By: Terri Gilbert
Week 4 – October 1, 2011

Rain. I always thought, how & why do runners run in the rain? What possesses someone to actually want to go out and run in the rain? Why not just go to a gym & run on the treadmill? My group would find out this past Saturday. The overall group was smaller, as to be expected due to the weather, but those of us that did come for the group run braved the rain and at the end were actually proud of ourselves for finishing in the less than perfect running weather.

Once again, our first interval was increased; this time by 3 more minutes. I will admit I am the slowest runner in our group, but the support from my fellow running mates and Coach Jessica is unbelievable. No matter how far ahead the faster runners get in our group, during the walk interval, everyone is so supportive in coming back to start the next run interval as a team. There is no judging each other. We are all in the same boat trying to become “runners” and we’re having fun while we’re at it. It is week 4 and we are now running 7 more minutes (that’s right seven) then when we started; and it feels great. I tried to do my homework this morning on a treadmill at the gym but all I could think was “This isn’t any fun. I want to go outside and run in the rain.” I believe the mental aspects of running are starting to make sense to me now.