Good morning! Is anyone else as awake and jittery as I am? I threw off my routine this morning by running first thing when I woke up (just a short little easy run – no sore muscles for me!) so that I could be showered and ready to have coffee with my friend Brett at 10am. Early-morning run + cappuccino = wired Leah! Now if only I can channel this nervous energy into some productivity…

Well, the inevitable has happened: the forecast for the Country Music Half-Marathon on Saturday morning includes a big ole’ dose of rain.

Am I surprised? Not one single bit. I seem to be a serious rain-magnet. A walking rain stick, if you will. One rain dance away from causing a full-fledged hurricane.

Confused much? Yeah, I figured that y’all would be. Allow me to explain my seemingly-incoherent ramblings:

For as long as I can remember, and especially in recent years, it has rained on or near, or at least threatened to rain on or near, every major event in my life.

Dancing the May Pole in the 5th grade? Overcast and thunder rumbling.
All four Rites of Spring concerts during my college career? At least one night with torrential downpours.
Vanderbilt graduation? Moved indoors due to a monsoon.

You get the picture. There was even a stretch of time where every drive I made from Louisville to Nashville or vice verse occurred during the rain. I would bet that it probably rained on the day of my birth, and I have already resigned myself to the fact that it will be raining on my wedding day (whenever that may be).

So of course rain is predicted for my first half-marathon. And you know what? I have accepted it. Sure, I’ve watched the weather all week and grown increasingly nervous, but now I’ve decided that if it is going to rain, I might as well prepare myself!

With the help of Jessica’s tips for running in the rain (from a fellow FitFluential Ambassador!), I’ve decided to enact a few strategies for Saturday.

• Wear a trash bag to the race, so that I can at least stay dry until it starts. (fun fact – we all wore trash bags over our graduation clothes and robes to sprint the 200 yards from our dorms to the gymnasium last May, so I’m well acquainted with this method!)
• Make sure that my iPhone armband is waterproof. I’m contemplating wrapping it in a plastic bag, or switching and just using my old iPod just in case it gets wet.
• Run in a hat to keep the rain out of my eyes and off of my face, if I can track one down before Saturday.
• Embrace the rain! They never said 13.1 miles was going to be easy, so this is just another part of the adventure, right?

Until then, I’m crossing my fingers that I wake up Saturday morning to an overcast – but dry – sky. Crossing my fingers for my friends in Louisville who are running the Derby Mini as well! But I also know that a little rain never hurt anyone. Now running 13.1 miles, that’s another story…