So it is as I thought ...

Today I was up and out of the house by 7.30, and back about 9, having driven in varying heavinesses of rain - and some fog for additional entertainment - for about 3 hours back from my last meeting, as well as all the rest of the driving to get there earlier in the day.

At this 9pm checkpoint it was still raining.

My chances that it was going to magically stop raining if I hung out and waited? Well, ok, there was a chance. The laws of probability and my understanding of weather patterns (tiny as that is) tell me such meteorological developments were possible. My intuition (and although no weather guru I do have a good line in pessimism and cynicism) was that if I waited I might be rewarded by only drizzle - but was more likely to be a true winner with driving rain instead.

So I get changed. I stare bleakly out of the door. I retreat inside and find a wrap-head-covering thing. I stare bleakly out of the door again. Go Helen Go. (Or to steal another Janathoner's intellectual property (or perhaps merely borrow it momentarily, with full credit provided) Run Helen Run.)

So I'm out. And I walk. I get my phone out to "start activity" and can barely see the screen for fogged up glasses. Then I jog. And it rains. It's not chucking it down, I should be grateful I know. But for the very first time I really have had to go out in what can only be described as steady rain. I think all these things I now blog. I avoid surface water. I feel confined within my wrap thing and my blurry glasses, in a small, wet world, through which I can barely see those annoying barriers that cross the end of paths in our local housing estate (and have been placed there I assume to stop bikes and motorbikes, but operate as far as I can see solely to irritate!).

It still rains. I avoid another big puddle. I self-talk. I must persist. I remind myself how lucky I am to have my health and my wellbeing*.

I jog on to within, now, a few hundred yards of home. Finally I slow again to a walk and get out my phone to turn off the logging app, trying to minimise any potential for water damage again. Up here. Across the road. Key into lock (eventually). And I'm home again - albeit wet, and tired, and totally unclear why this was ever a good idea.

It is now maybe an hour later. I have dried off a tad, eaten a sandwich, received a couple of lovely supportive tweets, and spoken to my brother. Oh and written this griping monologue. At least that has made me smile at my own self-fulfilling negative stroppiness!

Yes, it is as I thought. Running in the rain is bleak and horrible. It is not "refreshing" or "fun" or "enlivening". Or maybe it is on Planet I'mARealRunner. On Planet Helen it isn't! Nevertheless ...

Let us smile. For it is day 17. It is late and I am tired. But I have jogged. I have logged. I have blogged. And the Janathon continues.

(*re the whole wellbeing thing - if you haven't seen all the #ombh stuff please take a look at the link, or if you're a Tweeter follow the #tag, and support many of our fellow citizens who do not have the mobility or health others amongst us take for granted. To find out more visit http://onemonthbeforeheartbreak.blogspot.com/)