Today I ran seven miles in the pouring rain. I don’t mind running in the rain one bit. During these hot summer months I much prefer it to sunshine and humidity. The most difficult part of rain running is the first few minutes before you become fully soaked. But once that happens, it’s all good and you no longer notice.

I’m pretty sure the locals thought I was crazy. But I did see one running group and another lone jogger out there. Both of us had huge grins and waved maniacally at one another. I’m not the only crazy one!

Some stuff about things. Without going into too much detail, I forgot how much my body acclimated to high weekly mileages before I got pregnant with Walt. There’s a great deal of training your internal organs go through, namely your guts. People may find this disgusting, or wonder why I’m discussing such things, and I’m sorry about that. But frankly, if you’re a runner, you know this is a thing sometimes. Maybe not firsthand, in which case, consider yourself lucky! But surely you know someone who has experienced this problem before.

Belly and gut-aches. Blergh. Having to walk or hobble in search of the nearest public restroom, being willing to overlook some of the worst bathrooms imaginable. Not giving a damn if the one you finally stumble into looks like something out of the movie Trainspotting. Yeah. That.

Anyway, I’m told this is a bit more common for women as we have hormones to contend with on top of the normal mechanical issues and failures that come from bouncing atop asphalt for hours.

I’m back to square one on that front. My body is asking what in the hell it is I think I’m doing. This gets better. I remember that as well. But I have weeks of bellyaches to dance with first.

So, while the first mile felt great initially, it quickly went to shit. (Ha ha.) I was forced to walk/jog for at least half a mile in search of a public restroom, pausing RunKeeper finally as it was pointless and totally messing up my data. I know I won’t be able to stop time during an actual race. But I use this information to figure out what I need to do, what I have done, and how far I’ve come, or if I need to change things. And searching for a bathroom isn’t criteria I need cluttering up that information.

Around mile 2.25, I finally found a bathroom at the public marina. There are few things more uncomfortable than having to pull up rain soaked running shorts and make sure the elastic is in the right place again! But I managed.

Miles 3 and 4 were slow. It took me a bit to get back up to speed after the bathroom search. I don’t like stopping and starting again. My legs are always confused by this. But by mile 5 I felt better and was able to keep my original pace. I continued home in the rain. And it felt great.

Miles 6 and 7 were my fastest. And while I’m still very slow compared to what I was running last year before the pregnancy, I’m pretty pleased that I had the energy to make my last two miles the fastest. I was able to get some 9-minute intervals into those last two miles.

NOTES

Left the house at 7:47 AM. Temperature: 60s, Pouring Rain

Pre-run fuel: Plain oatmeal, banana, coffee with sugar and creamer. Water.

Route: Forked River, around lakes 1,2 and 3. Onto Lacey Road to find bathroom at Marina. Down to dad’s dock, through neighborhood, back to rail trail behind Caffreys. Back around lake 2,1. Home again.

Time and distance:: 11:50 minute miles, including walking before finding a bathroom and finally pausing RunKeeper because it was just getting silly. Last two miles were fastest. 9 minute pace intervals.

Post-run recovery meal: Light vanilla soy milk, homemade maple granola, fresh blueberries and bananas. Two Hersey Kisses.

Personal Stuff: Bellyaches during and after run. Fear I’ll be facing these for a while. Four months, one week postpartum. Still breastfeeding. Still dieting. Down 43 pounds. 7 more to go. Current weight: 147.

Pros: No sunshine or heat. Rainy day and lovely!

Cons: Belly issues.

Upward and onward!