Dark Clouds

We heard the rain during the night, tapping lightly on the windows, and we could hear the wind as well.  I did my Tai Chi under cover of the condo building, but by the time I had eaten breakfast and had a cup of coffee in hand, it had cleared off enough to sit out on the dune-top deck, my habit ever since we have arrived unless it is raining.  But the wind was picking up even more, and the sky was growing darker and darker.  I hurried to get dressed before conditions worsened.

It was one of those glowering, angry looking skies, wind whipping the cords on flagpoles like mad, blowing over trash cans, loudly rattling the dry fronds of palm trees; along the horizon there was a black line of clouds.  I decided to head west, straight into the wind, so that it would be at my back when I returned.  It really was a struggle!  I ran some pick-ups - fast, short sprints from mailbox to mailbox, from utility pole to stop sign, on some of the back roads, and it felt like someone was standing in front of me, pushing hard on my shoulders.  It was so ridiculous I started laughing!  "What am I doing out here?!!"  I know, I know; not right in the head.

I have to say that I was thankful to return to the condo more this morning than on any other morning we have been here.  The wind kept increasing in speed, and the last little circle around the parking lot was executed in a crouch, bent over, head down, trying to reduce the amount of wind resistance.

It is on these days, however, that I feel more satisfied than ever having completed a run, even a short one.  "You like misery, don't you?"  Martha asked, shaking her head.  And yes, I suppose there is an element of masochism on days like this after all.  But there is an intoxicating excitement, too, in being out in such wild weather, looking over my shoulder at gathering clouds, laughing into the wind, miserable and triumphant and absolutely alive.