Thank you, Mother Nature.

Over the past year, I have done my share of complaining about the weather.  In the winter, I ran more treadmill runs (4) that I had in the 10 previous years.  The spring had many windy, windy days and, somehow, they all managed to land when I had my long runs.  Summer never really came and, for someone who loves to run in the heat, I was truly disappointed in Mother Nature.
This fall, though, has been great.  Okay, so I had to train for a few downpours which had me looking for Noah’s Arc, and I raced on one of the wettest Sundays we had all year, but the fields have been dry for cross-country and we haven’t had to cancel a single practice – until Friday.
On Thursday night, the forecast showed a 90% chance of rain and the dreaded lightning bolt.  In schools, that means that practices or any other outdoor activity is cancelled.  I really wanted Friday’s after school training to continue; it has become a favorite workout for the kids and I love their enthusiasm from start to end.  On Friday morning, though, the forecast stayed the same; at lunch, the lightning bolt still showed on The Weather Network; by 2:00, we made the decision to cancel practice.  I glared at Mother Nature.
But every cloud has a silver lining and I quickly found it.  My husband had been away for most of the week and we had 3 different teacher nights (mine and the two dudes’) so my run time had been minimal all week.  Once I had cancelled cross-country, I realized that I freed up almost 2 hours to get my own run in before I had to pick up Little Ironman at the babysitter’s.  After work, then, I rushed home, changed and hit the road during what ended up becoming a light drizzle.  I picked up LI, then Skipper and the rest of the night was quiet family time.
So, thank you, Mother Nature for helping out a fellow mama, this running mama.