wellington runners vs. wellington weather

If I must say so myself, I just returned from the most intense/entertaining/joyful run. Background information: Wellington's weather has been pretty yucky this week, and has forced us to stay inside most days. What I mean is that I do NOT particularly want to be caught in an intense rainstorm trying to walk up 'the hill' for 8 straight minutes. (seriously, Emma and I timed it) It is quite unpredictable as well. One minute, there will be blue skies, and a few minutes later, the clouds move rapidly, and the city is covered with foreboding clouds. Then it rains.

Today was just one of those days where I needed to run. I was getting claustrophobic in the dorms and my sanity was lingering close to the brink. In fact, some of my best times with the Lord are when I am just able to run, worship with music, or just to be able to hear my own breathing. It is a sort of realization of my mortality. My limits. I just love running down on the harbor here. It takes about 15 minutes to get there from my dorm, and I usually just run until I get tired and realize that I have to turn around and go all the way back. Up the hill. As of late, I have discovered that there is this little 'cove' in the harbor that, #1 has a bathroom shack, and #2 is just so peaceful and beautiful. On super windy days, this 'cove' turns into a legit wind tunnel, wind speeds comparable to those of a hurricane. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. What I mean is that there are some days the wind will stop you in your tracks or blow you off your feet. It's quite comical. I have to remind myself that the further I run in to this 'cove' with the wind at my back, I have to run that far back with the wind at my front.

I was hoping to run about an hour and a half today and to dodge the rain as much as I could. I left when the sun was shining and the skies were blue with a few wispy clouds overhead. I had my music on and was enjoying the downhill run to the harbor. Once I reached the harbor I could see how the wind had picked up. Debris was everywhere due to the extreme wind and rain we have been having, and the small sandy beaches were covered by the water that extended all of the way to the seawall. I enjoyed running right along the wall (remembering that good Kiwis stay on the left side), and getting sprayed from the waves that would make their way up the wall. I think I was smiling most of my run, cautiously waiting for a huge wave to come over the wall and drench me. The smell of the salt water put me at ease and I enjoyed feeling the sunshine on my face. That's when I reached it at about 35 minutes into my run. The cove.

The moment I started running in it, I felt as though someone was pushing me in the back. My ponytail was blown towards the front of my face and kept hitting me in the eyes, and I had to run as though I was running downhill. I could literally see the mist being lifted off of the water and gliding until it collided with a wall or some rocks. For some reason, I kept ignoring the voice in the back of my head reminding me I had to run all of the way back, and continued on. I finally just stopped and let my anxious soul rest listening to the crashing of the massive waves, looking out onto clear blue and aqua water, seeing landforms in the distance. What an amazingly creative God we serve. I was reminded of one of the first verses I divinely stumbled across since being here:

"Yours, O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, o Lord, and you exalt yourself as head over all". -1 Chronicles 29:11

It is His. All of this is His. In this breathtaking creation is His reflection. He saw that it was good. It reflects His unfathomable glory. It is all under His command.

I started to turn around and was immediately met with the opposing wind. My eyelashes were being blown so that I couldn't see, I was being hit with sand bits being hurled into the air, my hair was quickly becoming a matted mess of wind mixed with salt water (ladies, you know), and I felt like I was trying to run into a brick wall. At one point a middle-aged man was knocked off his feet, grabbed a bus sign, and grabbed my arm before I was blown into the street as well. I thanked Ed, assured him I was fine, and kept 'running'. I really didn't go anywhere for most of the time, but finally made it to where the wide was at my side when I turned out of the cove.

Picture this: wind so bad you could lean over and make a 55 degree angle with the ground. Yeah. People were out taking pictures of themselves doing crazy stunts in the wind. It was quite comical. So, after I turned out of the cove and my head was able to look straight forward, I realized that the blue skies were gone just as quickly as they had been blown in and it was a race to the top of the hills (a 20 minute run) between me and the rainstorm.

I won.