is more than “saturated” possible…?

Julie - drenched - walking in the rain - wearing Moke raincoat - Step Climbing — *_{Julie – drenched – walking in the rain – wearing Moke raincoat – Step Climbing}*

Steps – Day 3/3 @ 9×84 = 756 | 2,268 this week

#smilingontheinside – Friday 27 June 2025

Man! It was wet! Sooo wet, that I contorted, twisted and wrangled myself into my raincoat and changed my shoes, inside the car! I planned to start off as dry as possible. Although I don’t know why I bothered, because I ended up the wettest I’ve ever been.

Regardless, I’m still #smilingontheinside because I was out there doing it… After I promised myself I would. Even in the rain. #resiliencebuilding #promisestoself #personalaccomplishment

I swear I got more than saturated – if that’s even a thing – my science teachers always said it wasn’t – that saturated was absolute … I got so wet that peeling off was required when I got home … in the laundry … making puddles on the floor … trying to untie sodden knotted shoelaces with cold fingers … not easy … a mess to clean up afterwards – but still #smilingontheinside!

Puddle Jumping Required

It takes me about 50 minutes (+/-) to walk 9 repeats. In that time I watched the puddles grow on my route to the point where they were so big the choice was walk through them or walk on the grass and get both muddy and wet.

The hardest puddle to jump was at the base of the steps – it grew so big it was too wide for me to step over towards the end – I just had to step through it.

I didn’t realise how heavy my shoes ended up until I got home and took them off. I knew I could feel the water squishing as I was walking, but didn’t realise just how much extra weight I was carrying.

My glasses fogged up. I was just as wet inside my raincoat as outside. My beanie was absolutely soaked.

I need to remember to keep a towel in my car – or a plastic tarpaulin! – to sit on and protect my upholstery – for times like this. All I had was the folding aluminium sunshade … it’s now a tad bent … and it only worked to sit on – not against – so the back of the driver’s seat got wet.

When I got home, after thinking I couldn’t get any more sodden and after driving through significant flooding (which wasn’t there when I drove to the steps), I decided to clear out the leaf build up in footpath gutters and drains at home. The water I was splashing around in there was very cold. And muddy!

But before all of that, first I had to spend about an hour at Braemar again – this time being scanned. Fortunately, this confirmed I’m healthy and normal (a very scientific word, I’m discovering). The next step is yet more bloods. And I think I’ll send off some hair samples to find out where I sit on allergy and sensitivity scales and to what.

I had to drink one litre of water one hour prior to arriving at the radiology centre and then hold onto it. I joked that I hoped they were on time. They weren’t. Ten minutes is a very long time when you’re sitting with your legs crossed! It got to the stage where I told the receptionist that I was at the end of my waiting. It worked because the sonographer called for me. I was eyeing up the toilets off the waiting room.

One thing the sonographer told me was that people who’re used to staying hydrated through the day as a matter of course, are the ones who notice their bladder being full and the need to empty … that people who don’t drink during the day, who’re in an almost permanent state of dehydration have no problem drinking a litre of water and then waiting it out until they’re called … because their body is so grateful for the fluid it uses it up where it’s needed … it doesn’t end up almost immediately in the bladder. I guess that means I’m healthily hydrated!