IT WAS RAINING WHEN I GOT TO RUNNING FIT WEDNESDAY EVENING, but that was okay. Maybe it would stop by 6:30, or maybe Coach Marie would delay the run a while. It didn’t and she didn’t, so out into the rain we went.

You might think that running in the rain isn’t much fun – and you would be correct. But there are ways of dealing with it. The sensible option, to stop running and go get coffee, was unfortunately not in line with my training goals. The other was to accept the fact I would get soaking wet and just run, which was what my coach had assigned me anyway; “six miles steady, don’t look at your watch, just run!”

“Just running” proved to be just the ticket that night. My core warmed up at around a half mile, and the rest of the way I was comfortable. With no danger of overheating, I cruised up and over a couple of hills at a pace that had nearly done me in a few weeks ago. And as I ducked around people huddled under shelters and umbrellas, I felt a kind of special freedom. Rain? Who cares? It’s not slowing me down!

Not that I want to run in the rain every night, but it turned out to be a much more positive experience than I had expected. And I was far from the only one out there. Our group was smaller than usual, but we all went out without complaint, and I saw several other runners along the way. Why? I really don’t have a good answer, other than if you’re nuts enough to go running for its own sake, you’re nuts enough to do it in the rain. And snow. And dark of night. Hmmm….