to the Grandview grandparents' house, to check on me. I gave a thumbs up and they drove on while I kept running. At about 8 miles, I realized that I still had five whole miles before my 13 miler was done, and it was a tad disheartening because it felt like I had already gone much farther. But when the rain has soaked and there are miles to go, SHAINA RUNS ANYWAY! 

Eventually the hard downpour did let up, maybe around mile 7 or 8. Then it was a more normal steady rainfall. I stopped to stretch to make sure I didn't get injured, like any good above-30-aged runner, and it felt necessary. But in that cold rain and wind I couldn't stop for more than one minute or else I would freeze! So I quickly stretched the three necessities (quads, hammies, calves), and recommenced my run. 

Just outside Grandview, I hit some excellent puddles . Puddles never seem to look quite as deep as they actually are, so I charged on through them (not that I had a choice since they covered my way forward). The first big puddle turned out to be ankle deep in the middle, splashing me up to my knees and causing me to contemplate the possible benefits of a mid-run ice bath. A series of other puddles left me dripping wet. After the initial shock, I decided that running in 45 degree rain has two silver linings:

1. I get the best PUDDLES all to myself! 
2. People keep their dogs inside in downpours: I neither saw nor heard a single dog for eleven miles straight! Of course the minute the rain eased back to a thin drizzle I was startled by one damp dog barking just after mile 11, but it was chained up behind a fence (with a dog house for shelter). The creature was bark-and-wagging, so I only stopped and walked past while glaring at it and clutching my cocked pepper spray can for 20 or 30 steps.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I did cringe a bit every time I plunged through the big puddles because I knew they were full of dog pee runoff, spit runoff, pesticide runoff, bird poop runoff, and plenty of other nasty street filth. But sometimes it's good to disconnect the "parent" portion of the brain and just JUMP in those puddles, regardless of what may be hidden in their murky depths.

I reached Grandview proper at mile 9. Four miles to go in my pre-decided distance, but I was only one mile from the Whites' house. Luckily seven years of living and running in Grandview provided me with at least a dozen different route options from that specific location. I picked the route that led past the orchards so I could check if the cherry blossoms have bloomed yet (they are starting--give them a week), and finished up my last four miles in relative comfort. 

Final distance: 13.0 miles. Time: 2 hours 1 minute 14 seconds. Average mile pace: 9:19. Like I said, a bit too fast for a long run, but it was windy, wet, and cold! I needed to generate body heat! Plus I have gained some fitness over the past month of running so I could handle a bit more spring in my step today. Speedy, but satisfying!

When I stepped into the Whites' house, I found that every part of me was dripping water: the tips of my braids, my nose, my shoes. Water was running down my legs! I did not have a dry thread on my entire body. Dan brought me a towel to mop up my drips until we left 15 minutes later. The last vestiges of post-run body heat left me almost immediately after I stopped running, so I was shivering and shuddering off and on for the entire 20 minute drive home. During the drive, the sun started to come out and I spotted a patch of blue sky. Do I regret running when I did when I could have had a dry run if I had started running a little later? No! Running in the rain is cleansing and refreshing (not counting those dirty puddles, of course). The rain made some very interesting in-run entertainment. 

When we pulled into the garage, I dashed (stiffly) into the basement, grabbed some clean clothes, and peeeeeeled off my wet things. Compression socks are normally hard to get off, but wet compression socks presented a whole new type of challenge--especially since I was too wet to sit down anywhere to take them off--hah!. At last I hopped into a hot shower with one final shudder. After a few hours of snuggling in sweats and a turtleneck with a double layer fleece blanket wrapped around myself, I am finally feeling back to a comfortable body temperature. 

One of the best parts about facing The Elements and prevailing against them is coming back inside to a hot shower and a cozy afternoon of reliving the experience with words.

PICTURES: I am very fastidious about making sure my phone camera lens is wiped clean since phones easily get fingerprints all over them. I can't stand blurry pictures, especially when often all it takes to get a clear cell phone picture is a quick wipe of the lens. BUT, as aforementioned, I did not have any dryness to wipe the condensation and water droplets off my phone during my rainy run, so I made do with smudges and blurs. Also of note: the heavy rainfall is INVISIBLE in these pictures. I promise it was pounding around me.

 Right when the soaking commenced.

You can kind of see the rain rippling on the canal water. Kind of. 

 Welcome to Sunnyside

"Welcome to Grandview! We have an ugly lit up message board full of ads by our welcome sign!" So I kind of scooted it out of the picture.  

PUDDLE

For the full Grandview experience, I did a quick run by the dear ole El Mercado. Love that store.

Back out in the country, outside of Grandview this time, by the hops fields. 

Hello, cherry blossoms! They are going to be perfect next week. I hope the sun comes out. It felt very Emily Bronte looking at the cherry blossoms under the wet dark sky. 

All done, in the Whites' driveway. I was trying to get a picture of my drenched-ness, but once again a damp smudged cell phone can only pick up so much detail. I was so wet that the droplets started collecting on the outside of my shirt because there was no more soak-ability left in the sodden shirt. And of course you can't see the water streaming down my legs.

I entered the house and was greeted by this view of the cousin crew, art-working at the table.

********************************************************************************

APPENDIX

Here is the behind-the-scenes version of this post, aka the extended edition. Bonus content! Haha. While I typed this post, every time someone interrupted me, I noted the details of the interruption in brackets. Adding the interruptions to the post did nearly double its length (1800 words vs. 2700 words in the extended version), which is why I only added it as an appendix and not as the official post. Writing down the interruptions may have taken longer, but it was also an effective way to keep calm and see the humor in the situation. It also kept me in the writing zone rather than being yanked in and out of my writing brain by interruptions. I should do this more often--this is more or less how real life writing looks with children in the mix, unless I decide to spend naptime currency writing a blog post, which I often do. This is the raw unedited version of the post. When I pasted the story-parts from this entry into the official post above, I went through and tweaked it for flow and continuity.

Rain Run

11:20am. One of my simple pleasures in life is having a story to write--not just any stale story, mind you, but the fresh, interesting story of a recent experience. After a morning of activity and adventure, settling down to write the tale with a blanket and my laptop warming my legs gives me a thrill of satisfaction. Here I am, brimming with WORDS, ready to organize them into a story. When I am ready to write, my head fills so full of words that I am compelled to siphon them off through typing. I'm starting to think that the jumble of words in my head is unbearably disorganized and the act of getting them out, organized onto the page all in a satisfying order is a major allure of writing.

[Dan and Leslie just pulled up to our house unexpectedly, so I shall have to pause this thrilling moment.]

My weather app informed me that Wednesday and Friday would be partly cloudy, with rain on Thursday and Saturday. Based on this report, I decided to do my weekly long run on Friday. Bless spring break for her blissful freedoms! 

[Jay and Rose are loudly arguing over chess right next to me. Jay wants to play another game of chess and Rose wants to sit happily on her recent victory. Sigh. Will I ever get this story out? Writing about it is starting to lose that exciting edge. Ok, they are moving off.]

On Friday morning, I got up early and put on my running clothes, all mentally revved for a 13 miler. When I emerged from the dark basement and looked outside, I was confronted with a white wall of thick fog.

[Jay and Rose are back with a coin to toss to solve their disagreement. Rose simply does not want to play, even though she lost five coin tosses (best of three each time) so she is supposed to play another game of chess. Rose keeps shrieking "I don't want to play!" Jay keeps telling her "I don't trust you anymore because you broke your word." and that makes Rose cry loudly. I'm trying not to get involved in their dispute because I want them to learn to work out their differences without an adult arbitrating every interaction. BUT I WANT QUIET and if I intervene they might be quiet sooner...]

[11:51am. Ok, Jay and Rose have finally resolved their argument based on my hint at a compromise.]

As I was saying, on Friday morning I was confronted with a thick fog. I couldn't even see the end of our driveway through the fog. 

[Rose just sat down at the piano ten feet from my perch on the couch and started playing loudly and tunelessly. Now she is playing random notes and singing the words to the French version of I am a Child of God in tune with her random notes. I am starting to feel doomed. I could potentially try sitting in another room of the house, but I have some sort of homing beacon on my person that draws my family to me, so I would probably not find peace or quiet elsewhere. Plus I am toasty cozy warm here on the couch.]

Fog that thick is dangerous for road running because cars can't see very far. I was also feeling quite groggy from my early wake-up, so I decided to switch my long run to Saturday, in spite of the rainy forecast. Since I was already in my running clothes, I jogged a simple 4 miles through the fog on the nearby safe/zero traffic canal road on Friday morning. 

[Rose is now counting the keys on the piano...for the third time in a row. She is whispering (loudly) but she has gotten a different number every time she's counted. On attempt #5, Rose started counting aloud. Sigh. I told her that all full sized pianos have 88 keys, and she counted a few more times, playing each note as she counted them, to make sure I was right. If there's one thing Rose dearly loves, it is being right, especially when she can prove others wrong (especially her mother). Sigh. Oh! She's going outside and Jeff just kissed me goodbye--he is carpooling to a stake teacher training this afternoon. Rose has returned and reported that the rain gage that she brought home from school has one inch of water in it! It is now 12:09am and my corner of the couch is quiet at last.]

My preparation for a long run involves putting on several layers of mental armor, and it was weird to dismantle my assembled mental toughness for a puny four mile fog jog, but it also felt rather nice to expect 13 miles and only go 4.

Friday night before bed, I checked the weather forecast again in hopes it had changed for Saturday. It had solidified, with a 100% chance of rain at 7am, right when I planned on running. "Oh well," I told Jeff, "it will probably just be the average eastern WA drizzle. We hardly ever get Missouri/Tennessee/Virginia style downpours here, and even when we do get them, they never last long." I went to bed with that expectation.

When I woke up at 6:30 this morning, I dashed upstairs before putting on my running clothes to step outside and feel the air. It wasn't even raining! "Hah," I said to myself, "delaying my long run till today paid off." I still wore my most rain-worthy running apparel because a 100% chance of rain is still a 100% chance, even in eastern WA. My gear included a thin wool hat, my merino wool quarter zip shirt (time to test if wool actually does retain heat while wet), gloves, mid-thigh tight shorts, knee-high compression socks, and my new-but-already-beloved Altra Torin 2.5 running shoes. 

[I just took a bathroom break and moved my laptop to the kitchen table so I could eat lunch while working on this story. The minute my thoughts turned to food, Amber and Rose appeared with "I'm super hungry" on their lips. So I made Amber a sandwich, opened her banana, and scooped her yogurt while Rose went through the same process for herself. Then I finished tossing together my crunchy meaty salad. I have been loving broccoli, sliced brussels sprouts, cauliflower, purple cabbage, and crumbled sausage with blue cheese dressing on top. I have keep a big bowl of the base ingredients all chopped up in the fridge and eat some every day for lunch. Today I tried adding craisins and sliced almonds and switching the dressing to poppyseed. Yum, sausage is so versatile. This salad is healthy, protein-y, tasty, and crunchy. Ok, now I am interrupting myself while I'm trying to write. It's 12:47pm. Back to the story!]

By the time I had gotten dressed and eaten some toast, it had started drizzling as expected, so I dashed down, grabbed my visor, and kissed Jeff one more time before heading out. A visor positioned low on the brow makes wearing glasses in the rain a breeze! I have never actually tried it before since we have such infrequent rainy days here, but with the visor I only got two or three droplets on my glasses during the entire two hours I was out!  As I jogged along through the rain, I kept marveling at the efficacy of my old grubby visor. My route was from our house in Sunnyside all the way to Grandview, where Grampa Dan's White family Saturday morning pancakes would be taking place. It is a treat to run a point-to-point run instead of an out and back or a loop--no retracing my steps today!

[Rose and Amber were playing hide and seek wildly back and forth across the house, so I sent them outside. Rose just came inside with the mail. Mom sent me a book to borrow that I couldn't find anywhere else, and I am so excited!! I have been reading D. E. Stevenson books, most of which are out of print, but Mom found one at her library and mailed it to me to borrow! Talk about a cross-state interlibrary loan! SHE IS THE BEST! Ok, the girls are back outside shrieking to their heart's content. Jay is still in his room reading.]

About two minutes into my run, the clouds let loose and rain started gushing down. My toes were squelching in my shoes within half a mile. How exciting! How COLD! This was not an average Sunnyside rainfall! It was about 45 degrees, though, so it was borderline too cold for comfort. I briefly considered turning back, but not too seriously. Right here, right now, THIS was my last chance for weeks to leave from home to go on a long run alone and by golly, I was taking that chance. Seizing the opportunity! As I squished along, I amused myself with inspirational chants: when the day is gray with pouring rain, SHAINA RUNS ANYWAY. When the winds pick up and the rain flies sideways, SHAINA RUNS ANYWAY. (etc.) 

There was a wind blowing the rain sideways into my ear for the first two miles. I tilted my head slightly sideways like Commander Riker so my visor kept the raindrops off my glasses. I made a turn and the wind was in my face for the next mile (tilt head down to protect glasses), but when I finally turned east for the last time to begin heading for Grandview in earnest along the bike path, I was quite comfortable among the fast-falling fat raindrops with the wind at my back. 

[Jay just emerged from his reading world and ambled into the kitchen for a late lunch, saying "are you surprised I haven't had lunch yet?" Oh the spring break schedule! Does it have to end so soon? My salad is finished. Time for some chocolate. No doubt drawn in by my thoughts of chocolate, the girls just burst back inside, windblown and fresh-smelling and begging for treats at the sight of my WinCo bulk section orange sticks. I appeased/shared with them and now I'm back. Again. Time stamp: 1:28pm.]

Since the light was red when I emerged from the country roads into town, instead of crossing Yakima Valley Highway on 16th Street to hop on the bike path, I stayed on the opposite side of the road and ran on the cracked, dirty, bumpy "sidewalk less traveled." This under-used sidewalk was littered in trash and very dirty puddles, which I did my best to skirt around. I persevered and eventually came to the sidewalk's end by the "Welcome to Sunnyside" sign. The irony of being welcomed to Sunnyside in a dark torrential downpour tickled my funny bone and inspired a quick mid-stride selfie. I dashed across the road and connected to the bike path at last, at almost five miles into my run.

[Rose got our her art supplies, sat down next to me, and is drawing a picture and is now asking me how to spell words.]

The next stretch was long and straight bike path-style, with continual rain. I was soaked but I had chosen the right clothes for the day. My merino wool shirt and hat were retaining my body heat in spite of their sodden condition. My visor shielded my glasses from the rain. My thighs and knees were not hampered by wet pants. My knee-high compression socks were supportive of the whole excursion. I was cruising along at a faster-than-usual pace. Right around six miles, Jeff and the kids pulled over in the van on their way over to the Grandview grandparents' house, to check on me. I gave a thumbs up and they drove on while I kept running. At about 8 miles, I realized that I still had five whole miles before my 13 miler was done, and it was a tad disheartening because it felt like I had already gone much farther. But when the rain has soaked and there are miles to go, SHAINA RUNS ANYWAY! 

Eventually the hard downpour did let up, maybe around mile 7 or 8. Then it was a more normal steady rainfall. I stopped to stretch to make sure I didn't get injured, like any good above-30-aged runner, and it felt necessary. But in that cold rain and wind I couldn't stop for more than one minute or else I would freeze! So I quickly stretched the three necessities (quads, hammies, calves), and recommenced my run. 

Just outside Grandview, I hit some excellent puddles . Puddles never seem to look quite as deep as they actually are, so I charged on through them (not that I had a choice since they covered my way forward). The first big puddle turned out to be ankle deep in the middle, splashing me up to my knees and causing me to contemplate the possible benefits of a mid-run ice bath. A series of other puddles left me dripping wet. After the initial shock, I decided that running in 45 degree rain has two silver linings:

1. People keep their dogs inside in downpours
2. I get the best PUDDLES all to myself!

In the spirit of full disclosure, I did cringe a bit every time I plunged through the big puddles because I knew they were full of dog pee runoff, spit runoff, pesticide runoff, bird poop runoff, and plenty of other nasty street filth. But sometimes it's good to disconnect the "parent" portion of the brain and just JUMP in those puddles, regardless of what may be hidden in their murky depths.

I reached Grandview proper at mile 9. Four miles to go in my pre-decided distance, but I was only one mile from the Whites' house. Luckily seven years of living and running in Grandview provided me with at least a dozen different route options from that specific location. I picked the route that led past the orchards so I could check if the cherry blossoms have bloomed yet (they are starting--give them a week), and finished up my last four miles in relative comfort. 

When I stepped into the Whites' house, I found that every part of me was dripping water: the tips of my braids, my nose, my shoes. Water was running down my legs! I did not have a dry thread on my entire body. Dan brought me a towel to mop up my drips until we left about 15 minutes later. The last vestiges of post-run body heat left me within 10 minutes after I stopped running, so I was shivering and shuddering off and on for the entire 20 minute drive home. During the drive, the sun started to come out and I spotted a patch of blue sky. 

When we pulled into the garage, I dashed (stiffly) into the basement, grabbed some clean clothes, and peeeeeeled off my wet things. Compression socks are normally hard to get off, but wet compression socks presented a whole new type of challenge--especially since I was too wet to sit down anywhere to take them off--hah!. At last I hopped into a hot shower with one final shudder. After a few hours of snuggling in sweats and a turtleneck with a double layer fleece blanket wrapped around myself, I am finally feeling back to a comfortable body temperature. 

One of the best parts about facing The Elements and prevailing against them is coming back inside to a hot shower and a cozy afternoon of reliving the experience with words.

[time stamp: 2:22pm. Wow, look! I finished writing the rest of this story in an unprecedented uninterrupted 45 minutes. I knew this had the potential to be a simple hour-long post! Interruptions have tripled my write-time. Speak of the child, here she is, requesting a movie--Sleeping Beauty on VHS--instead of a nap. I think I'll let her watch it.]

 Their chess rivalry is intense. Jay usually wins, but Rose pulled off an upset today.

 My lunch buddies.

 Book mail is the best mail, even if it's a library book. 

 Telling me a story about when her class at school learned cause and effect statements. "My cause and effect statement was 'my brother left his legos on the floor and I stepped on them.'" I composed a cause and effect statement of my own: "I stepped on the legos and got an excruciating foot laceration."

Rose with her finished picture, with this carefully spelled out caption: "We love to walk as a family. It is one of my favorites. Would it be one of your favorites? I think it should."