Thunder and Lightning

Last night was a first for me. I participated in an evening "Glow Run". I also watched lightning all around and wondered what the heck we were doing out there.

A few weeks ago a friend asked me if I would be interested in doing a Glow Run to benefit the local volleyball team. Each player was supposed to line up some runners and pass out flyers to spread the word. What could I say but yes. Her daughter is starting to go to a few runs and I wanted to help her out so I posted the information on a few Facebook pages and hoped for the best.

The race was at 9:00 in the evening so I hoped the temperature would be down. But I didn't know how to eat or go about my day. I ended up just eating normal but a little early in the evening and I actually took a nap mid-afternoon. Of course that could be because I had two grand kids wearing me out all morning. I didn't feel really good or rested and wasn't expecting a lot out of myself. I'm usually in bed by the time I would be finishing this race.

Kate H came to run as did a few of my neighbors. It was a great surprise to see them all there. Some of the really fast young men in the area were there too so it was going to be fun to see the run. The route was three laps around the school and parking area then a lap around the track so I knew I would be seeing them as they passed me by. Usually when you are slow you only see them leaving you at the starting line. The first guys passes me by after one lap. That's humbling.

The temperature at race time was 93 degrees. Not good. And a storm was moving in. Also not good. We started the race and a few streaks of lightning could be seen in the distance. At the end of lap one the lightning was getting closer with flashes every few seconds. I really thought they would stop us after lap two and end the race. I was sort of hoping that would be the case because I was out of gas after two miles.

I had to walk a few jags on mile three but as I neared the end the lightning was getting pretty steady and a lot closer. I tried to kick it in gear to finish as fast as I could but my high gear isn't a lot different from my low so I did the best I could. As I ran the lap around the track to finish I though "this is crazy!" Running in an area where there are metal bleachers and tall light polls in the middle of a lightning storm is not good. I finished, and along with everyone else got in my car and headed home.

Going to bed right after running three miles is not easy so I took a little time to cool down and unwind. The rain hit hard about an hour after the race finished. My body didn't like running at night but that could have just been the heat. All in all it was not my best run. But I'm going to look on the bright side. I didn't get struck by lightning!