Friday, March 5, 2004
Running in the Rain
A local running store, the Scottsdale Running Company, holds group runs on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I had planned on going to the Thursday night run, and headed over there after work, even though the weather wasn't looking too good. It was raining on and off all day.
When I got there, it was raining, and only a few other people had shown up. A couple of them decided not to run, but five of us started out into the rain.
I tried to run around the deep puddles at first, but within a mile that was obviously futile. I was wet through, from my hair to my toes.
It was just raining as we started about 6:10 pm, but there were soon some bolts of lightning across the sky, followed in two or three seconds by crashes of thunder. It was getting very dark, both from the sun going down and from the clouds thickening. It was really pouring after about three miles.
As we started back towards the store, along Hayden Road, we were going into the wind. The lightning had come closer, and I saw it come toward the ground. Often you will see a lot of lightening out here, but it will all stay in the sky.
For a couple of minutes, we were pelted by tiny pieces of hail that melted quickly on the ground. They added just a touch of sharpness to the cold rain.
Passing cars on Hayden couldn't help but throw water on us from the flooded road. I ran to the far right side of the sidewalk, but a couple of times the water would splash over me as high as my left shoulder. I don't know how, but the water from the road felt even colder and wetter than the rain.
Within a couple of blocks of being finished, everything went white, brighter than sunlight, so that I couldn't see. That was followed immediately by a crash of thunder. I stopped in my tracks. Another runner passed me and I shouted, "That was scary!" He just said, "Yeah!" and kept going full speed.
We all survived. It was quite an adventure for a workday.
When I got there, it was raining, and only a few other people had shown up. A couple of them decided not to run, but five of us started out into the rain.
I tried to run around the deep puddles at first, but within a mile that was obviously futile. I was wet through, from my hair to my toes.
It was just raining as we started about 6:10 pm, but there were soon some bolts of lightning across the sky, followed in two or three seconds by crashes of thunder. It was getting very dark, both from the sun going down and from the clouds thickening. It was really pouring after about three miles.
As we started back towards the store, along Hayden Road, we were going into the wind. The lightning had come closer, and I saw it come toward the ground. Often you will see a lot of lightening out here, but it will all stay in the sky.
For a couple of minutes, we were pelted by tiny pieces of hail that melted quickly on the ground. They added just a touch of sharpness to the cold rain.
Passing cars on Hayden couldn't help but throw water on us from the flooded road. I ran to the far right side of the sidewalk, but a couple of times the water would splash over me as high as my left shoulder. I don't know how, but the water from the road felt even colder and wetter than the rain.
Within a couple of blocks of being finished, everything went white, brighter than sunlight, so that I couldn't see. That was followed immediately by a crash of thunder. I stopped in my tracks. Another runner passed me and I shouted, "That was scary!" He just said, "Yeah!" and kept going full speed.
We all survived. It was quite an adventure for a workday.
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