What a weekend!  Thank you guys for all of the birthday love – turning 36 wasn’t too bad!  Really the only bad part was the death of my relatively new iPhone.  I’m still without a phone, so don’t take it personally that I’m ignoring you if you called or texted me on my birthday!  Anyhow, besides the birthday, this weekend is exciting because here on the blog we have TWO guest blog posts (see previous one here, recapping Friday night’s game)!  This next one comes to you from my friend Melissa Alvarado, fellow Yoga Teacher Training graduate.  This post cracked me up because clearly, she knows me (and my serious extremism) very well. 

This is how it began. It was calm Friday morning and Megan texts me, “What time are you planning on running in the morning and for how long?” Despite my super busy week which interfered with my run training, I was going to make every attempt to complete my Saturday morning long run with the Lifetime run club. My goal was 10 miles. To my surprise Megan states she can actually get out at a later time to possibly join me in my run (usually she runs super early because of Scott’s work schedule).  Since it was her actual birthday, I thought it was a fabulous idea and an additional motivator for me to actually do it. I tend to get easily dissuaded.

Side note – for those of you who may not know, Megan and I are both training for the Rock and Roll San Antonio Half Marathon, and somehow she talked me into doing the New Orleans Full Marathon in February. I just might die on that day; we will have to see what happens.   I digress…

I had been keeping track of the weather mainly due to an out of town drive I had to do Friday afternoon and an outdoor event I had planned for months to occur later Saturday afternoon. The forecast: rain and more rain. In a text to Megan that Friday morning, I stated that if it was pouring rain I probably would run on the “dread mill” but drizzle/light rain I could probably do.  I didn’t hear much from Megan after this, other than her need to now convince Scott of getting the kiddos ready for a birthday party they had to attend late Saturday morning by himself since she would be running with me. I figured that since I hadn’t received a message stating that she couldn’t go, that she was going, meaning that I too was going.

A couple of things I have learned about Megan in the short time I have known her (we met in March of this year at Yoga Teacher Training) is that 1) she is an extremist and 2) she follows through on things. I usually stay in Friday nights due to having to run in the morning, so my Friday was pretty chill and I made it a point to be in bed by 10pm. I set my alarm and planned to be at Lifetime rain or shine at 6:30am.

Waking up at 2:47am is never a good thing, especially when you are supposed to run 10 miles in 4 hours on 4 hours of sleep. If you know me, I typically sleep 8-9 hours each night. I was in and out of sleep, noticing that it never stopped raining until my 6am alarm went off.  And yes, of course I woke up to a text from Megan stating she was already on her way. I put my clothes on, brushed my teeth, grabbed my things, drank my tropical greens juice (whole foods fresh- pressed- you have to try it) and went on my merry way. Already thinking, “how long am I actually going to last on the ‘dread mill'”? the thought then came to me, “Oh no! Megan is going to talk me into running in this rain!”  On my drive to the club I had already accepted my fate that there was a big chance I’d be running in the rain and that it would be an adventure. I arrive at the club at approximately 6:22am. Megan was patiently waiting for me in the lobby.

After convening with the run group, most were staying indoors and Megan, Frank, Barbara, and I (we will call us the Four Pack) are the Crazies that choose to venture out into the rain a.k.a. The Monsoon at 6:34am. The route would be – Henderson Pass to Brook Hollow out and back which was 8 miles and Megan and I would somehow tack on 2 miles to meet our goal of 10. We start off into what seems like light rain. Up Sonterra towards Gold Canyon, literally less than 100 yards from the club we come up to a road covered in about a foot of water, shoes completely soaked and we pushed through. Not too far away we were visited by a skunk. Megan seemed really excited about the skunk, apparently she had never seen one live and in the flesh? Up ahead a raccoon passes. Now I am just waiting for a fox; one time I saw one on a run – that was a cool sight to see. But that became the end of our animal sightings, as no creature wanted to be out in this rainstorm!

We continue running, and at about mile 2 Frank is a good distance ahead, Barbara is a good distance behind and Megan and I are running at a steady pace of about 11:30 min/mi. The Four Pack became two at this point and remained this way for the remainder of the run. I like to say that Megan and I talked about the F’s: football, friends, family, food, and the future. Passing Thousand Oaks towards Brook Hollow was a sight from a scary movie, although I have yet to see a scary movie where two people are running by choice and not being chased by someone/something. It was pretty dark (neither of us was wearing lights) and the sun hadn’t began to shine its pretty face yet. On this route we ran over several creek overpasses that sounded like raging rivers. Jokingly we became weather reporters for KSAT, bracing the elements to give accurate information to our community about status of the roadways.

We came to the end of Brook Hollow (mile 4) and turn around, choosing to tack on our two miles heading west on Thousand Oaks. Finally the dark slowly began to shed some light, and The Monsoon was in full effect, not to mention being completely splashed by passing cars (just imagine a tidal wave with each car passing). Those people driving must have thought we were nuts or really hard core runners. I think I will go with the latter.  Next up was waiting for Megan’s 8am alarm so she can secure her daycare spot for Ty Baby during Hot Vinyasa on Monday – really?  That is one hard core childcenter securer.  Is securer even a word? Sure enough the alarm sounds at approximately mile 7. Finding a spot underneath some trees, Megan pulls out her phone to make the call. I see the panic in her face and hear it in her voice…her phone was acting funny and she couldn’t dial out. Siri came to the rescue and my magic finger assists in completing the call. Daycare- SECURED!

It’s a little blurry to me at this point, literally with the rain in my eyes, but it was around mile 6 that Megan becomes one with Mother Nature, and her response to this “It’s Kind of Awesome.” No judgment here, as I have had several times connecting with Mother Nature…although, they have always revolved around my love for beer and not necessarily running. I think she may have repeated this once again before completion of The Monsoon Run. We finally make it back to Henderson Pass towards Gold Canyon (appx Mile 8.5) I see the end of The Monsoon. Not because it has stopped pouring buckets of rain, but because the route became familiar to me and I knew we were close to home “aka the club.” Running alongside 1604, Megan states how great she feels and how she could probably run another 6 miles. My thought, “I sure am glad she has that party to go to in an hour- ha-ha!!”  Kidding aside, I actually felt pretty good too, despite feeling some stiffness in my knees.

At approximately 8:47am we arrive soaking wet, matted hair (at least mine), maybe a couple of ear infections, but most importantly with our 10 miler done and safe and sound! Happy Birthday Megan I hope that you have an awesome day and that your phone survives. Monsoon Run is one for the books.