He saw me running in the rain..........

Let me first start off by saying I am so tired of debunking natural hair myths......I have to say that most of the time I just dust my shoulders off when it comes to comments people make about natural hair.  Mamma ain't raise no punks.  I got pretty thick skin.  I could care one flying fish stick what people, I don't know, think about my hair or my desire to live a healthier lifestyle.  But, this one incident in particular I found quite amusing...

My workout regimen is normally pretty intense.  Thus, I am in the gym at least four days a week come rain, sleet or snow. Well, this one day in particular it was a torrential down pour and buckets of water were gushing from the sky.  You think my CrossFit instructor would have had pity on us and scratched the mile run we normally do pre-workout.  Fat chance.  Apparently, I missed the memo that says running in the rain makes you feel free and liberated.  Whatever, I'll take dry and trapped inside any day.

Now, besides an African American guy I was the only other African American in class that particular night.  Okay, right before the buzzer starts for us to complete the run the instructor gives us an out and says you can row (like rowing a boat) 1000 meters or you can run. Now, being the lazy person I am, I opted to run for my warm up instead.  Meanwhile, I am minding my own business trying to psych myself up and get focused on a good workout and this brother looks over at me and says, "I know you ain't running in the rain you don't want to get that hair messed up do you."

Now, my first impulse was to Oran "Juice" Jones him...You know run up on him and do a Rambo....But, I didn't want to mess up my new Lululemon Athletica suit I had on (on sale of course), so instead I just chilled....

I said, "what do?" I am wearing a ponytail.  Secondly, my hair loves water.  Oh I see, water is like kryptonite to me because I am African American and have highly textured hair?  I couldn't even be mad though.  Maybe, that's all he knows or it could be just a lack of exposure to African American women who wear their hair or anything else in a natural state.  Funny though...None of the other women in class were given advice on whether or not they should reconsider running in the rain.

Needless to say...I felt a bit liberated that day.  I looked like a wet rat when it was all said and done.  But, I can tell he was a bit shocked.  I gave him a nice glare when I was finished. Hopefully, I enlightened him a bit.... I can run, jump, dance and play in the rain whenever I choose AND...water is not public enemy # 1.  In fact it is what my tresses love most! Now detangling this "ish" is a "nother" story!

Check you later,

Same bat-time same-bat channel

K.D.