How to plan a run around a thunderstorm risk

Okay, okay, you’re right.  I will concede one point about the weather:  it is hard to plan runs when we’ve had so many thunderstorms.  Running when there is lightning is dangerous; I won’t do it, and will boldly diagnose anyone as crazy who thinks it is a good idea.

It is a particular challenge to plan a long run when there’s a chance of thunderstorms.  Keep in mind when I say this, I am not talking about taking stupid risks.  I am talking about when you see on the Weather Network that there’s a chance of storms, but nothing is happening, the sky looks okay, and you’re debating whether to cancel when there’s just as good a chance that nothing will happen at all.

Here is how we handled it this past Saturday when that was the case:

• We assessed the risk:  looked at the forecast, looked at the weather, and decided that it was safe to start out.

• I had a bail-out lined up:  I had my husband on standby for a hasty pick up should I call from my cell phone.  He has done this for us once so far this summer, and it saved our skins!

• We altered the route:  I live in a small town and typically prefer long runs on country roads, but this time we went from one end of town to the other 4 times on 4 different streets.  Then we turned around and retraced our steps.  That’s right, we covered the town nearly end-to-end 8 times.  I wouldn’t want to do it every week, but the advantage was that we always had a driveway to dart up should we find ourselves in an unsafe situation.  No running in the middle of nowhere, being the tallest thing around with no safety net.  Besides, we really got a good look at some people’s gardening handiwork!

• and if worse came to worse, of course, we would call it off.

So thanks to some careful planning and flexibility, we were able to get it done, and I was very happy with that.

In the end, however, if we hadn’t, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.  It’s a lot better to get to the start line one long run short of a training plan than to be hit by lightning and not get there at all!