Singin', er, runnin' in the rain

My trust in the weather predictions has been weak, at best, lately. All week, the forecast talked about near-100 degree temperatures on Thursday and I woke up to a downpour. So this morning, with grey skies, I really didn't believe it would do more than drizzle as I headed out for a longish run. Ten minutes into my run, it started to rain.

It started out as a misty drizzle, but slowly the rain increased in volume and intensity to the point where it was flat out "raining". Funny thing is, while I could see the water drip off the rim of my hat and see the rain hitting the water along the Charles, it never felt that bad. While it wasn't really hot today, the rain was cooling, though not cold. And while I saw my grey t-shirt getting greyer, my shoes were still dry, so I was in good shape, apparel-wise. In fact, it wasn't until I stopped to meet friends half way through my run that I noticed my shorts were sticking to my legs.

I'm not training for anything specific right now. But I decided last night I was going to run 12 miles today, and "weather" or not I was doing it was not a question. By the time I met my friends, it had pretty much stopped raining - lucky them. Good company and poor calculations on my part led me to run 13.5 miles, a little further than intended and my longest run since the marathon. But it felt great. I don't know it it was the temperature or the cup of coffee I drank before I ran (I usually save that for after), but the whole run felt smooth and easy. I finished with an overall pace of 8:20, about 10 seconds/mile faster than my long runs have been in previous weeks. And the best part was my last mile clocked in at a sub-8 minute pace.

I'm still not ready to pick a race to train for seriously right now. I like running when, how and how far I want right now. But if I could guarantee every long run would feel this good, ok, even most long runs, I could be convinced.