Weather

Huntsville State Park was closed from the day before Hurricane Ike made landfall until yesterday at 12:00pm. I made it out to the park at 2pm to run a seven mile loop and take pictures of what I encountered. I didn’t know what to expect but what I found wasn’t pretty.

The park has an enormous amount of trees that are either uprooted, snapped in half, or damaged so badly they probably won’t live through the winter. The trails have been cleaned of most larger trees and limbs but there is debris covering all the trees. You have to run over branches, pine cones, needles, and more leaves than I’ve seen. But at least it’s runnable. I’m not so certain I could ride my mountain bike through it.

Here are pictures that I took (click for larger images):

Hurricane Ike certainly did it’s damage where I live for trail runners. I went by the State Park and read the sign saying that it would be two to three weeks before they open. This was after listening to a message on the phone saying they were closed indefinitely. The sign also said they would either fine or arrest people entering the park while it’s closed. Then the nearby National Forest had signs saying it is closed until December 11, 2008. Crazy! They will fine up to $5,000. Double crazy!

With that I decided that I would run seven miles on the road. I went to a popular running road that you can go straight out and back on while getting a good distance in. I did my seven miles and went home disappointed.

Okay these past few days have certainly been scary and stressful for all of us on the Gulf Coast along with many other people out there. As I drove to the airport the highway was filling with vehicles leaving the coast.

Once I safely made it to vegas I spent a lot of time watching the news. I saw Ike hit but I missed feeling the effects until my flight was canceled. Now I’m staying here an additional day.

I suppose that cacellation is ok. I’ll fly into Austin tomorrow and drive home where I don’t know all that awaits. I hear my power is off. I hear that my cat is doing alright. I hear that there is no gas. I don’t know if I’ll stay at home or get the cat and run to a friends place who has power.

No running for now.

I love running. I’ve never understood anyone who runs and says they hate running. My only guess is that they are really what is termed a “jogger” and do it because they believe it to be good exercise. I don’t disagree but if I hated running then I’d find exercise that I didn’t hate.

But, I digress. I love running, but I don’t enjoy the heat. This presents a big problem in the 100 plus degree days of the Summer. Some people in my running club try to avoid it by running an hour later than they normally do. I’ve look at the thermostat and saw that the temperature usually doesn’t vary in a significant way. For instance, today the temperature at five was 96 and at six it was (you guessed it) 96. Even if I waited until now at 10:35pm, it is still an intolerable 90 degrees. Waiting one hour in the scorching hours of the day doesn’t cool off the temperature enough to make it worth it for me.

I get off work around 5. I like to run in the daylight. So I’m suck with running in the morning (when it is actually cooler) or running in the heat. I start work at 6ish in the morning so that’s out. It means that I am going to run in the heat.

I’ll explain in another post about how I deal with it. But basically I always go from work to my run. I hate breaking up my day with small amounts of time. So I go from waking up, to exercising, to home. None of that waking, working, home for an hour, working out, and then home again. It’s not consistent enough for me. That means I take a water bottle with whatever fluid in it to work along with my work out clothes. I also will take an endurolyte tablet IF I’m planning on running over 5 miles. Any distance under that doesn’t help me and actually is harmful.

Hopefully the heat will only last another couple months. But I’m reminded that it was in the mid seventies when I ran the Bandera 50K in January. Alas…

You won’t see my logging 30-40 miles this week as is my typical mileage. When the temps get into the 100s I stay inside. No need to risk serious heat-related injuries for a few hours on the trails.

While running in the heat of the summer I’ve noticed that occassionally I’ll come across a little repreive from the heat. It is about 90-100 degrees here in South Texas without any repreive until late in the evening. Does anyone know what causes little pockets of much cooler air that occur when I’m out on the trails? Other people in my running club wondered as well as I.

My friends decided that they are going to run some of the trails tomorrow. So I looked at the weather and decided that I still needed to run today. Tomorrow is supposed to be a little stormy and I try to avoid the lightening. I know, I know, I’ve run in it for both races and regular runs, but I still don’t plan on doing such. Normally it’s a sort of "hey that sounds like thunder but I can’t see any lightening. I will just make this a short three mile run"…Of course, bad idea.

I called Phillip and got him on board for a run today. We got out to the park and saw a lot of gray rain clouds above. Knowing that there was a chance of storms with the skies looking like it could be any minute we went for seven miles. We ran the outside loop which is supposed to be about 7 miles. I take that back, I ran the outer loop but he cut off to give a little shortcut. Phillips GPS actually showed it more around 6.44, but he’s not sure if the Garmin was 100% accurate. I think it’s close because he cut off about 100 to 150 meters.

We ended up beating the rain with somewhat slow times of 1:03 and 1:05. Not a great day at the park but I did it feeling like a slug. Now if only we can avoid the thunder tomorrow.

I’m not nearly as fast when it’s hot outside. I have to slow down or walk, I reduce my overall speed, and I am a major sweater. It’s a little annoying because sweat gets into my eyes, my shirt is saturated (thank god for dry fit type shirts), and there are more wildlife outside. That means that I have to contend with insects and snakes and other weird things. I guess that’s life in Texas though!

Update:

Shortly after posting this, I noticed a post on That’s Fit about a man who was kicked out of his gym for sweating too much. I swear it wasn’t me.

When I ran five miles on Saturday it was bright and sunny in Huntsville. The temperature on Saturday got into the 60s and that was supposed to be the same on Sunday.

However, the trails were still very soggy from all the previous days with rain. This means that those of you who hate running on soggy trails might have some issues on Saturday. I think that if it doesn’t rain between now and then, the trails will dry up. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow which will keep the trails wet.

The other news is that it looks like it’s going to be anywhere from 65-70 degrees for a high temperature. That means that this will be a fairly hot 100 miler. Be prepared to carry and have plenty of fluids during the heat of the day. Luckily, the trails are covered almost the entire course.

It’s nice to come home on holidays because it’s a time that I get to run with my stepfather. He’s an avid runner who sort of taught me that having some goals in running, aside from just running the distance, is admirable. He taught me that having a community of runners to join with for an evening run has benefits aside from running. And he has taught me a lot of humility as he always speeds past me.

This morning, I woke up and got on my running clothes because I knew that I would be running with him. I also figured that it would be in the low 50s, so I packed a long running shirt, shorts, and longer socks. Lo and behold, it was 22 degrees. I wasn’t about to give up my run and he’s about 5 inches shorter than me, so I ran in what I had.

It was cold…but I finished 3 miles at an 8 minute mile pace with him. It was a good paced run for me while being a trot for him.

The weather has started to change enough in Texas that I’m not finding snakes. Last week, I think I ran into my last one of the season. Unfortunately, I actually stepped on it. It was a long green snake; I just wasn’t paying enough attention. I ran into it and saw that it wasn’t hurt or being aggressive. As I ran on, I saw a turtle at the side of the trail.

While it’s currently 92 degrees outside, the days have gotten a lot better for running here in Texas. I don’t like the heat but a lot of the humidity is gone. Also, we’re seeing some nice lows in the morning and later in the evening. Just look at how pretty our skies are.

After work, I called one of my running friends to see if he was going to go to the trails. He said that he was waiting for his daughter to call as they might grab dinner. After discussing how the sky was looking odd, we decided that I would go on my run and he’d give me a call later in the week.

Once I got to the park I could hear a little thunder in the distance. I decided that I would still run the five mile run as I had discussed with my friend. It’s a quick loop that is covered by a good amount of trees. I figured if any rain began to fall it would be blocked by the canopy overhead. I was wrong.

It didn’t take much time but I was soon drenched with rain. That doesn’t bother me — in fact, I enjoy running in the rain — but I was bothered by the lightening. It was around me in each direction and in very close proximity.  It dawned on me, with about 2 miles left, that I would be out there alone if I was hit by lightening.

I picked up the pace to try to get to some safety. Turning around wasn’t an option because it would be further to go. There aren’t any bail outs on this trail, so I was truly stuck with only one feasible direction to run.

As I turned around the corner on the trail, I saw someone running towards me. It was my friend who had come out to run and decided, with all the lightening, to risk his safety to make sure I made it alright! It revived my spirits and I ran even quicker to make it back to our vehicles.

As we got into our vehicles, he threw me a towel so that I wouldn’t get my interior soaked.  That’s what running friends are for!

I don’t mind running in the rain because it’s a good way to keep cool. What do I care if I get a little wet? When it’s hot and humid I sweat my clothes wet anyhow.

Over at That’s Fit they offer some tips for running in the rain:

•  Wear a water-repellent top layer, like a rain coat, so the water doesn’t weight you down
• Avoid cotton shorts and cotton socks — neither are very comfortable when wet
• Waterproof your iPod with a zipper-top plastic baggy
• Wear old running shoes, unless yours are waterproof
• Wear sunglasses — you might look silly but it will keep the water from your eyes
• Don’t run too close to the road — you might get splashed by a car!

My thoughts are that you should:

1. Always wear gear that is good at wicking water. I wouldn’t wear something akin to a raincoat because it won’t breathe well. If you are going on a run in the rain expect to be wet. Just protect your skin from chafing and unnecessary blister by wearing the right gear.
2. Never wear cotton when you’re running. There is little that could be worse.
3. Wear shoes that get good traction in the rain and that you don’t mind getting wet. Old shoes are fine if they aren’t damaged or worn out. You don’t want to sacrifice your own foot for the sake of a shoe.
4. I like to wear a hat in the rain because that really helps to keep the water from my eyes.

Enjoy your rain runs, stay away from the lightening.

There is way too much rain for appropriate 50K training. This weekend is the last weekend I have for a long run. I will probably need to do it tomorrow but I’m worried a little about being washed out. I couldn’t run on the 4th or yesterday because of the rain. Hopefully it’ll be clear tomorrow so I can run 14 miles.

Who am I fooling? More than that, I sort of want to watch the Live Earth concert all day and be lazy.

The only solace I can find is that it says “scattered” which means that maybe I can catch a pocket when there is a break from the rain to run.  Or, like yesterday, I can just run in the rain as long as there isn’t

lightening.

Last year on Easter weekend the temperature reached 100 degrees here in Texas. This year we are in the 40s with sleet coming down on us.

I knew that the temperature was going to drop and that there would be rain, so I ran a 7 mile trail yesterday. I met up with a friend from the running club who brought his Jack Russell. I ran that loop quicker than I ever have before coming in at 1:01. It was a tough run but I feel good for going that quick.

Today, I enjoyed the rain from inside.

It sucks that I can’t run, but I am not going to risk being struck by lighting. If I had access to a treadmill I might run on it. I lieu of running, I am enjoying watching some TV and mentally preparing for the 50K this Saturday.

I went on my evening run fully expecting to come home drenched in rain. Instead, I just came home drenched in sweat. Why is it 80 degrees the week before December? Why, despite all the dark clouds, did it not start to rain?!

I enjoy running in the rain, so I am disappointed. However, I had a great run that didn’t feel bad on any level. I went out about 2.5 miles then turned around and strolled back. My pace got quicker as I continued and I never felt much pain. It was a nice run for a Monday after a 15K.

But where, I ask, was the rain?

…and it came!

It looks like DFW is about to be hit by the winter storm that has been traveling southeast through much of the country. Of course, everyone that I work with is excited that this could shut down the city. Dallas is notoriously inept at handling wintry weather. In order to help, I told some of my friends that I would do a rain run tonight.

This isn’t exactly like a rain dance because I’m not running to please a god. I think that maybe god will want me to stop running at some point so god will make it rain so much that I go home. Little does god know that a wintry mix wouldn’t stop me - I have a good pair of running gloves.

Here’s hoping for a weather related day off work.