Running in the rain.  It is “El Nino”, so it is to be expected and welcomed with big hugs and open arms.  The phrase, “we need the rain” is currently more ubiquitous than “have a nice day.”   And complaining about the constant droplets from the sky is strictly taboo.    

A gentle mist or drizzle is fine, even comforting, but my personal hang up with running in the rain is that the one marathon I ran (now 18 years ago) was during a particularly hellacious El Nino in which it did not just rain, it poured, 57 of the 60 days leading up to the Napa Marathon.  Squish, squish, squish.  I can still hear the sound of soaking wet shoes and socks unsuccessfully dodging puddles on the embarcadero during long, two + hour, training runs.  So much sloppy running that I swore I’d never do it again, swore that I would never put on my running shoes and head out when a dark cloud is within ten miles.  18 years later you’d think I’d purged that memory, and I’m almost there, but not quite!  Anyway, this evening I ran the office-to-Vista-Point run in light drizzle, luckily avoiding downpours before and after.  Mixed in four two-minute intervals at about a 7 minute mile pace, not bad.   And as one of my running buddies says, “there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear!”  So I had my bright yellow light rain jacket, a skull cap (which wasn’t needed), and I was quite comfortable.