Rain and Shine

I turned today in the rain, though it wasn't raining very hard, and the change was nice. Typically in July here, it's between 90 and 100(+) degrees (F) when I turn, and the humidity is high. If it's not storming, there's rarely wind here (we're a "Wind Zone 0"), which makes it feel all the more stifling. I get wet from my sweat and eventually dry out from the intensity of the heat and "running out" of sweat. Today, the temperature was a much more mild 80-ish, and though the humidity was through the roof, sweat got me less wet than did the constant but light precipitation that was really helping to keep me extra cool.

It feels good, no doubt, to turn in the sun, and so long as it's not an unbelievable downpour, it feels good to turn in the rain. Incidentally, having decided to "suck it up" in one such downpour, I've come to the conclusion that it's not much fun to turn then. Indeed, about all that session amounted to was "sucking," big time (I don't remember if it was that time or another when I almost fell off my circle because of the insanely slick clay-based mud). Monsoons aside, I think what I'm really getting at is that it just feels good to turn.

Strangely, I can clearly remember a time when the idea of turning for forty or more minutes was more of an act appropriate to Superman or long-forgotten Chinese legends... something that few mortals could aspire to, and turning in the rain was downright ridiculous. In fact, the first time I attempted to turn for a half an hour, I immediately noticed that I was going to have trouble, particularly since I had to change sides for the first time after only three minutes, which I thought were agonizing. I don't think I pushed out the half-hour. Now, most days, anything in the range of twenty minutes to an hour (or slightly more) is more vitalizing than exhausting, and I'm thrilled at the change.