{"id":188,"date":"2013-03-10T22:54:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-10T22:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=188"},"modified":"2013-03-13T13:38:32","modified_gmt":"2013-03-13T13:38:32","slug":"finding-purpose-in-the-rain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=188","title":{"rendered":"Finding Purpose in the Rain"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other day I saw one of those silly ecards on Facebook that was exactly perfect.\u00a0 It read, \u201cI don\u2019t go crazy.\u00a0 I am crazy.\u00a0 I just go normal from time to time. Get it right.\u201d\u00a0 That pretty much describes every runner I know.\u00a0 Otherwise, why would I have gladly gone out into a downpour this morning and run 17 miles?\u00a0 I started at 9:34am. By 9:37, my braids were soaked, my shoes were squishy and there were streams of water pouring off both sides of my navy blue FLEET FEET hat.\u00a0 By the time I finished I was reminiscent of the scene in the movie League of Their Own where the announcer says, \u201cAnd then there\u2019s Marla Hooch.\u00a0 What a hitter.\u201d\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t my most gloriously attractive moment, to say the least, but I got it done.<\/p>\n

So, picture this: Linds J running 3 loops around Creve Coeur Lake in the driving rain.\u00a0 Every once in a while I would tip my head toward the sky to let the rain fall on my face, I could feel myself smile, and I would close my eyes.\u00a0 Lindsey quirk #5: Sometimes I try to run as long as I can with my eyes closed.\u00a0 I find it a good form of release, and I especially like doing this on a long straight downhill.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure eventually I\u2019m going to bite it.\u00a0 Probably really hard.\u00a0 But until the day comes when I go careening down the side of a hill, rolling through trees and brush, resulting in stitches and\/or broken bones, I will likely continue this practice.\u00a0 Anyway, I was out there to put in the miles all by my lonesome today, but weirdly, I was not the only one.\u00a0 There were several other runners on the path and as we would pass each other, we exchanged that slight smile and knowing glance that says, \u201cSo you\u2019re crazy too.\u201d<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the other thing, while I was out there getting after it, I had about 25 friends that were doing something even more ridiculous.\u00a0 13 miles of trails in the rain at Cuivre River State Park for the race Quivering Quads.\u00a0 From what I hear, it was a total muddy mess.\u00a0 And I think that sounds absolutely, spectacularly awesome!\u00a0 Like I said, as runners, we\u2019re all crazy.<\/p>\n

Runners, let\u2019s face it, we\u2019re a little bit cultish.\u00a0 I mean that in a good way, of course.\u00a0 Or as my non-runner friend, Ben, says, \u201cRunners are all drinking the Kool-aid, but it\u2019s more like a protein shake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seriously, think about it. \u00a0Anytime a runner finds themself in a room full of mostly strangers, we still have a way of gravitating to other runners.\u00a0 It starts out with an, \u201cOh, you run too? What\u2019s your favorite flavor of Gu?\u201d\u00a0 Afterwards comes a brief assessment period to size each other up with questions like: How many marathons have you run?\u00a0 Ever done an Ultra?\u00a0 What\u2019s your PR?<\/p>\n

Eventually, you and your running acquaintance find yourselves huddled in the corner where the true bonding begins as you discuss things like stress fractures and where you were on the course the year they cancelled the Chicago marathon because it was so bloody hot and the water got lost. \u00a0By the time you\u2019re being dragged out the door, you and your new bestie have become facebook friends, you\u2019ve tweeted about this awesome kindred spirit you\u2019ve just met and you have plans to run together next weekend.<\/p>\n

But why do we do it?\u00a0 Why do we willingly go out in weather worse than the postman would and put our bodies through such torture?\u00a0 Well, we do it in the name of fun.\u00a0 We do it for discipline. Sometimes we do it out of guilt, knowing how we\u2019ll feel if we don\u2019t.\u00a0 We do it for bragging rights.\u00a0 But we also do it for purpose.<\/p>\n

At the end of my run today, I found a new friend hanging out in the pavilion at Creve Coeur.\u00a0 As I stretched a very tight IT band, Ed and I started talking.\u00a0 When he was younger his goal had been to break the 4 minute mile.\u00a0 The closest he ever got was 4:08. Umm, yeah, he passed the sizing-up assessment with flying colors.\u00a0 But not just because of his speed. \u00a0Now Ed has Stage 4 Colon Cancer with metastasis to the liver.\u00a0 He\u2019s had baseball sized tumors removed and ongoing chemo.\u00a0 Just like my friend, Teri, who I\u2019ve talked about before, he is continuing his athletic feats while fighting a battle for his life.\u00a0 I have nothing but respect for these folks, especially as I think about how much easier it is for my healthy body to go run 17 miles.<\/p>\n

And earlier this week, I made another new friend, who I fit with new running shoes at the store.\u00a0 Douang recently lost her 22 month old child, who was diagnosed with Leukemia at only 6 weeks old. \u00a0I can\u2019t imagine anything worse in life than the pain of that. \u00a0She said she took up running to find purpose and to just keep going.<\/p>\n

We all have storms in life.\u00a0 They all look different.\u00a0 You never know what\u2019s going to be thrown your way.\u00a0 Running has been a constant in my life, but the storms have blown through.\u00a0 Some were just a passing shower, and some have been more catastrophic.\u00a0 Some have delivered me to a point where I wanted to just stop eating altogether; running gave me a reason to eat.\u00a0 I knew I needed food\u00a0to have enough\u00a0energy.\u00a0 If I didn\u2019t eat, I couldn\u2019t run.<\/p>\n

Douang was right, running gives us purpose when we want to throw in the towel and quit.\u00a0 Or when we don\u2019t even know what we want or what the next step is.\u00a0 Storms in life will come and go.\u00a0 During the times that the rain falls hard we learn to appreciate, even more, the days when the sun is shining.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny.\u00a0 As I sit here typing this, the sun is starting to come out after a LOT of rain.\u00a0 Which is appropriate seeing as I am currently entering a season of life where it feels like the sun is shining after running at least 17 miles in the rain. \u00a0I know it\u2019s going to storm again eventually, so in the meantime, I\u2019ll keep running.\u00a0 I\u2019ll keep logging the miles in any kind of weather, just to stay prepared for whatever comes my way.\u00a0 Running won\u2019t save me, but it might just give me a reason to get out of bed on the rainy days.<\/p>\n

And now, if you\u2019ll excuse me, there is a pint of Coffee Heath Bar Crunch in my freezer that is calling my name.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to eat the whole flipping thing. And then lapse into a post 17-miler coma.<\/p>\n

\"RRG<\/a>

RRG after a very wet 17 miles. Shirt says Running on Faith…because sometimes that’s all you’ve got to go on.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other day I saw one of those silly ecards on Facebook that was exactly perfect.\u00a0 It read, \u201cI don\u2019t go crazy.\u00a0 I am crazy.\u00a0 I just go normal from time to time. Get it right.\u201d\u00a0 That pretty much describes every runner I know.\u00a0 Otherwise, why would I have gladly gone out into a downpour […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,9,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-bringthetears","category-lessonsfromrunning","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-32","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}