Monday 16th February
Run #47
4k Rain Run Local Loops
You
may wish to accompany this post with a musical interlude.
Another rain run, but
this one quite significantly different from run #44. As I was pushing along, I
tried to work out what made this run different or, more importantly; what was
the secret formula to the best rain run?
Better if it starts raining once you've got
going and are warmed up.
#44 had a light misty
drizzle as I set out but the torrents didn't start until I had a good 3k under
my belt and was toasty in my muscles. #47 was pretty much raining as I left the
flat. I wasn't yet warm-up and, it turned out, getting nicely warmed up in the
rain is harder and wet kit clinging to cold muscles isn't the refreshing
welcome cooling that the same provides on warm muscles.
Get your kit right
This doesn't just mean
waterproofs. I'd actually rather be soaked and warm than trade off having no
rain reach my skin for running in a sweat-suit. But it is a fine balance. I
actually got the kit pretty right on #47: even remembering my peak which was forgotten
on #44 (and which, when tightly secured under the hood of my waterproof, M said
made me look like a crazy tourist at Niagara Falls) but I have yet to get with
running in a hood if I'm honest. Run hoods tend to secure tight around your
face. They have to, to stop the forward momentum from catching the wind and
whipping them off. Which means you do need to remember to put hood up, then zip
up or, conversely, unzip then hood down. Trying to remove hood while fully
zipped is an impossibility liable to leave you with the collar wedged gag-like
between your teeth. And easily forgotten.
Go while the motivation is high
If I can get past my
procrastination and get out quickly, stuff like weather feels less of an issue.
#47 started with just a bit too much procrastination - mostly over what to wear
- and the longer you leave it before getting out, I find, the harder it is to
dig out the appreciation of being out: it comes, but it takes a bit longer and
the minutae bother me more in the interim. Note to self: less faff - this is a
work in progress!
It does depend a bit on the 'type' of rain
OK bear with me here…
Us Brits are known for having a weather obsession for a reason: we have a hella
lot of weather. And while our Times suggests there may not be fifty words for rain
there are a fair few. A NY Times column beautifully entitled Pluviocabulary
(rainy words) compiled 140 from the Oxford Dictionary. I'd suggest #44 started
with a misty drizzle and moved on to a confident downpour that evolved into a
determined deluge. And that was most of the fun. #47 was, well, 'just rain'.
That kind of staring-out-of-the-window-on-a-wet-playtime-at-school rain. Not
real gumption, just British rain. Not so fun to run in imho. But, all of that
aside, any rain run is better than no run.
Photo
credit: gifrific.com
No comments:
Post a Comment