What's the Craziest Weather You've Raced In?

smd wrote:

Steve Spence won wearing many, many layers.

hmmm... and his daughter is running in this polish cold that prompted the thread.

back in 2010, I raced at Canadian XC Nationals in similar conditions to what is forecasted for Poland on Sunday.

Same season, I would have to say that running in that years Chicago Lakefront Invite was far tougher as just after a few nice days (>70F), its cold (

Peace Out wrote:

I live in northern Canada and did a half marathon in a terrible blizzard (but they still got volunteers at a water station, crazy canucks!) but nothing, N O T H I N G compares to the 2007 Chicago Marathon. I would take a blizzard over that any day.

This. It was my first marathon and I swore never again.

The NCAA DII Regional Race in Bellingham WA in 2004. It was about 35-40 degrees and there was standing water on most of the course. Many of my teammates made some decent passes while sliding down hills on their buts.

Spring '77, dual meet UMass Amherst vs. Northeastern. I'm running the 880, lining up against Mark Lech, he was maybe a 1:46-7 guy.

It's howling wind and cold rain. The gun goes off and it's HAILING like no one's biz!

Lech for the win in 1:58, I run as hard as I can and hit 2:05, 7 seconds off my PR.

It was really fun!

Terrible Idea wrote:

Tropical storm Fay when it came by Florida in 2008. HEAVY rain, a fair amount of flooding (it would end up flooding the whole street the next day), and about 45+ mile winds... Thought it would be cool but I regretted every second of it

That's how I felt too!

Did 6.1 miles in one of the relay legs for the CIM this year..HORRIBLE WEATHER. That wasn't running; it was swimmin'!

Some random high school outdoor meet I raced in a few years back would take the cake for me. It wasn't that cold, but we had winds of over 30 mph. Me and two teammates of mine were in the 3200 together and we formed a line, with the guy who was leading peeling off and hanging onto the back after each lap. None of us broke 11 that day.

Trollist wrote:

XC race in 2008, 20 degrees with 45 mph wind gusts. It was sunny but there was snow on the ground so it was getting blown around like there was a blizzard.

I was in that race too, the Club Cross Country Championships in Spokane. I thought it was closer to 15 degrees by the time we finished.

Horsetooth Half Marathon - high wind warning - port-a-johns were on their sides, no aid stations because the tables couldn't stay upright, much less the cups, and legs were sand blasted by gravel being blown off of the dam road.

Freezing assed violent sideways rain in Eugene. Pre Classic.

World Cross Country in Boston (1992 ?) ran the masters race on day1. Ngugi blasted the field on day 2. Seemed much colder standing around in the snow and watching the pros. Some of the Kenyan juniors ran barefooted.

2004 Eastern Mass Cross Country Championship Meet, Franklin Park. We got six inches of snow overnight- they delayed the start of the meet by an hour or so. That was the only time i've raced in 1/2" spikes. I'm sure a lot of people on these boards were there.

StevenJ wrote:

NESCAC cross country championships in 2006. I forget the exact conditions, but something like half an inch of rain per hour with 50 mph winds at the Conn College course, which is on the ocean. Because of storm surge and the rain, one (relatively brief) section of the course was under a foot or more of water. The rain and salty water from ocean spray pelted your face whenever you were running towards the ocean.

Then, to add insult to injury, most of the people who ran it got a nasty rash. Seems to have been from urushiol (poison ivy and such) based on my recent reactions to it. Swelling from it caused my knee's circumference to increase by 2.5 inches if I remember correctly.

NESCACs are back at Conn next year!

Hottest: 110F with 80-90% humidity in India for a 5-miler. Never again.

Coldest: 0F with 35mph wind (-25F wind chill) in Boston for a 5-miler. Never again.

Craziest and Coldest: 1997 JUCO XC Nationals at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas

It was deadly cold and the first/only time I actually thought my blood was freezing inside my body.

The craziest I've raced in was definitely this fall's sectional race in upstate new york. It was a solid 28 degrees with a 19 degree windchill, winds of constantly 30 mph with gusts of over 45. the course was destroyed (the 4 wheeler leading the race got stuck and we had to run around it) and there were washouts everywhere. As soon as we started the race it was sleeting, then about halfway through it turned to a full on blizzard. i haven't been as cold as i was that day since that day, i had no arm sleeves or leggings, just gloves.

The sky was a funny blue colour and there was a shining yelow thing in the sky. The temperature was also in the 60s - Ive never felt that hot before.