Who's afraid of a little rain?

Before running the Napa Valley Marathon yesterday, I had only three simple wishes:

(1) That I not get injured
(2) That I finish in 6 hours or less, so I could get a medal
(3) That it not rain

Well, two out of three ain't bad, right?

Alas, it did rain yesterday--and it was a veritable downpour at times, as a matter of fact--but did that ruin the marathon for us? Hell, no! Marathon # 2 was a nice surprise, as a matter of fact, because not only did I (1) not get injured and (2) finish in less than 6 hours, I BEAT MY LAST MARATHON TIME BY 33 MINUTES!!! That's 5:48:48, to be exact :).

Not bad at all, my friends.

The start of the race began benignly enough, as it was sprinkling lightly and there was a manageable chill in the air. I met my teammates at 5:00 (yes, that's AM) to board the bus that would take us to the start line (did I mention it was 26.2 miles away?), and off we were to our adventure.

And yes, an adventure it was. Despite a brief respite from the rain right at the start, it came back again soon enough, and went on to alternately torture us and tease us by retreating. It was even joined by the howling wind once or twice (or a hundred times). But throughout it all, the spectacular scenery and the fabulous company (thank you, Toni, for running with me!!) kept me positive and motivated. Each mile felt better than its counterpart at the Nike Marathon a few months ago, and the familiar faces along the way lent an INCREDIBLE amount of support and energy.

So thank you to Janine, Dianne, Jason, Margot, Amy C., Tanja, Morgan, Nicole M., Tyler, Katie, Adam, Meghan, Simone, Doug, Tim, Kris, Hao, Mom, Dad, and others whom I may not have seen, but whose presence I surely felt--you made an amazing run even more out of this world!!