When it rains...you run an 8K?

Right after I ran the Nashville Color Run with a bunch of girlfriends from Crosspoint Community Church, all of the women who ran were excited about our accomplishment and fun so several of us signed up for the Birmingham Color Run.  And one friend of mine signed up for a local race, an 8K race called the SteepleChase 8K.  I wasn't sure I was ready to run a full 8K.  I'd only just started regularly running 5Ks.
But then I saw it was the day before my birthday.  I figured, if I could run a full 8K the day before my 42nd birthday, that would be cool.  So I agreed to run with Lara.
Between the time I agreed to do the SteepleChase 8K and the time it arrived, I had no time to increase my training to 8 kilometers.  In fact, I'd missed a couple of regular workout runs due to travel challenges.  But I knew I could run 5k and if I power walked the rest, there'd be no shame--just finishing would be a personal win.  Lara had the same mentality--she went in with the idea of just doing it would be personal win.
Well, the night before the race, the bottom fell out of the sky.  Torrential rains fell all night long.  I'd hoped it would clear up by morning but the forecast was not promising.  Lara and I messaged each other and decided rain or shine we'd still go.  At 5am race day, the rain was still pouring.
Now, my usual running partner and I have run in 19 degree windchill, we've run in the pitch black, the fog and even air so thick with pollen it coated our skin and clothes as we ran.  Very little deters our morning workouts when I am in town.  But we always postpone our run for rain.
At 5:30am race day, the rain had not abated.  Lara made a trip to Walmart and picked us up some ponchos.    We both headed to the SteepleChase check in, making pleas to the rain to go away.  When I pulled into the parking lot, no kidding, The Cult's Rain was playing.  The rain was going to be with us for the duration.

So Lara and I donned our sexy ponchos and headed out to the start line.

You can see us in the red ponchos left of center.  Many more people actually registered for the race, but only the serious runners and a hand full of  goobers who didn't know it was totally appropriate to forfeit your registration fee and stay home where it's warm and dry--you know, to take a rain-check.

All the serious runners had the good sense to wear shorts.  When I saw it was 45 degrees and pouring rain, I put my all weather pants (ones I use to wear over ski leggings) over my running shorts.  I wanted to stay as dry as I could. In hindsight, it should have occurred to me that, after nearly 20 years, some the weather proofing might have worn off.  I quickly took on at least five extra pounds of water around my legs as my pants collected water between it's inner and outer layers.  We'll call that a lesson learned.  Lara and I had laughed about the less than aerodynamic aspects of our ponchos, but I'm glad I wore it.  As soaked as I got, it would have been worse without.  But between the water weights and poor aerodynamics, I have prime excuses for my less than impressive time.

Great pace time or not, I finished and in under an hour, which is better than I anticipated.  While I did have to walk some, I ran more than I walked. And best of all, I wasn't even a little sore.  This tells me I didn't push myself --I might actually be able to run a full 8k.  And if I can do that is a 10k too much of a stretch?  I reckon we'll see.

For the moment, I'm feeling really proud that I not only showed up to run in the pouring rain but I crossed the finish line with enough energy to go back down the race route to catch a friend who was behind me so I could accompany her to the end of the race.

We dragged our soaking wet selves inside and ate the offered Chick-fil-a chicken biscuits without shame or remorse.  Mmm, warm chicken biscuits.

The best, most rewarding part of taking part in this race, however, was an exchange on Facebook I had with one of my friends from my days at Agnes Scott College.  I have to preface this by mentioning this woman is an athlete to the core--soccer, softball, running.  So the exchange is all the more meaningful to me.

She called me a "runner."  I'm a runner.  Ha ha.  I'm still giddy about that.  But I am and if I can be a runner, just about anyone can.

Music, Messages and the Magical 5 year old who gets it all.

My girls love music.  They come by it honestly, both my husband and I enjoy music immensely.  And I feed their fondness for music by indulging their requests when they ask for songs to be added to their iPods.  E, my five year old, is the one who most often asks for songs.  My parents supported my eclectic tastes so I try not to judge too harshly when she asks for something I'm sure will make my ears bleed.  And I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it when she asks for something that I really like.

So when after we watched the Life Vest Inside - Kindness Boomerang video my friend shared on Facebook, she asked for the song on her iPod, I could hardly find it fast enough on iTunes to get it for her (and me).

I left town for a work trip the next day and this morning was the first morning I'd spent with them since putting the song on her iPod.  On the way to school, E say "thank you for putting that song on my iPod."
"Which song?" I asked.
"This one." And she played it.  It's a 'gets me in my tear ducts' song and I cry a little each time it hear it.  It's really beautiful in it's intention--even more beautiful than uplifting video that introduced me to it (I'm sure the song isn't new--I'm not up on current music the way I once was; can't seem to turn my Sirius FM off of First Wave).  E sang along to the parts she's already memorized.  There are a few places where the lyrics run together quickly and she has trouble discerning the words.  She actually thought it might be in Spanish so she asked me to translate.  I told her it wasn't in Spanish but I wasn't sure to which part she was referring.  She reversed the song and replayed the part:
     It's not about win or lose 'cause we all lose
     When they feed on the souls of the innocent blood
     Drenched pavement keep on moving'
     Though waters stay ragin'
Frankly, I couldn't repeat the verse exactly so I just explained that it was talking about how we all lose when we don't show love and ignore our responsibilities to each other. And that the song was about how we don't have to be that way.  And E piped up, "like how the construction worker stopped and helped the boy when everyone else just went past and the boy was happy and helped the lady who was afraid she couldn't get across the street fast enough with her bags and then everyone did something nice."
I got all choked up and had to catch my breath before I could reply.  I realize the video is not subtle in its message, but had been nearly a week since the first and only time E had seen it but she remembered all the kindnesses and why they were important.  "Yes, baby, exactly."
She played Matisyahu's One Day, all the way through again and then the next song, a favorite of mine by Live began. "You don't need no friends..." to which E responded "Yes, I do, I need my friends!  I don't like that part of this song, Mommy.  I like the other parts but I do need my friends"
Heaven is another 'gets me in my tear ducts' tune.  It was the song that made me really like the band, Live and ever since I found out I was having my first baby girl, I can hardly hear it without becoming a puddle of goo.  I love the song.  "No, honey, he's not saying you don't need friends, he's just saying that you don't need other people to know God.  People will sometimes tell you that God is one way or another.  Some people will even try to tell you there is no God because they haven't seen God or heard God."
E's response nearly made me need to pull over.  "People who can't see God aren't looking--God isn't really invisible.  God is everywhere and in everything.  And if people can't hear God, it's because they haven't found the quiet place their hearts to listen and hear God speak to them."
This child of mine, who perpetually chooses the path of most resistance when asked to go anywhere, this child who will do exact thing you told her not to do 30 seconds after you told her not to, this five year old little girl, gets it.  She knows what many adults have trouble articulating, even believing.  And these are her words.  I've not drilled this into her.  We do talk about God, but this her own interpretation and her own language.
It makes me happy beyond words that she is processing what she sees and hears and from all the noise that she is inundated with from TV, movies, music and stories, she is taking in the good stuff and putting it all in order.
As a mother, I will fret over lots of things regarding my girls, but I can rest easy knowing my little E's heart is definitely perfectly placed.