Nor'easters & Me
Yesterday I awoke (again) to the sound of rain being driven hard against the house and knew it was time to get out for the run. A quick check on the local weather buoy showed 30 mph winds coming out of the northeast and the radar plot showed heavy precip. Exciting. This time I wore mittens.
At first I thought I wouldn't be able to go after all as I had difficulty opening the front door. The rain had swollen the wood so it was stuck and the constant wind pressure on the glass made for a comical early morning struggle. I push the top part and made slight progress before the wind closed it again for me. Then I kicked the swollen bottom only to have the top refuse to budge. Kick - push - lean. Kick - push - lean. Finally after making a racket to wake the neighbors I successfully exited my abode and felt the cold rain on my face. The two steps across waterlogged leaves served the purpose of soaking the feet and off I jogged into the swirl of an angry wind and driving rain - lit only by a flickering street lamp.
My Christmas gift from my parents last year was my Gortex jacket and boy do I like this jacket. It is not very useful if the temperature is too high or if I am going to generate heat by running hard because it is very warm after a few miles. However, on a stormy day when I want to keep dry, nothing fits the bill better. I had the wrists battened down tightly and the hood snug up. The rain beat against the hood deafening me to any other sounds (like approaching cars or charging deer) as I jogged alone. The tap-tappity-tap of the rain on the jacket material brought to mind the cozy feeling of being snug in the house next to a warm fire. In fact, a similar scene to the one I just left to be out in this mess. Ah, but to experience the wind as it drives you suddenly into that deep puddle or stops you half way up the steep hill or steals the breath you were about to take!
I had set my countdown timer alarm to 30 minutes where I would turn around and take a more direct route back to the house from wherever I was. I didn't hear it. But wandering out on the airport I decided I had enough weather and started the journey home. I ran by the ocean swarmed with whitecaps, early dock workers struggling with gear, cars seen only by their misty headlights creeping to work, but no other runners. Just me. Time = 49:58 ~5.5 miles.
At first I thought I wouldn't be able to go after all as I had difficulty opening the front door. The rain had swollen the wood so it was stuck and the constant wind pressure on the glass made for a comical early morning struggle. I push the top part and made slight progress before the wind closed it again for me. Then I kicked the swollen bottom only to have the top refuse to budge. Kick - push - lean. Kick - push - lean. Finally after making a racket to wake the neighbors I successfully exited my abode and felt the cold rain on my face. The two steps across waterlogged leaves served the purpose of soaking the feet and off I jogged into the swirl of an angry wind and driving rain - lit only by a flickering street lamp.
My Christmas gift from my parents last year was my Gortex jacket and boy do I like this jacket. It is not very useful if the temperature is too high or if I am going to generate heat by running hard because it is very warm after a few miles. However, on a stormy day when I want to keep dry, nothing fits the bill better. I had the wrists battened down tightly and the hood snug up. The rain beat against the hood deafening me to any other sounds (like approaching cars or charging deer) as I jogged alone. The tap-tappity-tap of the rain on the jacket material brought to mind the cozy feeling of being snug in the house next to a warm fire. In fact, a similar scene to the one I just left to be out in this mess. Ah, but to experience the wind as it drives you suddenly into that deep puddle or stops you half way up the steep hill or steals the breath you were about to take!
I had set my countdown timer alarm to 30 minutes where I would turn around and take a more direct route back to the house from wherever I was. I didn't hear it. But wandering out on the airport I decided I had enough weather and started the journey home. I ran by the ocean swarmed with whitecaps, early dock workers struggling with gear, cars seen only by their misty headlights creeping to work, but no other runners. Just me. Time = 49:58 ~5.5 miles.
posted by Andrew at 10:08 AM
4 Comments:
Hey Andrew!
Did ya get the feeling your door was trying to tell you something? I think it's 'fun' to do runs in tough conditions when others are not. You must get the 'You're not running in this today are you?' from friends. Almost identical to the conditions we had last weekend.
Good luck in Cape Cod with Marc! Hope you get better weather !! I'll be watching for your results and reports.
Mike
You are a brave one for running in such weather.
I thought I was the only one who loves to run in crazy weather because there is never anyone else out there! :0
Good luck in Cape Cod!
How you can run in such conditions I don't know. I have been persuaded by a storm to stay in bed two nights ago, and still think it was the right thing to do
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