Rain

I love running in the rain. Five miles through the park today with only the muffled sounds of water and leaves and an occasional car passing slowly. I've taken to running without the ipod, instead focusing on my feet, legs, lungs, heart, breath, thoughts, surroundings. In the rain, a certain unexpected stillness hangs, like the earth is pausing after a deep breath.

Living in a city, I find I most crave the smells of soil, water, vegetation. I'm still running on pavement, but around me the dense sensual world of nature reaches out. The smell of the earth after a rain is called petrichor, a word coined in 1964 from petros, stone, and ichor, the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology. It could just as well be the veins of the earth, since the source of the smell has been found to be oil based. Amazing that we have managed to take something so profoundly of nature (oil) and convert it into its supremely ruinous and dangerously practical opposite (plastic).

The run today was the perfect opposite to last Thursday - fast, rich, and vitalizing. At least two miles came in well under a 10 minute time and the third came close. I was working hard, but in a good way, holding plenty in reserve. My fastest 5 miles so far at 54 minutes.

Simplicity

I leave work early on Tuesdays, but somehow I didn't manage to get out and run until about 6:30pm. When I finally did go out, it promptly started raining and I had forgotten my gloves, so my hands were freezing when I started. I did find a headband yesterday after looking at the New Balance, Nike, and finally, Adidas, stores. It wasn't the thick, cozy, kind I had in mind, with the extra flap for the ears, but it did the trick last night. At this rate, by the time I get all of my winter running gear together, it will be spring.

Not that I don't want all the stuff - I do, but I'm kind of resistant to spending a lot of money on something as simple as running. In fact, the simplicity is part of what draws me. No costs, no classes, no gyms, no special tools - just lace up a good pair of shoes and run out the front door. I like that. I like feeling like running is something I can do anywhere, that I don't have to pack an extra duffel bag of gear, or load a car with supplies, when I take a weekend trip. So I guess I'm waiting to find out what I really need before going out and buying a bunch of stuff that I'll never use. The first thing was shoes, then socks, now a headband. That's about the way I like it.

Looking for a jacket

The one problem with the IllumiNITE jacket I like is that it doesn't have a hood, and in the heavy rain, I'd prefer to have something over my head, preferably with a brim. So on my lunch break today, I walked over to the New Balance store on Sutter Street to look at their running clothes. I found one excellent option -- this "Nemo" jacket (at left) with a brimmed hood you can zip into the collar. My store offered the jacket in teal only, though black and purple are available on line. Maybe a little expensive at $124, but lightweight and mostly well designed. I was concerned only about visibility: though the jacket has ample reflective piping on the front and sleeves, there is only one line of piping on the back. Presumably, one should be running facing traffic, so perhaps the front reflection is most important, but I don't see why they couldn't add another line or two along the back for extra safety. I decided to look further before deciding. Does anyone have a favorite rain repellent jacket to recommend?

Easy Run?

This morning, before it began to rain, I thought I might test the limits a little and see what kind of 5k speed I could come up with, despite the fact that this is an easy run day and I should be doing my usual 2 miles at 13:00. Even as I started out, I wasn't sure which run I would do, but the threat of night, and the ghost of my earlier shin pain made me opt, conservatively, to stick to the schedule. It was more difficult to stick to pace: the wind was blowing toward me, dashing rain into my face and I had to fight the tendency to run head down, hands in pockets. It was tempting to sprint, both to keep warm, and to get the whole thing over with. The first mile took will power to complete, but I had the consolation that there would be only two. The second mile was easier. I was warmer and the wind was behind me. I allowed myself to increase pace, a token nod to my ambitions earlier in the day, and finished in 22 minutes. A clean 11 minute mile. Take that, training schedule.

Getting Wet

By the time I got home from work last night, the rain was lighter but persistent. I bundled up in my heaviest Capri sweats and a hooded jacket. Andy, who is more fit than I'll ever be, and who is used to competing in all sorts of weather, went out in only running shorts and a thermal shirt under a fleece vest. I insisted he wear a hat. Our goal was to run a slow first mile, followed by 3 miles at tempo (which my training schedule identified as an 11:21 pace), and then to run one more cool down mile. I was surprised to see that my pace would only increase by 18 seconds total during my 13 week schedule, and while 11:21 is an accurate tempo pace for me right now, I already think I might be a bit more aggressive about increasing it.

Despite the rain, the evening was warm and windless, and because of it there were few others out in the park. We reached the first mile ahead of time, picked up our pace, and continued into the park proper. The second mile mark was in front of the de Young museum. We were wet by now, but fully warmed up and again we were about a minute ahead of time. The third mile headed down to 19th Avenue, turned around and headed up the steepest grade of the run - about 4 or 5 minutes of steady uphill climbing. At the top, we had completed the third mile, this time right on time, and Andy said "I hate hills." My legs started feeling it a bit during the 4th mile (I'm still not quite back in shape), but the kink in my left hip finally worked itself out. The 4th was our slowest mile, behind pace by more than a minute, but it may have been the now moderately heavy rain against our faces, and the puddles we were jumping over. We completed the 5th mile through the panhandle at an enforced cool down pace, thought we felt like we were just warming up. In total, the run lasted about 58.5 minutes - an overall pace of 11:42 which, with the slower first and last miles, is probably right on target.

The park was beautiful and wet and empty. Together the dark and the rain launched us into a meditative state. I remember now why I like running. It is one of the few times in a day when my mind is still.

Commitment

Nothing could test my three-day-old commitment to a training schedule more than exiting my apartment this morning and stepping into the rain. Suddenly my 5 mile tempo run tonight is looking a lot more difficult. I don't have good rain running gear, so the bus ride to work found me paging through a mental catalogue of my clothes, trying to think of something waterproof.