Water Where?

When you run on trails, you get used to the idea that you might need to cross a swollen creek and get your feet wet.  With this in mind, I never wear long pants on a trail run because the bottom of the pants can get wet and muddy.  I never think about this when running on the streets of Richmond, so when I saw that the weather for Frostbite 15K was in the low 40s and 100% chance of rain, I put on long pants to keep my legs warm.  Error! 

As I warmed up for the race, I noticed the largest puddle covering the entire road across the lakes from my house in Byrd Park.  As an SUV stopped and turned around to avoid crossing this flood, I spotted a race volunteer and asked him if the puddle was on the course.  He consulted a map and said “you have to cross this twice!”  There’s a photo of this spot, right, with a Richmond Road Runners truck traversing it.  In the end, when we came upon it during the race, they diverted us into the grass going out, and onto the sidewalk coming back.  Even so, it was very wet. 

 
It rained off and on during this race, and by the second half of it, the bottoms of my pants were soaked and heavy.  I kept having to hike them up so I wouldn’t step on them.  Still, all in all, this race was very fun!  I smiled the whole time, much to the amazement of the volunteers, who apparently thought I should be looking miserable.  No matter how bad the conditions are for a race, though, it’s always a pleasure to run, to be able to run.