I did not want to run tonight.

It’s been raining all day. Our group has gotten so small through the winter that most of the time it’s just been two of us, and I was kind of hoping my reliable partner would call it quits.

But this afternoon, I got his usual email planning our meeting point to run tonight. We reluctantly decided that as long as we didn’t have thunderstorms, we would go for it.

The rain had slowed to a light drizzle when I left my office, and the temperature was comfortable, in the mid-50s. Maybe this run wouldn’t be so bad!

As I parked and walked to our meeting spot downtown, the rain started to pick up. And while we stretched under a store awning, the wind started whipping. Uh oh.

We stretched a little, delaying our start by a few more minutes. I think my friend was hoping it would get worse so we could cancel the run after all. But we were there, and I was already wet from my walk from the parking lot. I wanted to go! And actually, the wind and rain did seem to die down a little bit.

We tried to take our usual route from downtown Annapolis over the Eastport bridge, but we had to change our plans.

The normal route:

Thanks to the all-day rain storm, the tide rose a little too high. Water flooded the street and sidewalk before the Eastport bridge, so we had to turn around and head to higher ground.

We narrowly avoided the water overflowing at the city dock, too, and headed away from town.

We had no trouble with flooding the rest of the way, but we were not safe from puddles! Despite my head lamp, I stepped in quite a few. I was wearing a newish pair of shoes, too. They’re not as crisp and white as they were before!

The rain didn’t really bother me, it would come and go. But at least it wasn’t cold, and my hat kept the rain out of my face.  At times the wind was strong, making it feel like I was running in place. My friend nearly lost his hat during our last mile.

At the top of Main St, we had covered our usual four miles, so we went our separate ways to our parked cars. I continued running and got to my car at 4.25 miles, but was feeling great. Like a kid playing in the rain! I added another loop to make it an even five miles. Woo!

It’s been a while since I’ve had a run like this. One where I just wanted to keep going!

I’m really glad I ran tonight.