Most people that have spent any amount of time with me at all know I love the rain. And I do. I do love it. But just like any great relationship, the rain & I? We have our ups and downs. Someday I know I’ll love being a wife… but I’m not crazy enough to think that on some occasions my husband won’t flat-out frustrate and annoy me. Every now and then. ;) It’s the same with the rain.

Saturday, I was P.O.’d at that man. “Jamie, I feel like falling from the sky right now. That’s what I want to do.” “Rain, how many times have I freakin’ told you? It’s not all about you. Stop falling from the sky. That’s what I want. I’m tired and it’s getting dark out and I don’t want to come home cold-and-sick-and-tired-and wet and… quite frankly I’d rather be in bed with a book. Are you catching what I’m THROWING DOWN?”

The rain knows I love him. But I can’t promise the next few months with him will be without it’s squabbles. It’s frustrations. It’s “Oh for goodness sakes, why the heck won’t you just STOP IT?” I went for five runs this week. And all five runs were in the rain. The first two were fun: “Oh, isn’t the rain pretty! And so romantic! And poetic! And inspiring!” (Sometimes I can be a really, really, REALLY, happy annoying runner. So shoot me.) The third and fourth were okay. But for my fifth run on Saturday I felt like throwing my hands up in defeat.

For the first mile I blamed everything on the rain. “My feet are soggy.” “My legs are numb. And getting number by the minute.” “My mascara is running.” “You’re turning my flat-ironed ponytail into a frizzy, tangled mess.” I even went back to the morning’s events and threw the blame on him. “My favourite tights ripped this morning. Probably your fault.” “My calves feel really tight lately. Definitely your fault.” “I’m pretty sure I was supposed to be 5″8 as a grown woman and not 5″2… Okay, fine. I’ll give you that. Probably not your fault.”

The reason for all of this self-torture is to complete one of my life’s goals–running a half-marathon. Last January, I ran a 15km run called the Chilly Chase, the farthest distance I had ever run. I knew my next goal would be the half and 2010 is the year. I’m signed up, paid, and ready to run on February 21, 2010 in the Fort Langley Historic Half-Marathon. I’m excited… but training in the Fall and Winter in Vancouver means one thing: rain and lots of it.

Regardless of its challenges, the following things I know for sure:
1. I want to run a half-marathon.
2. I know I have the ability to run a half-marathon.
3. I’m excited to run a half-marathon.
4. I want to challenge myself beyond the comfortable.
5. I really do love to run.

And I really hope by the end of all of this, the rain & I will still be very much in love.

P.S. I know the blog looks a little wonky right now… trying to fix it. ;)

In my branding “talks” with photographers during my 1-on-1 learning sessions, I mention the process of defining your business in a few paragraphs, a paragraph, a sentence, a word. The word that defines my business, and who I am, is genuine. In light of being genuine, if I could choose one word to describe what I’m sitting in right now it would be disorganization. Perhaps it’s all the travel, perhaps it’s the fact that I’ve chosen hanging out with a friend until after midnight over cleaning my desk, perhaps it’s the fact that I’ve spent hours editing video and not enough hours editing clothes off of my couch and into the laundry bin.

I plan to fix that today. I plan to mercilessly organize and clean and dust until my fingers fall off from exhaustion, all the while listening to Hannah Georgas and Said The Whale in preparation for Wednesday’s show in Vancouver. Stoked. Winter weather in Vancouver is interesting: especially November. November is the month of terrifying realizations that winter nights in Vancouver fade to black at 4PM and that the rain and the wet and the wind won’t stop for another… four months.

I choose to embrace the wind and rain warnings. I woke up this morning ready to change some things and found myself asking God, “How can I live today different than all the days before?” Which is something I need to learn to purposefully ask every morning…

I apologize for all these random personal posts and I promise I’ll start posting some pretty pictures soon. ;)

A photography workshop I attended last year instructed us to make a list of the 10 Most Important Things Ever. After thinking for a few minutes, I completed the list quite quickly. Our next instructions were to evaluate our lifestyles right now… were we finding time to enjoy the 10 Most Important Things in our life? I’m thankful that yes, although I keep myself very busy, I do find time to do the things I love. Things like going to the movies and getting a big ol’ popcorn to munch on, or going out for breakfast on Saturdays with my family, or curling up with a good book every now and then.

One of the other things on my Most Important List Ever was running in the rain. I’ve shared my love of rain over and over again on this blog, and I’m positively certain you’re all thinking, “I SWEAR, if that Jamie Delaine girl raves on just ONE MORE TIME about rain, I’m never coming back.” So I’ll spare you the romantic love letters between the rain and I. In short, we have a thing.

I’ve been battling a cold for the past week. In combination with three weddings in seven days, it had been over a week without a workout. Yesterday, I could feel my legs yelling at me to run–yes, my legs scream at me–& boy, did I run. Halfway through the run, one of my favourite things happened. The sky closed above me, and it started to p-o-u-r. I smiled so big. I felt like throwing my hands up in the sky and turning my run into a dance for the remaining half a mile. Though I’m pretty certain Melissa Jill who was a couple of steps behind me might have been a little bit freaked out.

When I feel the rain on my skin, it’s as if I’m being hugged by nature. And it’s glorious… Okay, I definitely sound like a hippie. Whatever. Hippies are cool. I can’t explain it. It’s just… beautiful. Moments like that are beautiful. Running in the rain is beautiful. Life is beautiful. – You know what’s also beautiful? My sweet Labradoodle, Taylor, who runs alongside her mother, come rain or come shine. :)