It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

Well, maybe it was morning but it was definitely dark and stormy out, today! When the weather is wet it doesn't usually deter me from running. It's when it's windy and cold that makes me think twice about lacing up my shoes. I was hoping to see if my hip could take going over the 5k mark, today so I set out in the torrential downpour and headed over to the muddy and semi-slippery Poco Trail.

With every footstep, I felt a "splat" on the back of my leg (I was wearing capris). I also realized that I decided to make myself look half decent this morning before taking my daughter to school. This required me to wear make-up (which included eyeliner and mascara). I was pretty sure by that point, it was streaming half-way down my face. Although, I don't think it really mattered as there weren't a lot of crazy people on the trail. The ones that were out today, kept their heads down to avoid the rain from battering their eye sockets out.

Despite the cold temperature, there's something about running in the rain that is so therapeutic and rejuvenating. It makes everything smell fresh, too. Which is nice during this time of year as the fish are all spawning. There are some spots by Hyde Creek that were smelling pretty ripe these last few weeks. Nothing like running along and being whipped in the face with the stench of decaying fish. I usually took that time to stop for a moment to catch my breath (and breathe into my arm) and watch the salmon fight their way up the creek.

If I'm lucky, I'd get to see other animals or birds making their way through the creek as well - like you can see in the photo above. This guy here (let's call him "Bob"), hangs out in the creek quite a bit. Bob loves to pose for photos, too. :-)

As I made my way further up the trail, the rain was getting heavier and started pelting me sideways. I was having issues keeping warm, so I decided to only go up to the 3k mark and turn around.

3k up the trail +3k return + 3k to & from the trail from my house = 9k. I obviously stopped a number of times to take photos, though. Which was probably a good thing if I didn't want to hurt my hip, again. The best stop was at the very end of my run though...


Non-fat, extra hot latte - oh yeah! It's also been a few hours, and I haven't felt any soreness in my hip. I'm thinking the latte helped with that. LOL. Who needs Advil when you got Starbucks? ;-) Thanks for reading!