Image source: Photo by Moritz Böing on Pexels
This past Friday I went for my twice weekly jog. As I’ve mentioned, I’m on a 5k running journey, and I was at the very last programmed run of the Couch to 5k running app. This final session called for five minutes of a warm up walk, thirty-five minutes of a run, and five minutes of a cool down walk. It was the longest uninterrupted jog of my work with this app, and I was excited to knock it out of the park.
The afternoon was hot and muggy; I am used to running in this type of gross New England pre-summer day (which is becoming increasingly frequent as the climate changes). I was wearing the appropriate breathable clothing, I was well-hydrated, and I was ready.
As I started my run, I noticed some dark skies above the hill that punctuates the middle of my run. Very dark skies. My instinct told me that, even though rain wasn’t in my stupid weather app on my watch (stupid because it totally led me astray), those skies were pregnant with rain. I hadn’t worn my raincoat, but I figured I could handle the rain.
Sure enough, as I got to the top of the hill, the farthest point from my house on my run, fat drops of rain started splattering down around me. No problem, I told myself. The rain was sure to cool me off.
Oh, I should have trusted my gut.
In a millisecond, the rain started falling down in sheets. I picked up my pace, aiming to cut short my route to head straight home. The winds were starting to pick up, and the sound of the wind and rain was so loud that my watch started yelling at me that the decibels of the noise around me was dangerously high.
Right as I turned down the hill to my house a tree toppled over in front of me! I hadn’t realized that the winds were that strong, and later I read that the storm was so bad that it resulted in several road closures due to downed trees and powerlines.
I was starting to panic now, and I raced as fast as I could. Thunder boomed above me, and I swear to God that I could smell the ozone produced by the thunder and lightning.
It was when I felt the small, hard pellets of hail pelting my head that I almost started to cry. But, on I ran, my shoes sloshing with every step and the streets running inches thick with flowing water.
I finally made it home and dragged my waterlogged self inside. My husband greeted me with relief. When the storm broke and I hadn’t come home, he had been furiously texting me. Of course, I’d paid no attention to my texts as I raced to get home as soon as I possibly could.
After I was finally sitting dry and cozy at my desk, I thought hard about the lesson I had learned.
Always, always trust your gut. My instinct had been screaming at me to call the run off early; the dark clouds I saw were dangerous. I was so close to finishing my run milestone, but weather in the spring and summer can change on a dime. And these thunderstorms are dangerous.
I’m telling myself this now as this week looks to be full of 90+degree days. I will need to get my run in early in the morning so that I don’t mess with the high heat of the middle of the day. The weather these days is nothing to make light of.
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