by Meghan Reynolds
I moved to a rainy city and kept telling myself that I was prepared for the rain - I've got the gear, the dedication and races scheduled. Then, the rain didn't come. It was a pretty dry November, December and January. Sure, it was cold, but I was use to that coming from the Northeast. Suddenly, the Portland rain is here and I'm having to actually run in the rain. I realized that I'm not that prepared for constant running in the rain and I'm having to give myself pep talks to get out there and run. It's really easy to say you are okay with the rain but getting out there 3-5 times a week when it is raining is WAY different!
Meeting up with friends is helping and what I do love about Portland is that people actually do run in the rain. In NYC, it was really only the most dedicated runners who ventured outside in the rain. Here, it's everyone. This Saturday morning, Jessica and I coached a group of runners from adidas who are training for the Shamrock Race on March 16th. I got up, looked out the window and thought, "this sucks, it's raining". Despite that, I got ready to go, sure that no one would show up. I was wrong! 7 women, mostly beginners, showed up to run. It ended up being an awesome, fun run despite the cold and constant rain.
After the run, after I showered and after I finally got warm again, a rainbow came out and Portland was green and beautiful once again. It's easy to assume you are ready and prepared for different situations. I'm not as prepared for the rain as I thought and will have to work on changing up my attitude because I have months of running in the rain ahead of me.
Here are a few ways I'm making sure that I continue to run all winter long and through the rain:
1) Signing up with a run group and meeting them every Saturday morning
2) Doing fun runs like the Fitness Dash with Athleta.
3) Committing to Pilates and barre classes at least one time a week so if I don't run, I still get a workout in.