Rain and Shine

It was a beautiful weekend here in Charlotte, NC.  Dinner out at Copper, a fine Indian restaurant on Friday night led to a sunny Saturday spent exploring the city and checking out the Festival at the Park.  I ran a hot afternoon four-miler and then relaxed.

Sunday was forecast for rain and I had planned to meet a new friend for a long run through the city.   I got up early to make breakfast and greeted the sunrise with a walk with Susan and our dogs.  Wow, was it beautiful!
The rain hadn't yet come, so off to Brian and Alyson's house for a 12 or 13-miler through some of Charlotte's most historic neighborhoods.  I met Brian and Alyson at a Charlotte Running Club run last Thursday at the U.S. Whitewater Training Center where we ran a hilly, trail run.  Brian and I ran together and I realized that we had a similar pace, so I asked him if he would want to run and he agreed.   Alyson is a marathoner and Brian has been building himself up with the hopes of completing the Jacksonville Marathon this coming December.   Also, just to mention, the two of them just finished hiking the ENTIRE Appalachian Trail (AT) this summer.  There is nothing like logging 2000+ continuous miles to build up an excellent base for running you first (or 15th) marathon.

So Sunday took us into Uptown (downtown), Myer's Park and Dilworth, plus many other districts that I'm not yet familiar with.   We got lost (of course),  but to no worry.    An extra mile or two would be okay.  We finished up in just under two hours for a total of 13 miles, woo hoo!  What a beautiful Sunday.

I thanked my newest friends and left for home.   It was about then that the clouds rolled in, the temperatures dropped 15 degrees and it started to rain.  So Susan and I headed for another hip area, Noda, and for Cabo Fish Taco.   Cabo is an indoor/outdoor restaurant with killer fish tacos and dollar off margaritas on Sundays.  I was in heaven.    They tout themselves as California Style, but we found them to be a little more Caribbean, with a Big Kahuna surfer feel.   But one thing was for sure, their food was incredible, and I could've sucked down another margarita (or three).

Fast forward thirty hours and I'm home from a long Monday's work and am getting ready to run.   The rain keeps coming down steadily,  but at least it's cool.   I head out for an easy 4-mile recovery run after my long run yesterday and my mind begins to drift off to Ketchikan and my many, rainy runs with Joel Jackson and the others from the Ketchikan Running Club.   Seems like it's been forever since I've run in the rain...and how many times I ran in the rain up north.   I actually MISS running in the rain,  or at least something different than the heat and humidity that has plagued the south for the past three months!

Then, before I knew it, my run was over.   Susan was cooking up a delicious meal and I didn't want to come in.   Outside it was raining, but inside my head,  I was shining.