Rainy running = No running skirt debut

I know, I promised to review the running skirt today...but I didn't wear it. Primarily because the shirt that matches the skirt is white, and it was pouring down rain this morning when I got up to go run. I settled instead for some boring old shorts and a colored singlet. I ran this morning at 6:00am with my friend Laura and her friends, Tiffany and Sam. We ran sixteen miles, and it rained for about the first ten of those.
The course we ran was definitely challenging, but it was fun because it was all new to me. There was a small area of the course that covered territory that the St. Louis Marathon covered, but most of the run was new and different. We ran it pretty quickly considering that it was raining, and muddy in some parts, and extremely hilly in other parts. (Don't let anyone ever tell you that St. Louis is flat...cause it most certainly is not). Our pace was just under 9:50/mile.
The thing I liked best about the run this morning was that there weren't a lot of people out at first. It was kind of fun to watch the city wake up. The other great thing about this run was that the bathroom and water fountains were plentiful. We ran through the heart of Clayton, which is an extremely fitness friendly town (the St. Louis Track Club is based out of Clayton). Some shops/restaurants won't let you use their bathrooms or refill a water bottle, but all of the coffee shops, gas stations, and restaurants that we stopped at today were very nice. Everyone wanted to know how far we were going and what we were training for. It was a nice change from the mainly residential area that I normally run in.
Tiffany, Sam, and Laura are all also running Chicago. Tiffany and Sam are also going to try to run the full Lewis and Clark marathon (I'm doing the 1/2 and then some) next month. They've all qualified for and run Boston numerous times, so I'm kind of the rookie in the group. It was nice to have different company today though.