Wet & Wind

One of the many good things about qualifying for State is we get another week of practice. And today was quite the practice.

Brian and Kevin got started at noon with the standard warm-up. It was the long run of the week so 55 or 40 minutes. The original plan was to run a Greaser, but it switched to Runnymede because we weren’t sure what the weather was going to do. It was dark and cloudy, but didn’t seem out of the ordinary with all the other rainy weather we’ve had this season.

Just because, we decided to make today long shirt, shirt shorts day—a long awaited, highly controversial theme day. You know it was good when as you walk past Pastoral before practice even starts and someone says: “I get it. It’s like you’re not wearing pants.” We looked hilariously awesome in our matching Rawlings Baseball shirts (which Coach Vitello commented on) and nearly not visible shorts.

So after skips we headed for the exit in hopes of getting the run done while having to deal with the least rain possible. Oh boy, did Mother Nature have other ideas. We made it the Jewish and had only felt a few drops of rain. Then all of a sudden it started pouring, absolutely pouring. And the winds whipped up and were raging. The flag pole sounded like it was going to fall over and the trees by the pavilion were leaning in directions that shouldn’t be possible.

At this point, we decided we better head back. The rain and wind were so intense when we first turned around that we temporally hid behind a truck. We charged out into the driving rain and wind. The droplets were slamming into us like little daggers and it was as if we were running up the massive secret hill behind Conway Park. We battled our way back to DeSmet and reentered campus behind the chapel. Just as we got to the circle, Coach was driving down the parking lot to go out and find us. Kevin takes off after him, sprinting down the hill tiring to get his attention. In the process he loses a shoe because of how soaked it has become. As Coach is turning onto Ballas he saw Abernathy in the review mirror.

That whole thing took less than ten minutes. We went back in at the main office, all three of us drenched. This meant a wet squeaky walk down the hallway. We got some really good looks; it probably helped that the wet shirts did cover our shorts completely.

The remainder of the run was completed on the treadmill. But after we changed shirts and wrung out our socks. The most exciting thing that happened while on the treadmills was that they both stopped when the power flickered 3 minutes in. Thought we’d never get this run in, but they cooperated the rest of the way.

Keep it here for complete coverage of State Week.

Quote of the Day: “I don’t think you boys should be running. I just came from Chesterfield and it was pouring.”- Random lady in the parking lot as we were leaving.