Running in the Rain!

A few weeks ago, I received a facebook invitation to a 5K Fundraiser at my high school, on my high school cross country course. I thought about how fun and nostalgic that would be and tossed into the virtual trash since I live 4 hours from my hometown.

When I heard about the race again, however, I realized that I would be home that weekend for my friend's bridal shower! (Yay, Heather!) I decided that the 5K would be a lovely event with my mom and sister to round out my weekend and even had fantasies of my husband making it his first official race! (Oh, by the way, you should know: the former Mr. "I-don't-understand-the-appeal-of-running" is now officially faster than me. He does have the advantage of his legs being about a foot longer than mine.)

Saturday morning, however, I was glad that we weren't able to talk him into it. As soon as the starting gun went off, the rain fell down. It poured the whole race and created messy mud slides on the trails. I love running in the rain, (I first realized running could be fun during "dry practice" for swim team my freshman year of high school, sprinting laps around the track in a downpour, giggling with my girl friends) but I knew good and well that that type of thing is not my husband's idea of fun.

With the rain, mud, and hills (this is still my original home course and I know it's the toughest in the conference!), I had to adjust my time expectations. I was keeping an eye on the Garmin, watching my time and for signs of distress from being soaked, and decided early on that I'd be happy if I got in under 28:00. Even though I'm slower and fatter, I felt fantastic running around my high school course!

It was good to see a few people from my high school past as well. I could not believe my high school track coach remembered me and was happy to see me! (I was pretty sure he was still holding a grudge from me skipping out on track my senior year.) My cross-country coach, my true running hero and teacher, was not there, but I'm sure I'll get to run with him again someday!

One of the race volunteers caught a picture of me along the course and I think it's really funny because I'm pretty blurry but the dumpster is prominently center and in focus! Even that dumpster reminds me of high school cross-country though, because that's right where we would park (run 5 miles at practice, but too lazy to walk across the school yard to our cars?) and stretch at practice.

Anyway, it was a lovely little race and fun to revisit my running past!