Cold rain

It's really gross outside. Winds 20-30, occasional sideways rain, temps in the 40's. This is one of the few instances so far that my knee has helped me out, because there is nothing worse than running in cold rain. Of course, I could have engineered an off day for today, but that's another story. Today I would have been in Philadelphia for Penn Homecoming, but I had to decline on account of . . . . of course, the torn cartilage. Luckily, even with non-refundable plane tickets AirTran gave me some semblance of a refund (minus $50 dollars). I'll have $109 dollars toward future flights, and I already have trips planned to Pennsylvania in April 07 and June 07, not to mention the Passover holiday in Maryland.

This might be a good time to talk about running in the rain. I am not one of those macho types who says suck it up or it will make you stronger etc. I hate running in the rain. However, if rain (or snow) forced a serious runner to not run, then that would mean a lot of missed days. Sometimes, you just have to shove your body out there, and wear the best clothes you have. I have a Marmot synthetic top that works really well, especially under an old-fashioned 1970's era nylon vest. This shirt might qualify me as a "yuppie runner," but the fact that A) I'm running in the rain at all, and B) I'm not wearing a $500 dollar GoreTex rainsuit (the Marmot shirt was a gift), that point is wasted. Also, in my real life as an engineer, I make WAAAY too little cash to qualify as a yuppie.

I would also comment that, yes, I hurt my knee while running the rain. Conditions that night were vastly different than right now. It was 10 degrees warmer and drizzling. The rain was a non-factor - it was my fault that I attempted to long jump the stagnant pool [puddle not draining].