I must be feeling particularly self congratulatory today if I am thinking about writing a post like this - a weird but not too weird habit that I have been recently taken up - but I feel like you dear reader must be a bit tired of all the coding posts that I have put up lately. I know, my coding posts are not that coherent. They tend to be just the ravings of a man who has been in the bear’s lair for a while and as a result has ended up a bit too hairy and hoary for his own good.

It rained for the first time in several months today this morning. Sucks that it happened during a Monday morning, but the entire West Coast has been in need of rain so I didn’t really mind. In fact, I had been a little excited to get out there that morning and let me tell you why.

Back in 2012 or 2013 I had lived on a shoestring budget and with very little possessions. Didn’t own more than two pair of shoes. I went to work and exercised in the same shoes. This caused a problem if it rained during my morning run because those shoes would get soaking wet and then I would have to spend the rest of the day working in these wet disgusting things. But what was I to do when it was raining? What can I do? The solution that I figured for myself was classic Jonathan - just go out there and run barefeet. I didn’t need to buy new socks or anything. I just go out there and run.

I recall back in high school I once ran a race against this classmate named Kevin Nousome. He was a small little man with a squeaky voice. Didn’t seem like a runner. I was at the time quite proud of my sprinting and challenged him to a race. We lined up on the yellow gravel sand and I realized that he wasn’t wearing shoes! I thought it was the most bizarre thing, and figured that I was going to paste him. I had shoes after all. Yet he pasted me instead. I can remember it now. I started off with a bang and then quickly saw him on his short little legs just pacing off several lengths ahead of me. I had never seen a little guy run so fast - let alone barefoot - and the sight of it was so ridiculous that I couldn’t keep from laughing. I never finished the race because I was bowled over on the ground guffawing.

That mental image comes back to me a lot as I make my rounds in the rain without any shoes, making sure to gingerly avoid rocks and such. I feel the impact of my heel’s skin hitting the concrete path, the sting of it somewhat assuaged by the cool temperature of the wet surface. I can hear the repeated, rhythmic clap of the foot setting down and planting. I feel myself taking shorter but quicker strides, but overall I don’t feel that I am going any slower.

Sometimes people - whatever peopel who find themselves outside in the rain at 5 AM - would pace by me and wonder why this guy would not have any shoes on. “Hey you don’t have any shoes!” someone once shouted from his car. It was so weird of him to do that. Of course I don’t have shoes. Why would I not be aware of that?

I find the best ideas of the day come to me while I am jogging. It is the only time of the day that I truly have to myself, without the sound of the music I play or the audiobooks that I listen to. Just quiet. Just concentration with my own thoughts. But the mornings when I am jogging barefoot in the rain are something extra special. I just wanted to share that with you, friend. You should try it too, maybe.