Dry season

Running around Walden Pond yesterday evening, my feet sunk into dust at every turn. Unlike September 2006, when Labor Day brought rain, it has been almost three weeks since we've had rain. According to the Boston Globe, august was the second driest on record, and September has brought nothing but sunny days.

When the weather is too nice for too long, I get nervous. I believe there is a conservation principle at work with the weather. Things always even out. If it rains for a month, the weather gods are storing up nice days to dispense at their pleasure at some later date. Likewise, if we are the beneficiaries of three weeks of perfect weather, we are in store for truly ugly weather -- the only question is when.

The extended dry weather means that trails are rock hard, and even grassy fields are surprisingly firm, and nearly as unforgiving as the asphalt paths around them. It's not only gardeners and farmers who think we could do with a little rain.

It's always striking how the cross-country season starts in summer heat and ends in the November cold. On these pleasant days, it's easy to fall in to a fair-weather routine in which warm-ups, stretches, drills, are all done leisurely and with bare feet in the grass. I wonder whether our happy routines will survive the first spell of bad weather.

Still, what can you do?

A couple of times a week, I check my closet to remind myself where all the foul weather gear is stored -- the long-sleeve polypro tops, the Sporthill pants, the warm vests, the hats, the gloves -- and I try to prepare myself for the days to come. When it's cold outside, and the days are short, it's so hard to imagine what summer will be like; and when it's summer, it's almost impossible to truly imagine winter.

Creatures of the moment, that's what we are. Hoping for a little rain now in a dry season, but likely to change our tune as soon as it really starts to come down.