Rainy Days Continue

There are not many runners who have escaped a sudden unexpected rain shower, or even deliberately decided to run a race in the rain.  We have all been there:  spectators stand along the course under big umbrellas, shaking their heads in disbelief as soaked-to-the skin runners splash through puddles (because after awhile you just don't care about trying to keep your shoes dry).  If you have trained hard, perhaps even paid an expensive entry fee and are staying at a pricey hotel, you just accept whatever weather happens to come along on Race Day.   Some of us have even been known to take a perverse pleasure in racing under these conditions, insisting that it is a wonderful thing, this cooling, lubricating rain.  "It actually feels pretty nice out here!" we call our cheerfully.

But that is not the case with an all-day hike.  Hikes can be postponed to more optimal weather conditions, when a person might actually enjoy some sunshine and some expansive vistas instead of huddling under a clammy hooded emergency poncho as these unnamed hikers did one year coming down Mount LeConte.

And that is what we have done, once again.  An afternoon shower is one thing, an all-day slog is quite another.  Now Hurricane Cindy has materialized out of nowhere into the Gulf of Mexico and seems to be engulfing the entire Southeast in even more rain. 

Let's put those energy bars and trail snacks away for a better day.