"...let it rain down and wash everything away."

Whenever I run in the rain, which given the summer of six heat waves, admittedly I haven't done much of, the aptly named Creed song pops into my head and suddenly I'm chanting, "I feel it's going to rain like this for days - so let it rain down and wash everything away - I hope that tomorrow the sun will shine - with every tomorrow comes another life - I feel like it's going to rain like this for days," to myself as I head down the path.

Weird? Probably.

However, it captures my optimism about rain - especially what it feels like to start and end a long run in the rain.  There is something about knowing that you're walking out of a perfectly dry house into a storm when it's barely light out to run for at least an hour, sucking it up and doing it.  Instantly not dry, chilly and still waking up, it takes a bit of mental knowhow to move beyond the elements, accept them and run with them and even more focus on the journey.

Running 6 miles earlier this week in the remnants of a storm reminded me of humid, rainbow filled mornings and an uncertain struggle as I began my training 12 months ago - afraid to miss a step.  The difference now is remarkable.  I am not driven by fear of missing a workout or a tempo run or an appropriate time on my garmin, I am just driven.  Driven to breathe deep on the stormy days, keep my arms where they are supposed to be, lengthen my stride at the end, finish hard, start steady, embrace puddles and smile at other wet runners with the same ideas.  They may not be pretty, but these runs are what bring us back, humble us low and redefine our strength.

So the rain came, went and promised to return- washed a lot of the dust away and got me ready to start what I hope will be a seamless 14 week buildup to 26.2 miles in November.