Sleet Don't Hail Me Now

Madi & me running the 2011 OKC Half-Marathon

Title Pun.

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Anyway.
I've been very fortunate in my short racing "career" so far with mostly mild weather conditions on race day. And in my typical slightly cocky, but mostly confident way, I've been writing and saying things like "Bring It Little Rock!" leading up to this race.   Well, looks like LR might do just that.  I think we're gonna get a dose of less than optimal weather conditions for the race on Sunday.

Madison and me, ghosts before the race

You can't quite see the full hour-by-hour forecast yet, but I think it's definitely going to be raining, with temps in the 40's or 50's.  That would be just fine.  But as the cold weather front that's supposed to engulf most of the Midwest comes through later in the day ... temps could drop, rain could turn to sleet, and normal body temperatures could turn to hypothermia.  I've ran in sleet many times ... that's not fun, but doable.  But if it suddenly turns to hail ... that's a problem!  Although hail, of course, typically doesn't last very long.  So I'm pretty much bracing for anything ... but mostly being cold and wet for 3 hours.

I actually went out and bought a rain coat yesterday.  Michael said it was a rain suit, since it also came with pants ... we actually argued about the coat/suit semantic for about an hour.  Not kidding.  But I'm actually considering wearing this COAT for the whole race.  I've never done that before, but I really want to keep as much water off of my upper body as possible.  I'm probably gonna take about 3 or 4 different clothing scenarios and figure it out morning of.

I can't imagine it will be as bad as the 2011 Oklahoma City Half-Marathon I ran with my daughter ... and soon to be mother of grandchild #2!  It was Madis's first long race and she did great!  But as Michael, Madi, and I were rushing to the staring line, it was literally raining sideways.  SIDEWAYS!!!  The wind was howling, it was pouring, and it was not great.  The wind died down a little after the gun went off, but it rained most of the race.  I felt so bad for Madison.  She'd trained so hard and it was her big day.  But she's my daughter ... so do you think it slowed her down ... nope!  She killed that race and did great!  Ain't a little rain gonna stop this little teacher!  Actually both of my girls did great, but we were all ready to get inside when we were done.

Madi & Michael freezing

It was 45 degrees that day, but I just remember being soooo cold during and after the race.  Michael said it was pretty much the coldest she's ever been.  When you're rain drop saturated, with 20 mph winds swirling, it feels much colder than 45 degrees.  Occasionally I'll randomly run into a marathon who was at that race, and in the course of conversation they always say, "Remember 2011 OKC ... oh man, that was the worst!"

So I'm trying to brace my body for another similar OKC experience in LR this weekend.  The only other really cold marathon I've ran was Mississippi Blues, where I think the temps hovered around a balmy 15 degrees for most of the race, with an 8 degree windchill.  THAT was the coldest I've ever been.  And I know this weekend won't be anything like that.

With any luck at all, I'll finish up with temps in the 50's.  And a a little rain never hurt anyone.  But unless the forecast changes drastically, it's interesting that this will make two straight marathons we've had to run in the rain.

Honestly, I kinda pride myself on being somewhat of a "tough-guy" when it comes to this stuff.  I've put my body through some pretty intense training over the years, and don't back down from a challenge.  So I guess weekends like this are where you put up or shut up.  Hmm, I guess this is where I'm supposed to say BRING IT LITTLE ROCK!!!
... be great today!