The weather forecasters keep talking about the “roller coaster temperatures” here in Texas. You also recall hearing that if you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute and it will change. One story I heard this week is that Texas is a state that can have all four seasons in one day. With Texas being as large in size as it is this is not hard to believe. It can be cold and snow in the panhandle and a balmy sunny day down on the coast. It can be rainy out in West Texas and dry as the desert in East Texas on the same day.
With weather forecasters giving the reports a week in advance a runner has some idea of how to plan their runs for the week. They can decide the best day for a long run and another day for speed work depending on the weather reports. This works well when you have advance notice of what to expect for planning your run. The real problem happens when the change in weather occurs within an hour and there was no advance warning.
This was years ago but I have had two memorable runs where the weather changed within one hour time. I was training a woman to run a marathon, and we were scheduled to put in a 10 mile distance that afternoon. The route took us down Hunter Road and then we headed back on the access road on I-35. We headed out to Center Point Road (before the Outlet Malls were there) and crossed over to the access road for the half way mark. Off on the north horizon was a large black cloud. The cloud was off on the horizon so we figured we had plenty of time to make it back before the weather changed. As we crossed the overpass bridge we were hit with a gust of wind that dropped the temperature about 20 degrees. That black cloud looked like it was passing traffic on the highway. We decided we better pick up the pace. Somewhere between McCarty Lane and Wonder World Drive the rain hit. It was not a nice, gentle, fall from the sky rain, but a horizontal wind driven rain with small pellets of hail in it. This rain had a pain factor built into it. We managed to get some shelter at Wide Light on Wonder World Drive. After some discussion it was decided that I should run to my house, get my truck, and give my partner a ride back. Being a gentleman back then, I agreed. I ran the last two miles and felt like there was some kid shooting at me with a B-B gun from those pellet sized hail stones. What started out as a nice sunny day run ended up as a driving hard rain in the space of one hour.
The second run that will never be forgotten was when I taught at Texas State (Then Southwest Texas State). There were a group of physical education teachers when I worked there that ran six miles down Post Road every other day at 10 a.m. We all had a break in our class schedule that allowed us that one hour for a quick run. The weather predicted that there was rain in the forecast. We were discussing if we should cancel the run today, or take a chance that we might get the run in before the rain came. Since we only had one hour for the run we couldn’t spend a lot of time discussing the virtues of a run or cancel option. I spoke out and said, “It is not going to rain before we get back and we will be fine for the run.” So, we took off for our six mile run. We made it to the turn-around point and headed back. I was feeling good about my decision and the prediction that we would be back in Jowers Gym before the rain. At the point two miles away from Jowers the sky opened up. This was not a gentle rain, but one that was closer to a fire house downpour. It came down so hard that the water did not have time to drain off the road surface. We were running in two inches of rain water on the top of the road. After one minute we couldn’t get any wetter. I must say that my running partners had some very choice comments about my ability as a weather forecaster. The best part of the run was that these adult men were laughing and enjoying the run like youngsters. There is nothing like a good run in a hard rain to make you feel young again.
I am sure there are more than a few runners that have similar stories of adverse condition runs that they could share. The best part of runs like this is that very seldom are they ever forgotten. When a runner shares a story of a run in challenging weather conditions almost every runner in the group has a similar story that they can tell. That is one of the nice things about running. One runner can tell other runners about runs that stand out for them that can be enjoyed and shared with other runners because they can relate to the story. Of course, as the years pass by the story takes on some extra, somewhat exaggerated additions, that makes the story that much better for all concerned.
