Whatever the weather

It's hard to imagine it as we bask in the current tropical heatwave, lolling in hammocks and complaining because the ice in our mint juleps is melting too quickly, but back in the day it used to be quite cold and wet. Cast your mind back a week or so, if your heat-addled brain can still manage that, and you may remember a couple of days where it absolutely poured down - and those of us stupid enough to go running got completely drenched.
Some runners apparently like the rain. I'm not talking about a light drizzle - that can be a blessing as it gently caresses your sweat-soaked brow on a hot, sticky 10k slog. I'm not even talking about a quick shower, or a steady rain you just grit your teeth and keep on running through. I'm talking about a total downpour.

I got caught in one of those last week. Set off with a few threatening clouds overhead and then, after about half an hour, the first few drops start spattering down. My initial thought is to carry on - halfway through my planned run, and it's only a bit of water, right? And then it starts getting wetter and wetter and by the time I've reached 9k, I'm soaked through, my trainers are so waterlogged and heavy that each pace feels like trying to run in a diving suit. Pure misery (as you can tell from my selfie).
But I'm nearly at my target and I'm so drenched I might as well carry on - and then the rain just gets ridiculous - one of those downpours where you can hardly see the gaps between the drops - and then it's just a question of finishing, getting home and drying off. Those runners that claim they like splashing through puddles and getting soaked - what are you on??

 Since then, of course, the weather's turned and it's been hot and humid. More horrible conditions for runners. Sometimes I think there's barely a meteorological state I'm particularly keen on when I'm running. Just occasionally it's exactly right - sunny, dry, not too hot, bit of a breeze to cool you down but not so much wind you feel you're battling against it, fresh and no humidity.... basically, exactly the conditions on the one day when you can't go running because you're waiting in for a delivery. 
The weather is apparently unlikely to be like that this week when I tackle the Vitality London 10k. I'm hoping for a decent time (which in case would mean beating my 55-minute personal best for a 10k race, and in an ideal world would mean running sub-52-minutes for my fastest 10k ever) but my recent training runs have been pretty dreadful. I seem to be getting slower rather than faster and my stamina worse rather than better.
Could be old age. But I'm blaming the weather.