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Thursday, June 30, 2011

Much like the postal service

6/28 run 51 mins (6x800m) @ ATT soft side in New Balance MT10 Trail Minimus (in the middle of hurricane)

6x800m
1. 4:00  HR avg 164
2. 4:05  HR avg 164
3. 4:18  HR avg 171
4. 4:21  HR avg 169
5. 4:22  HR avg 172
6. 4:44  HR avg 170 (U-turn mid-lap to grab my shirt)

note: direct correlation between deterioration of weather and increase in time

temp 73! with torrential downpours, thunder and lightning (yes, I am an idiot)
HR avg 156 max 178 (average heart rate includes 10 min warm-up, 7 min cool-down and 90 second rest intervals)

I got up around 10 today and thought I should probably go ahead and run, but instead I sat down to a nice country breakfast.  Checked the weather and the high was listed as 91, not too bad, I thought.  So a few hours go by and I'm thinking I better go ahead and knock out this run.  That's when I step outside and realize it's actually 95.  Quick change of plans,  I text the wife to tell her I'm going to run at sundown.  She says she wants in, as today is one of her double run days.  Well around 5:30pm when she gets home, all hell breaks loose outside.  Torrential downpours, thunder, lightning and high winds.  She moves forward with dinner and skips the run.  I actually like running in the rain, so I figure the storm can't keep up this intensity forever and I've got a little over 3 hours before sundown.  Sure enough, a little after 7, I stop hearing thunder and the rain slacks off to a mild drizzle.  I seize the opportunity and hop in the car to head over to my ATT spot across from New Hope.  It's still drizzling when I arrive, thankfully I wore my hat to keep the rain out of my eyes.  I start my 10 minute warmup and about the time I'm down to 3 minutes left in the warmup, the bottom of the giant bucket in the sky cuts loose.  It starts pouring.  After my second interval, the amount of water has made it impossible to navigate around puddles and the trail is just one giant stream at this point.  This is also the time my shirt starts to feel like it weighs at least 4lbs.  So I decide there is only one thing I can do. 

I must enter "shirtless douchebag" mode.  Thankfully I'm the only douchebag dumb enough to be on the trail in the middle of a hurricane.  So no one will be subjected to my jiggly rendition of the Stay Puft Marshmallow man, or so I thought.   I start hearing thunder again about the time I get to the break in the trees where the powerlines cut across the trail.  I figure lightning will have trouble hitting a moving target so I run like my ass is on fire through the clearing and back into the tree covered side.  I hit the road crossing at a full sprint and this is where it gets funny.  As I go flying across the road I see people sitting in their cars on either side waiting for a possible break in the weather.  I can only imagine what was going through their minds when they saw this shirtless douchebag go flying out of the woods and across the road in the middle of a hurricane.  Within 100 feet of crossing the road I hit my 90 second rest and as the trail ahead has even less cover I figured I better turn around.  So not 15 seconds later they got to see the same shirtless douchebag huffing and puffing his way back across the road.  The wind has also picked up and I'm having to grab my hat periodically to keep it from blowing off and the rain is coming at me nearly sideways.  The trail has also filled with water to the point that I'm sloshing through 4-6 inches of water with each step.  Thankfully I only have one more interval to go, so I doubleback to grab my shirt.  It's fallen off the bench I left it on and is almost completely submerged in the water below.  I grab it and make a U-turn back in the direction of the car.  Water is splashing everywhere as I finish my last interval.  Naturally, the rain starts to slack up during my cooldown.

3 comments:

  1. LOL! Epic! You're lucky those people in the cars didn't call in a "silver alert" for a shirtless escapee from the local mental facility.

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  2. I can't even comment, I'm laughing so hard! But for the shirtless aspect of your run, I feel as though we've shared a crappy rain running moment... two months apart, but still, a moment.

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  3. @Der Scott:
    No kidding, I was thinking I should really invest in one of those road ID's, envisioning their discovery of my charred, lightning struck carcass.
    @Rae:
    You are welcome to try "Shirtless Douchebag" mode, it's supposed to make you faster, although Kristi probably wouldn't approve and you might get arrested.

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