Running in the Rain

I love running in the rain but today I got all I could handle. It poured so hard on me that I couldn’t even keep my eyes open because the water was dislodging my contact lenses. It was like staring into a shower nozzle. I was soaked to the bone, running up the Morning Trail which climbs 2000 feet up to the top of Victoria Peak, a combination of Sawyer Camp Trail and California Street in SF. I like to think of the Peak as 'Currahee' from Band of Brothers and when I start to lag I gain inspirateion by imagining Captain Sobel jawing at me as I head up the hill.

Rain is manageable but lightning is another matter. On two occasions lightning cracked within a mile around me, going by the old reliable flash thunder counting method…so to keep from becoming fried chicken I ducked under a pagoda to wait it out. I was the only one out on the trail, for good reason it seems.


The trail winds through a semi tropical jungle of bamboo, banyan trees, hackberry trees, rubber trees and groundcover of ferns and other brush. To be within the canopy and hear the sound of the rain pounding through is really quite an experience and because this weekend’s rain was the first good drenching in months, I really had a feeling that the greenery was just so happy to be soaking it all in.

Toward the top of the trail I saw the weirdest thing. A 4-inch orange crab clickety clacked across the trail and into the jungle. Where did the little crab come from? 2000 feet up from the harbor and nowhere near any local restaurants. Very odd, but it was probably wondering what I was doing out in such bad weather.

Making headway on my weightloss goals! Sorry only stock photos, but I didn't want to drench my camera.