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It’s not yet icy — the rain — but it’s close. Forty-one degrees and the water keeps coming down from the gray October sky. And me, pounding the pavement at a quarter to one o’clock in the afternoon, a windbreaker shielding my body and my uncovered hair drenched in a couple of minutes. I forgo my audiobook for music and clock my fastest mile ever in mile one, motivated to get back in time for my next meeting and get warm again. My hands get close to numb in the first half, but by the last two miles they’re warm. I’d forgotten my gloves but it’s for the best. They would’ve gotten damp and heavy. Instead I flex my fingers to the music.

It’s half miserable out, but I love it. I really do. No one on the roads. No people, few cars, and just wet leaves beneath my feet. I pick my feet up (up, up, up, up) so I don’t slide and fall. Sometimes the rain gets in my eyes and once a leaf blows into my face hard enough to smack. And I’m smiling.

It was impossible to convince myself to get out this morning, even after the weather reports assured me it would be the only dry time all day. I figured I’d take my rest day, but after a draining meeting right before lunch, I was itching it shake it off. And I know I’ll never survive the winter if I let a little autumn rain scare me away.

It was only four miles, a shorter run for me to fit into the time I had, but it made the day. It did shake off the gloomy energy from the meeting, completing the stress cycle, and helping me focus.

And there’s something about running in crummy weather that feels empowering and a little badass. Or at least that’s what I need to tell myself to make it happen so let me have this one.

With Love,

Natalie