So a couple weeks ago when I was greeted, “Good morning,” by heavy rain, thunder and lightning, I followed the advice of that renowned philosopher, Dr. Seuss.
“The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So (I) sat in the house. All that cold, cold, wet day.”
Didn’t really want to chance getting crispy from a lightning strike, but I also didn’t feel great about missing my run that day.
This morning as I was getting my running gear together, again came the rain. This time, it was like I was giving in to the temptations of the Cat in the Hat. (My choice of literature doesn’t offer too much of a hint that I am a runner dad with little ones in the house, does it?)
“I know it is wet. And the sun is not sunny. But we can have lots of good fun that is funny.”
So I laced up the Mizunos and headed out the door. The rain seemed to have let up a little. Or not. It was gushing. My feet got squishy. But I only was trying to do three miles. Suck it up.
It’s part of the marathon pact, I guess.
We do our work. We put in the miles on hot days, cold days and wet. Train our muscles, Prepare our bodies. Prepare our minds. It’s like putting money in the bank.
Then on marathon day, or in my case in a couple weeks, half marathon day, we make a withdrawal, run the race and everything is great. Right?
Well, yesterday in Chicago, not so much. What a disaster.
I am so upset, thinking about all of those runners – literally tens of thousands of them – who ran, ran and ran some more all summer. They prepared for the goal. Then they were greeted with scorching heat. And – though race organizers seem to be disagreeing – they were greeted with an overabundance of hot sun and a dearth of water, Gatorade and ice.
A guy died. Hundreds more went to the hospital. Many others stumbled into medical tents.
I am anxious to hear how some friends who were running the Chicago marathon fared. As I heard the news yesterday, I checked on the progress of RunningJayhawk. She was OK, just putting in her usual gutsy performance and finding rays of light on an otherwise dark day. Jason and Leah also were impressive on a ridiculous day. Mouse was not racing, but she earns praise as a superhero, rushing to the aid of the ailing runners unable to get enough water and ice on the course.
“The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So (I) sat in the house. All that cold, cold, wet day.”
Didn’t really want to chance getting crispy from a lightning strike, but I also didn’t feel great about missing my run that day.
This morning as I was getting my running gear together, again came the rain. This time, it was like I was giving in to the temptations of the Cat in the Hat. (My choice of literature doesn’t offer too much of a hint that I am a runner dad with little ones in the house, does it?)
“I know it is wet. And the sun is not sunny. But we can have lots of good fun that is funny.”
So I laced up the Mizunos and headed out the door. The rain seemed to have let up a little. Or not. It was gushing. My feet got squishy. But I only was trying to do three miles. Suck it up.
It’s part of the marathon pact, I guess.
We do our work. We put in the miles on hot days, cold days and wet. Train our muscles, Prepare our bodies. Prepare our minds. It’s like putting money in the bank.
Then on marathon day, or in my case in a couple weeks, half marathon day, we make a withdrawal, run the race and everything is great. Right?
Well, yesterday in Chicago, not so much. What a disaster.
I am so upset, thinking about all of those runners – literally tens of thousands of them – who ran, ran and ran some more all summer. They prepared for the goal. Then they were greeted with scorching heat. And – though race organizers seem to be disagreeing – they were greeted with an overabundance of hot sun and a dearth of water, Gatorade and ice.
A guy died. Hundreds more went to the hospital. Many others stumbled into medical tents.
I am anxious to hear how some friends who were running the Chicago marathon fared. As I heard the news yesterday, I checked on the progress of RunningJayhawk. She was OK, just putting in her usual gutsy performance and finding rays of light on an otherwise dark day. Jason and Leah also were impressive on a ridiculous day. Mouse was not racing, but she earns praise as a superhero, rushing to the aid of the ailing runners unable to get enough water and ice on the course.
2 comments:
I kept thinking "I totally would have been one of those people being swept if I were running!" And that would totally suck.
Dude. If I wake up on the 20th and it's above 73 the morning of the race...I'm just going to come out and cheer you on. No way am I ever going to race more than 10 miles in those type of conditions again.
But KC is finally cooling off, right? Please tell me it's true. I'm already checking Accuweather.com obsessively...at least it's currently telling me it's going to be a high of 71. THAT, I can handle.
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