Thunderstorms

 

I awoke at my planned for 5:00am this morning. My plan was to hoof out the miles I needed, running, to stay on track for this week.  

Due to the extreme heat, we have had the air conditioning on the last few days, even at night, because it was still in the 80s even in the night (high 90s during the day).  

It was VERY DARK and gloomy.  At this time of the year, while it is still ahead of sunrise at 5:00am, there is typically enough scattering of the upcoming sunrise to make it possible to see outside, even though it is only the purplish coloration you see when you are using your rods and their opsin proteins are expressing cis-retinal instead of trans-retinal. This morning there was no such purple hazy view.  

It was raining heavily with extremely dense clouds.  

Part of me wanted to say "to hell with running" this morning. If I waited until 6:00am so I could run on the indoor track, I would not have any damn time to accumulate the necessary miles to stay on track.  And, the thunder I also heard along with the heavy rain made me not want to venture outside.  

However, I knew I would be upset at myself if I did not do what I said I would do.  So, while cussing under my breath, I disrobed from my pajamas, and pulled up the running shorts I have and put on a pair of running socks (designed to limit wear and tear INSIDE my damnably, outrageously expensive running shoes) and put my running baseball cap atop of my noggin along with my running headlamp and ventured forth outside. With the rain, I did not want to risk my damnably, outrageously expensive running shoes, so I instead clamped onto my hooves the prior year's worn-out pair of damnably, outrageously expensive running shoes that had previously stomped out ~2,000 miles already.  I could (somewhat) afford for the old pair to get sopping wet. My current pair has only ~1,200 miles and needs to last a helluva lot longer still. 

Hearing the crack of thunder startled me as I opened the door, but it was actually a good thing.  I could tell the sound was coming from my left.  I peered up into the sky to try to discern if I could see even the most minor of detail to see the boundaries of clouds.  It took a minute or two to find a cloud edge, and I waited.  

After a few minutes, I could see that the cloud edge was moving slowly to the left.  This was good, for I only had heard thunder from my left and it appeared it was being pushed further away from me.  

So, I braced my shoulders, naked other than the natural fur from my "Sasquatch mode" and my shorts and walked off the back porch into the rain and toward the front of the house to the driveway.  I was pretty much drenched before I reached the driveway, it was raining that heavily.

I turned on the measurement device on my (my younger son's several years old, and long ago discarded by him) gizmo watch, and took off in the heavy rain.  I kept the brim of my hat very, very low to try to keep the rain off my glasses as best as I could.   

It was very, very wet and the rain was dense and heavy.  But, I was able to accomplish 7.5 miles (~12 km) in the time I had available before I had to get home, dry off, get dressed and potty our dog before I headed to the U to start my 8:00am class.

* * * * * 

The sheer deliciousness of Sir Walter Raleigh pipe tobacco has continued filling my thoughts and my imagination since remembering the time of dissertation writing so long ago.  I had a dream last night featuring my smoking Sir Walter Raleigh while I was at some amorphous beach somewhere in the dream.  It was a beautiful dream.  And, during the rain, after completing the rosary,  I continued to revisit the memories of the flavors and pleasantness of that pipe tobacco while I ran.  

PipeTobacco