Andrew Schrauben

Driving home from work Tuesday (11 July) there were two things I knew: 1) I needed to go for a run, and 2) it was raining pretty hard. It shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me that I was looking forward to running in the rain!

There are several things that can make running fun aside from the act of running itself. Running in scenic locations, running with friends, running in crazy weather, and running with dogs... ah yes, dogs. Looks like Haven and Beacon are coming with me this time!

Once home I quickly changed and leashed up both dogs, using a single leash attached to a double-lead, sorta like a two-dog dog sled. "Mush, you huskies!" And mush they did, hauling me up the large hill at the start of my 3.4 mile route. We had stepped outside into a downpour that lasted for the first 1.5 miles before letting up to "just" a steady rain.

We had a blast and even ran at a quick pace. I was kinda jealous of the dogs' paws - they're so well designed for running! They stepped through puddles with ease no matter how deep; I, however, splashed quite messily (albeit quite happily) with each step. As I ran through some of the dirt road's brown water, a phrase came to mind:

"When the world is puddle-wonderful"

It's from a poem by E. E. Cummings called "In Just-" that I first read in high school. A good way to summarize that Tuesday.