I ran in the rain.

I went to bed at 10:00pm, woke up at 3:30am, sent a couple
of emails, went back to sleep at around 5:00am, got up at
6:30am, and headed out.

Since early this week, I had been bothered by a slight
plantar fasciitis in the right foot. This seemed to be part
of the bargain with my new pair of zero-drop running shoes.
So I again tried to go easy and paid close attention to the
troubled sole.

The sky looked dismal, the trail bleak, but my heart was
light. The weather report said rain but at the moment it was
not even drizzling. "I might get through this without
getting wet." I thought.

That was too optimistic. As if I had pushed a button by
hitting the trail, the rain started and turned heavier each
mile. Worse, I was heading into the wind. I took my eye
glasses off as my vision was blurred anyway and felt better.
I also paid attention to my breathing: 4 steps in and 3
steps out at a relatively constant cadence.

At around mile 4, a small calf pain started and I
immediately turned back. The rain never stopped but the wind
was at my back now which made the run much more enjoyable.
Besides one or two cyclists, I was the only one on the
trail, gliding. Toward the end, one thought struck me that
running belongs to people who believe in the equality of
humans: it's hard to find a sport more leveling and
universal than this.

In the end, I was not much winded and had enough gas in the
tank to run a few more miles had I so chosen. This run was
8.24 miles at an average pace of 8:51.