farfromfearless
Thunder And Lightning? Sure… Why Not?
Okay - I’ve done the sun. Done a lot of sun. Done my fair share of wind. Had a little bit of rain.
What about a full-on storm? Yep, now I can scratch that one off of the list.
Couldn’t run this morning because we went to Memphis Zoo instead. Highly recommend a visit if you get the chance - the Komodo dragon in particular is extremely impressive - and we didn’t leave until about 4pm. Pretty much as soon as we decided to go the heavens opened up, big time, and down it all poured. And then some. Throw in loads of thunder and some magnificent forked lightning and you have a pretty feisty old storm. It was like a monsoon.
I decided to wait it out a bit. I had some pizza for dinner - and by some, I of course stupidly mean about six slices and bread sticks - and when picking that up I dashed into Walmart to pick up a cap. Any cap. I wasn’t going to find nor was I looking for something specific to running - basically I just needed a shield.
My options, however, were somewhat limited. Not in numbers - Walmart must have had a hundred different caps - but in style. Thankfully, I cannot pull off a trucker or NASCAR cap, and I don’t really want to be seen in something that has Coors Lite written across the front in huge letters and a beer bottle opener attached on the side (handy as that might be). So, after some ums and ahs, I had to settle for a very dark green cap that came labelled as ‘Ireland’. Not ideal, but fairly appropriate - I am, in case you hadn’t guessed, half Irish, after all.
So, back home, pizza in my (bulging) belly, and finally the rain looks to have eased a bit, so off I go. I threw on an extra t-shirt for warmth and wore slightly thicker socks than normal. Within about half a mile, I realised this was a pretty big mistake - it wasn’t cold at all. In fact, it was incredibly humid. Miserably so.
My second mistake was ignoring the contents of my stomach. I simply had not let enough time elapse to be undertaking any kind of physical activity, let alone running. Luckily - and I realise I’m now boring and grossing you out with the regularity of this discourse - I passed a Walgreens on the way and that provided some sweet, sweet relief.
Things improved after that a little. The rain eased off even while the light show continued - which was actually pretty cool - and ultimately I decided that the effort that went into my $10 cap was probably wasted.
Splits:

I’ve already done seven miles more this week than last and have a day in hand tomorrow - I should total out around 34-35 miles for this week, and I’m going to try a long run on Sunday in an attempt to hit 42.5 or so next week. After that, I’ll move up to fifty. ![]()
6 people have left comments
T.J. said:
Welcome to the rain. Here in Portland, Oregon, we get pretty used to it - though we don’t get the added thunder or lightning, so you had that going for you. I really hope that extra T-shirt you put on wasn’t COTTON - in these parts, we say Cotton Kills. Looking forward to reading more of your odyssey!
Pete @ quicktofit said:
Wow, running on a stomach full of pizza is not my idea of a good time! But it sounds like you made it through. I still would have like to have seen you in one of those coors light hats with the bottle opener, running down the road with a beer in each hand ![]()
Shéamus said:
Hi TJ - welcome, and thanks for your comment. It wasn’t a 100 per cent cotton shirt, but it wasn’t anything technical, either. I won’t be making that mistake again!
@ Pete - It would have been quite a picture. But one thing I cannot stand is warm beer, and after a quarter mile in this heat, that’s what it would have been. ![]()
Rahn said:
Yeah, the rain is deceptive. Will cool it down about 5 degrees, but the humidity will just kick in.
As much as I can’t stand Coors, it probably would have hit the spot after the run.
Andrew is getting fit said:
Aah, the joys of running in the rain. I haven’t done it in summer yet but at least in the winter it keeps you cool.
Spartan7 said:
I’m sure that you know that the weather you get on one day is about 18 to 24 hours from hitting me. You have been great for me in planning some of my runs. Of course, I still get caught with the rain in the mornings for some of PT runs. Nothing like running through my fave trails during a rain … except when we get the lightning.
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