Running scared - thunderstorms

Gkikas · Jul 8, 2011

I posted this to my Dailymile account last week and thought it worth sharing here, as i'm curious who else has similar stories. I live in southwest Florida, land of brief but outrageously powerful thunderstorms. I call them land squalls, and I picked a doozy for my first rain run:

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Nothing makes you run faster than fear, and there was plenty of that on my near-sprint in a severe thunderstorm just now. I mean, this was hurricane quality, sideways driving sheets of rain the size of golf balls with cold gusts of wind that had me bounding through six inch deep puddles and literally fearing for my life. There were lightning strikes every sixty seconds and in truth, I should have my head examined for tempting fate like that... but this was one of the most alive, alone, independent and thrilling moments in my recent memory. On account of the rain, I left my Droid at home so I have to guesstimate my pace at 7:00-7:30 min/mile because it felt like I was FLYING.

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Anyone else have a similar Lieutenant Dan-in-the-hurricane experience?

Barefoot TJ · Jul 8, 2011

That sounds exactly like my

That sounds exactly like my first barefoot rain run! I absolutely loved it! I long for it and crave for more. When it's pouring, I will make a point of going out to run. I mostly loved the stomping through the puddles, while watching all the shod runners run for cover. Oh to be a kid again!

dunetraveller · Jul 9, 2011

To be a child again. As a kid

To be a child again. As a kid I'd run out into the warm rains of summer just to get soaking wet. Lightning? That just added to the fun. Naive and too much energy. As an adult I would be just like Gkikas, but looking fearfully over my shoulder for the bolt with my name on it. Then again, the only running I've done in the rain lately was from the supermarket back to my work truck yesterday, and my form sucked, and I could have waited three minutes and had no torrential rain at all to run through.

John T.

Barefoot TJ · Jul 9, 2011

I liked the thrill of trying

I liked the thrill of trying to run as fast I could to get to the next tunnel everytime I heard a loud lightning bolt. We have lots of paths through tunnels here where I run. They provide great shelter.

swanski · Jul 9, 2011

I love to run in the rain

I love to run in the rain too. I will watch the radar to time my run for rain whenever possible. However, I recently got caught in a violent storm while on a trail run. I ended up hiding in narrow gully for 30 minutes while trees and branches fell all around me and lightning cracked. I eventually had to get back on the trail because it was getting dark. The trail was littered with downed trees and the lightning kept up, but I eventually finished. Hope to never do that again.