Running in the Rain.

This morning I woke up at about 4:15; I had dreamed that it was time to get up and it wasn't. I rolled over almost gleefully to savor the last hour in bed. When the alarm went off at about 5 I slowly got moving.

It was raining. I looked at the radar on my phone and used my mad meteorological skills to deduce that it wasn't storming and wouldn't rain long. Kristin texted in response to my facebook post and recommended goggles.

When I got to Cook's Landing there were lots of people out. I decided to first go over the bridge and down to Two Rivers.

As Lee Lee said earlier, it was like the rain was set to sprinkler mode. It was soft, steady, and cool. There's a part of Two Rivers where the water comes up next to the trail and is a swampy green. It felt tropical today. Frogs echoed deep throaty calls back and forth across the trail and big white flowers hung from bushes.

On the way back after my first turnaround, I saw a mother and baby deer. They turned back toward the brush but didn't go far. I watched them as much as I could.

I stopped back at my car and got some more gels and then went south on the North Little Rock side, 9 miles in. As I passed the golf course at Burns Park, the rain picked up quite a bit. I went over the wooden bridge feeling euphoric, taking my hat off and holding my hands out and up to the rain. Into the trees, it seemed for a minute like I was the only person left out there. Not for long, though. I passed a cyclist grinning as much as I was. Along the stretch before the skate park and along the cliffs, I looked out at the wide river. Something about the currents or the rain made a camouflage pattern of color along the water, lighter and darker and rippled and pricked with rain drops.

After my second turnaround while going back down a hill, two guys on bicycles came from the other direction. One told the other to look in front of him: a deer had stepped out onto the trail behind me. He must have been standing right next to the trail but I was looking ahead. I watched his tail as he ran up the trail.

The last few miles were a bit challenging because my shoes and socks were sopping wet and heavy. Still, I felt terrific, kissed by the soft rain all morning, cool and wonderfully spent. Days like today are rare.




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