Beautiful Rain

This is dedicated to my sweet dog Boo, who died on Monday. Buddy, I know you are in a better place, splashing in creeks and running down trails with other dog friends.

Yesterday, I went to St. Ed’s for a trail run. I needed a good run, one to lift my spirits and take me away from everything we’d been dealing with since the weekend. My plan was to run out 45 minutes and then come back for a total of 1:30.

When I pulled up and got out of the car, I cocked my head to the side and thought, “Is that thunder?!?” It sounded ‘way in the distance. The skies were a little overcast but nothing much, so I didn’t really think rain was an actual possibility. I took off for the Hill Trail.

It was a little cooler than it’s been the last few days and I enjoyed the overcast skies and the lower temperature. At one point, I tried to estimate what I thought the temperature was, and I came up with something in the 80s. Woohoo! Cause for celebration. The farther up I went, the more often the thunder came; by the time I got to the entrance of Forest Ridge Preserve, I wondered if there would be lightning, too–afterall, I was underneath all those powerlines.

No lightning and so on I went.

I hit the peak of the hill behind the neighborhood in good time. I felt great. The sky ahead to the west looked ominous and I was pretty sure it was raining where it was dark. But I had more time to go, a good 20 minutes or so. Down the jeep road towards the rock. More thunder, sounding closer all the time.

I met my 45 minute limit just a hop before the split in the trail, so I decided to walk down to the split while I ate some Sport Beans. As I walked, I thought about how wonderful it felt and whether Ishould just finish the trail by going on over to the Bull Creek entrance. That would mean a total of about a two hour run.

Eh…as tempting as it was, I decided to stick to my schedule and enjoy what I was doing. Instead of turning around and coming straight back, I went to the right at the split, taking what I like to think of as the waterfall loop (hey, there WOULD BE waterfalls if there were enough water!).

As I made the turn, the skies opened up and the rain came. Oh, it was wonderful! The rain was cold and I immediately felt clean and refreshed. Being as the ground was so dry and it wasn’t raining that hard, there wasn’t any standing water; it was like having my own personal shower as I ran. The downhill back to the park was fun. Something about being in the rain and the beautiful surroundings made my soul feel refreshed and happy and pure.

Of course, when I got to my car I realized I had taken my towel out to wash, so there was nothing to remotely dry off with. I opened up my hatchback, took my shoes off, and sat there watching the rain come down.

And I thought about my buddy, Boo and how he loved to be with me on a trail. He was a good, sweet dog.