Can You Stand The Rain? Road Racing in Adverse Weather Conditions
It is the end of a half marathon recovery week for me and for my group members who navigated through their second half marathon at #MarathonBahamas last weekend. My mind went on the first blog post that I wrote back in November after they had completed their first one (which I wrote on my former site). I briefly considered repurposing that post. Instead, I decided to pen a new post for this very different half marathon experience.
The final week of Marathon Bahamas Virtual 2021 began with one of our members running her personal best half marathon, shattering her November time by over 20 minutes. She opted to run the race a week earlier than the group and on her birthday. We were all thrilled by her personal accomplishment. And as for me, I remained committed to my own focus of starting the year off running better and harder than ever, opted to run two days early and secure a personal best of my own.
The Saturday that we planned to run as group called for rain, but I remained optimistic. We had many Saturday mornings where the forecast wasn’t favorable, but we managed to get our runs completed. Even in my optimism I thought that at worst the group will learn the valuable lesson of how ‘rain doesn’t stop the show’. It doesn’t stop a race from continuing. For me, it was a reminder of the commitment that I made – putting aside the fact that I had already completed the distance a mere two days earlier, I knew that my group was counting on me to support them on their second attempt at half marathon success.
To our credit, the first half of the run went smoothly. We ran smart and controlled. The weather was a non-factor. At the halfway mark, we began to feel the raindrops, Maintaining my optimism, I assured the group that it would pass. At the eight mile mark, the raindrops turned into an absolute downpour, complete with cold gusts of wind. We stopped and ducked under to find shelter, incredulous of the situation we found ourselves in with five miles remaining. The rain held. We jogged forward. The skies opened again and again we paused to regroup. As we resumed, the downpour became heavier. My eyes stung from constant rain water hitting my eyeballs. At this point we had two miles left and no available shelter until our race distance was completed. We knew what we had to do. We just needed to mentally prepare for it.
At that moment, something beautiful happened. The skies suddenly cleared. We looked up and it was as if the last hour of rain never happened. It was a sign at that moment. Giving up was not a part of our stories. We were meant and made to complete this distance and to be successful. And on that day which I deemed the most miserable weather that I have ever ran a long distance race in, personal bests for my group were born.
There is always something so amazing about setting goals and crushing them. It is even more magical when it happens on a day where you feel like you weren’t able to give it your best. Sometimes giving it your best simply means not giving up. It means adjusting when things do not go according to plan. It means trusting your training because success is on the other side.
That’s more than a running lesson. That’s a life lesson.