"Was that thunder?"

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Where did Spring go? I’m sure I was riding my bike on Sunday in a t-shirt and shorts…and sweating. I monitored the weather throughout the day knowing I’d be running but wondering how comfortable I’d be. It was cool and the forecast said rain, but so far…nothing. I got to the Metropark and was climbing back into my car after changing when I thought I heard something that sounded like thunder. It was in the high 30’s…thunder? Nah.

I stuck with the bridle trails knowing the hiking trails were still a muddy quagmire. I started with the idea that this would be another 40-minute run, but was thinking that the birthday triathlon was less than four weeks away and maybe I should go 45 minutes. I must have blinked or something, because I could have sworn that I’d seen a flash across the sky…like lightning? I knew those sightings should be followed by a clap of thunder and a couple of steps later I heard it. Holy shit…I was nearing my turnaround…which I’d moved to 25 minutes so I’d hit 50 minutes for the run and now I was about to get hit by a serious storm.

Being the savvy outdoor’s man that I am, naturally I’d dressed for this possibility. I was wearing a short-sleeved cotton t-shirt and shorts…oh…and socks and shoes, too. I had my doo rag on to protect my head from the cold…or to use as a tourniquet if I fell and had a sharp stick slice through me a cut an artery…but that was it.

Then I remembered I was wearing my new altimeter watch with the barometric pressure reading. I switched to that mode, waited for the calculations, and read the results. “You’re screwed…should have worn raingear…asshole.” John had programmed it personally for me. Good job.

When the skies did open up, it wasn’t rain, but instead I was getting whacked with increasingly larger hail stones. My hands didn’t move and my arms were freezing…but hands and arms are way overrated for running. I was soaked through and had about 20 minutes of running before I made it back to the car. I started checking my altimeter watch every couple of minutes as if that would get me there sooner, but there wasn’t much else going on.

As I reached the point I knew to be about 5 minutes from the car, I started to get tingling sensations in both hands…as if they’d fallen asleep. I’ve suffered through some mild bouts of hypothermia on kayaking and hiking trips, but this was a new sensation. When I finally made the car, I struggled with the key to open the door and it took me a couple of minutes to wrestle my soaking t-shirt over my head before climbing into the car. Even putting the key in the ignition and cranking the engine was a challenge with my hands moving in slow motion.

So…where did Spring go? It’s March in Northeast Ohio. Anything can happen with the weather…and probably will. I’ve got the gear in my car…maybe next time I’ll actually wear it…or not. One thing I know for sure…running with the appropriate gear is totally overrated.

Run duration: 51 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 145 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 850.