Doors of Opportunity

A cold front has been slowly moving into the area, and the cool, dry weather of last week has been replaced by rain and humidity again.  So it has been a challenge to find a good opportunity to run on dry roads.  I don't mind running in the rain - "character-building runs," we used to call them - but soggy shoes slow down workout times, and I have been doing a lot of speed workouts in preparation for upcoming races.

Fortunately, I have been able to rely during this rainy period on one of my favorite iPhone apps, which I am sure I have referred to in this blog before.  It is called MyRadar, and it displays very accurately the same Doppler radar that all the weather forecasters use, in its simplest of forms and for the entire world (I actually became curious last week and discovered that you can swoosh over to the UK and check out what it is doing in Scotland.)  A simple squeeze of fingers, or expansion of fingers, zeroes in on rain-clouds and shows them arriving, minute by minute, all across the country.  It is very accurate, and in the past I have been able to find "windows" between storms, sometimes very small windows of 30 or 60 minutes, just long enough to squeeze in a good, dry run.

Monday morning I waited patiently as rain drifted by, sitting in my car at Founders Park in heavy rain.  But I kept consulting my phone and it looked as if a break was coming, and sure enough it did, at 10:45 a.m.  I completed a good five-mile run, including some short hill sprints.

This morning we again awoke to intermittent rain, rattling on the roof; but I checked my faithful app:

It was raining lightly, but it looked like those yellow blobs would be here in about 45 minutes or so.  So I headed out early, parked at the Founders Park, and as forecast the rain cleared out and I was able to complete a good workout, including some 400-meter intervals exactly as I had planned.

What a strange run it was, though!  The mist disappeared and fog began to hang in the trees, and the morning seemed cool and quiet.  As I turned the corner at Fifth Street, I thought I could hear the voice of a man shouting, or arguing.  As I approached, I realized that he was singing, heartily and at the top of his lungs, as a celebrating man might do upon emerging from the Ugly Dog Pub up on the hill.  But it was surely too early for drunken singing in Highlands!  I can only guess that someone was out in the cool of the morning as I was, between the showers, giving thanks with an exuberant voice of song for this opportunity. 

If the door of opportunity opens, the wise runner goes through it without hesitation.