Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Today it Rained

We had just gotten back from our long morning run. Burning, one of the trainers, has had us go on a longer morning run the last two days. He extended the usual route by a half mile or more. That makes the route about 8 miles now. It takes about an hour. I was taking off my shoes when I heard Mai say "Its pretty dark. I bet its going to rain."

"No, it will get light out in a half hour," I replied.

Then the rain started, it wasn't a sprinkle, a drizzle, or a scattering of dew drops... it was a torrential downpour. I was a little scared by the heaviness of the rain and its continuity. In the states the rain will pour for fifteen minutes then will lighten up to a drizzle. Occassionally there was lightning which shut off the lights in the gym for a few minutes. It rained the entire time I was at the gym, which was about two hours. The air became humid and the smell of wetness permeated everything. Tarps were put down to keep the ring dry and sheets were dropped to keep the water away. We had to grab our shoes as the rain water was flowing onto them from the gym ceiling.

After training I sat and trained to weight out the rain to no avail. While waiting I did get to see the second episode of "The Contender." I decided that I had nothing to lose and ran to the BTS. By the time I got to the train station I was soaking wet. The rain has let up a little bit and the sun is coming out now but there are huge lakes of water.

The Bangkok was originally a marsh, its reason for becoming the capital city were defensive. Ayuutha the old capital of Siam had a similarlandscape. The rainy season isn't here yet, and this time was the first time its rained while I've been here. The drainage systems out here don't seem that good, although with the amount of rain that comes down I doubt any system could handle it.

Time to get an umbrella.

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