Smile at the rain

Earlier this week I was granted a little reprieve from my daily teaching duties. Because I am not employed full-time, I don't have to administer the HSPE (high school proficiency exam), which means I found myself with some blessedly free hours throughout the week. On Tuesday, I didn't have to go in to school at all, so I used my time to take care of things like getting my driver's license renewed and grading mountains of papers at the library (I find it easiest to concentrate there; if I stay home, even if I'm alone, I'm likely to succumb to fits of obsessive cleaning before I can settle down and get my schoolwork done). I finished earlier than I thought I would, so in the window of time between finishing those papers and picking up the kids, I decided I'd go for a run.

It had been about two weeks since I'd gone for a real run -- I blame my sinus infection and Isaac's ear infection and general life craziness and the unending rain. The closer we get to spring, the more difficult it is for me to go to the gym; unless it's really pouring, I'd so much rather be outside, breathing fresh air and going somewhere. This particular day had been wet; I'd driven through a light shower to get to the library, and I knew we'd likely have more rain later in the day. Still, when I left the library and headed to my car, I noted the break in the weather -- the ground was damp, but no rain was actually falling -- and decided to take my chances.

I was about two miles into my usual 3.5-mile route when the first drops fell. I could have headed for home at that point, but I was feeling so invigorated by the air outside, and also, I figured a little light rain would feel rather refreshing. The day wasn't particularly cold, and I had worked up a healthy sweat. I made it another half-mile before the sky opened up and I found myself caught in an epic downpour. It rained so hard it felt almost like light hail. The wind picked up and lashed my hair against my cheeks. Within just a few moments I was completely drenched.

And it felt kind of great. Because when you're caught in that kind of downpour, what do you do, really, except surrender to it? And keep running?

Closer to my house, I met another insane jogger on the sidewalk. We were both kind of head-down, all business at that point -- but we made eye contact as we passed each other, and he grinned and flashed me a double thumbs-up. I grinned back. It was, I think, the best moment of my afternoon (although the hot bubble bath ten minutes later wasn't bad, either).