I joined the gym, and God laughed
I hate running in the rain. It sucks. It’s wet and miserable and icky and yucky and extremely unpleasant. So, inevitably, I make excuses for why I can’t do a training run if it looks like rain.
Only I live in Scotland. It always looks like rain!
So, I joined a gym. You know, so that I can run without getting wet. And for the weight machines, too, but mostly for the dry running.
Today was my first day at the gym and I’m pleased to say that my run was dry. (Though a lot longer than intended!)
But still, the rain got me.
I left my office for the 20-minute walk to the gym, wearing ballet flats and not carrying an umbrella. But it was raining heavily so I grabbed a bus for part of the journey. Still, I was soaked by the time I arrived.
Then when I left the gym the rain was even heavier. And I still didn’t have an umbrella. And I was on autopilot so began walking for the bus near my office to get home, forgetting that the same bus would pass around the corner 5 minutes away. So I ended up running through the rain for several minutes.
My good coat, my lovely red scarf, and even my bones became completely sodden.
All because I am too wimpy to run in the rain. Yes, I think God, in His funny little way, was laughing at me today.
You know, not to “rain on your parade”, but getting wet in Scotland is kind of inevitable, so this comes under the heading of plausible and predictable coincidence. Surely, “god laughing at you” would have been it being sunny every day, once you’d shelled out for the gym membership?
No, God knows I’d be more than happy to have a gym membership that doesn’t get used because the weather’s too nice for it.
As for the inevitability of getting soaked in Scotland, I’m normally not caught out the way I was on gym day. In fact, as I left the house I thought I should pop back in for my umbrella but thought I might be OK without it. (Silly girl!)
You need to ditch the bumbershoot and invest in a good rain coat. Hands free and won’t be blown inside out or worse, blown down the street! That’s me, function over fashion.
I keep thinking I need a proper rain coat. Probably some proper wellies, too. But I’ll probably never actually get around to getting them because I always forget when I’m out shopping!