I've been coming to this Island since 1981, the first year the race was held here. In all the intervening years the weather has ranged from hot-minus, to hot, to hot-plus. That's the range. And humid. It's never not humid. No breeze blowing in from the desert. The Kona Coast is Hawaii's desert, and yet the air still drips here.

The only time I can remember rain falling in torrents on the competitors was in 1992, and that was on Sunday, at the awards ceremony. My wife was the second place female that year, and had just bought an expensive silk dress in Waikoloa for the occasion. The festivities ended with us all running for the aisles as it came down in buckets.

But I've never seen that happen in the race itself. A sprinkle here and there. Nothing sustained. There is the possibility of significant rain for this year's edition, however. Yesterday it rained like a son-of-a-gun.

There's a cloudstream flowing northeast from the South Pacific, and the Hawaiian Islands happen to be underneath it. Several hundred miles forther to the north and east, above the horse latitudes that keep the rain away from Southern California, the clouds spiral into a storm. In a few days America's Pacific Northwest might experience the first good rain of the season, and I predict this based on the degree in meteorology in got in a Crackerjack box.

Rain is predicted off and on for the next several days, and Saturday is on the bubble—could be clear, could be rainy. Either way there's a good chance it'll be hot-minus, with highs in the mid 80s. Depending on the winds, it could be a day for fast times.