Rainy, but not too bad

Today's run was somewhat rainy, although not downpour rainy.  This is an important distinction.  For instance, my clothes did not drip a pool of water after the run.  I can deal with 'rainy.'

However, it was also somewhat chilly, which in some respects is great (no overheating!), but made me forget about warming up.  Usually, I don't really warm up, apart from the fact that I run more slowly when I start than when I end.  Now, before you tell me I should stretch to avoid injury, I think that I've been doing okay over the last 5 years of running, so that's not a big issue for me (I do stretch afterward, even though some people, like editor of Runner's World Amby Burfoot, have claimed that this isn't necessary either).  Normally, this is not a problem since your muscles don't really need to warm up when you are running in, say, Florida.  Or on a pleasant, 70F day.  But when it is in the 50s and rainy, maybe you should.

It took until 60% of the way through my 4-mile run to feel like my calves were finally warm.  Crazy.  And not very fun.  And kind of painful.  But at least I got there.  My calves have been one of the muscle groups that is slower in getting back into the routine of running generally, but I really felt like today it was far more about the weather.  The good news is that by the end of the run, everything felt okay -- and I was going more quickly that the slow-crawl pace at which I started.

I did stretch afterward and couldn't help but notice that my calves were t-i-g-h-t.  Far worse than usual.  But since this is an anomaly and since this happened only on a cold, rainy day, I think it will be okay.