Well, today it finally really is raining. A good hard soaking rain that is supposed to be followed by high winds. Eric's reports from Kona indicate little or no rain (5 minutes in a rented convertable) despite Big Rock's seeing rain all over the Weather.com report.
Better now than later. Running easy for 30 minutes in the rain is not an issue. Slogging through rain in the marathon is not fun.
The worst rain I was ever in during a marathon was at Lake Placid three years ago. Lake Placid is old-school Adirondacks. It might be cloudless brutal sun now, but that doesn't mean it won't dump on you an hour later- or vice versa. This year the swim started in the rain and the run- what a beautifully perfect day.
I spoke to JB again yesterday and we were commenting on how awesome the weather should be. There have been some cold, windy Mystics, and I think the race has moved up a week to try and avoid that. With a leisurely start time- 10 AM, you get the benefit of the weather if it's good. I don't think it's going to be a sunscreen day, but still pretty nice.
I think I'm actually looking forward to the race now, getting it started, thinking about staying calm. Over the years I've learned that after a few miles in a marathon I start to react the same way I do when I crawl out of the swim in a tri- a little panicky, a little manic in attempting to 'get back into' the race.
With the ten mile race sharing the first part of the marathon course and the relay teams, you can't tell who is in front of you and who they are, so as people pull away, you do have a tendency to panic a little, as it looks like you are being buried. Margit suggested after Hartford that people in these long races should be body marked so we know what we are up against. I think it's a great idea, but what race director can we sell it to ?
No comments:
Post a Comment