36 Days - Life is not about learning how to weather the storm, but how to dance in the rain

I left my house at 5:30pm to be able to make it to Phidippides by 6:30. Usually it is only about a 30 minute drive, but tonight the rain would change that. The usual dry and pleasant weather in Los Angeles had transformed itself into a somewhat heavy downpour of rain. While 'normal' people were rushing home to have dinner and sit in front of the fireplace, Donn, Jim and I fought traffic to be able to experience each other's company for a late night rainy run.

When I arrived at Phidippides, Donn was already there. We were just waiting on Jim. There were a few others closing up the store that had opted for one reason or another not to join us for our wet outing. Surprisingly, none of their reasons were the obvious. I met Craig, a three time Western States finisher whose eyes revealed both experience and and excitement when asked about his races. I was disappointed that he was not joining us on our run. When Jim arrived, Craig lent us all some reflective gear and out into the rain we went!

The run was probably the most fun I have had in the water since the river crossing at Western States. We had a few 'river crossings' of our own, courtesy of the LA draining system (or lack thereof). Jim had a commentary of everything that we passed, from the 'good view/great view' of Los Angeles (dependent upon whether you saw it going uphill or downhill), to 'Zippys' (a random word on someone's garage that to this day no one in the group knows what it means) to the mailbox shrine that we passed about halfway through our journey. Jim's stories always make the time fly by. We even got a few shout outs by the locals driving home. I think they were probably telling us that we were crazy, but to us, they might as well have been cheering us on in support. We were wet, we were cold, but wow, what a great time! I think that people confuse comfort with happiness. Were we comfortable? No way! Were we happy? I think that we were just as happy if not happier than anyone bundled up on their couch in front of the fireplace that night.

So we are off to do it again on Sunday. In the rain. Through the canyons this time. Lat night was 5 miles, Sunday will be about 14. Are we crazy? A little. Are we happy? Hell ya!