I wrote about running and technology for a recent Take it and Run Thursday.  In spite of its siren call, for the most part I don't really need a lot of technology to enjoy running.

Prepare yourself for some cognitive dissonance, because I'm about to rant about some technology I wish I had.

I'm a big sci-fi junky, and somewhat frequently I come across fictional references to some kind of "rain shield."  Characters walk about with a little doohickey on their belt that creates an energy field that keeps out the rain. They often do other things, but let's stay with rain, shall we?

I simply cannot stand running in the rain.  I will go to silly lengths to avoid it.  If I must run on a rainy day, I will study radar maps and try to schedule the rest of my day around an anticipated gap in the cloud cover.  This works, but only sometimes.

Today, I managed to squeeze my run in between thunderstorms.  It looked gloomy, but not a rain drop fell on me.

I came back from my run completely soaked.  A bus came up behind me, plowed through a puddle and drenched me.  This is when I decided that technology had failed me.  It's 2009.  I am living in the post-millennium future that science fiction writers used to dream about.  Why on earth can't I have my rain shield?  I could live in a running nirvana, but no.

I thought about this throughout the rest of my run.  There's a whole list of things that don't exist yet, but somehow should.

• Weather satellites that control the weather
• Flying cars 
• Household robots that do more than vacuum.
• Paperless offices - Ask JoyMama about this one.  Good grief.  We have the technology, but not the will, to do this right now.
• Intelligent computers

Sure, the Internet is cool and all.  Segways are kind of nifty.  Still, I want a bigger piece of the future.  I want my rain shield so that the only reason I'm coming back damp is because of running up that last hill.