Crappiest weather/worst ever run...

Classic... "I had to, HAD to go for a run...." in jeans to boot! Ha!! You sure you were safe to drive/run?!?

I have lots of bad weather runs, but one "worst run" sticks out. I wish I could make it funny, but it just sucked. My Wife (then girlfriend) and I went on a run. It was cold, snowy, and there was no longer much room on the roads (from previous snows), but I was starting to get accustoned to that crappy midwest winter weather. What sucked, though, is that midway through the run my Honey started saying her upper leg/lower butt was feeling weird. Maybe we should have stopped, but the weather was not nice strolling weather. Then, a car splashed icy slosh on my shoes and lower sporthills. OK.. no big deal..not good, but I'd survive. Then, out of nowhere I acquired the nosebleed to end all nosebleeds. I basically had to come to terms right then and there with saying "Goodbye" to that sweatshirt. Obviously, things were going poorly, so we called her sister to pick us up. On the way to where we were staying, I had an epiphany that I had forgotten plain tickets (for a flight the next morning) at my place 1.5hrs away. I guess I should have been glad that I remembered (would have sucked to have gone to the airport ticketless), but I considered it one more thing to contribute to my ornery mood.

Oh yeah, it turned out that my Honey ended up developing a stress fracture of the sacrum illium (or something like that). This run was the first time she had felt its presence.

I sometimes enjoy running in bad weather. You usually experience things from a different perspective than watching the severe weather warnings on tv sitting on the couch.

One of the more entertaining bad weather runs I've had was during my brief stint working as an assistant p.e. teacher at a suburban Houston high school. Due to the scheduling, I had wednesday mornings with no classes. I carpooled in with someone, so I would go for a run leaving from and returning to the school every Wednesday morning. I go out one day and it's raining. Pretty soon there's an electrical storm, it's raining very hard, the wind is blowing like mad, and the streets are flooding. If you live in Houston, you know that any time it rains much many streets flood a few inches to a foot.

The weather is at about its worst as I wrap up my 8 mile run. I would always go in the side door of the school back to my office to change and get ready for my classes. As it turns out, I walk in to find all the kids and teachers lined up in the halls "tornado drill" style - facing the walls, away from glass, etc. Needless to say I got a few strange stares and comments as I walked in - smart aleck high school kids. Just glad I didn't lose my job!

15 below F, 50 below with windchill. Icy sidewalks and roads. I went out for 8 and only managed to skate through about 4 very slow miles.

Four layers on top, four on the bottom (including some heavy duty crotch protection), ski mask plus wool cap, gloves with mittens.

Sore as hell the next day in ankles, groin and hips because as I landed every step, my feet slid over the ice and my legs splayed.

I felt like a stud for getting out, though.

Man I can relate to all of those stories but I have to admit these days 1) I haven't seen winters that severe in years, and 2) I would be very unlikely to bull through those conditions anymore. I ran the years 1983 to 1989 missing only about 7 weeks total of running and those were mostly planned breaks in the summer. Ran in 70 below windchills (a record) and also did a ten miler in 24 below zero(actual temp). There was no wind so that wasn't as bad.

I still say the all-time worst conditions is 38 degrees and steady rain. And one good thing aout sub-zero temp is the snow freezes so hard it makes for great traction.

Ice storms make running useless. The only time I can say that it was absolutely pointless to go for a run was after one ice storm where I couldn't run any faster than I could slowly walk. There probably wasn't much point to that.

Blzzards can be allright because there isn't any traffic and you can run right down the middle of the street but you have to watch out for those snow mobiles and national guard trucks!

My last tough run was this spring where I was about 5 miles straight out from home and a wind storm came through. There were 60 to 70 mph gusts(I try not to exaggerrate-I'm positive that was what the weather channel said). It took 65 minutes to cover the distance what normally took 30. When I finally made it pack I found that some roof shingles took out my kitchen window.

I remember hearing a story that supposedly came from Kenny Moore.....the winds in Oregon were so forceful in one direction one day that a bunch of distance runners who couldn't break 11.0 in the 100 all went out and ran "windaided" 9.7s.

About 106-degrees and humid in DC. A 90+ minute run at a slow 7:30 per mile damn near killed me.

Austin Peay Invitational last year. Raining, cold. There was a 50m long pond in the middle of the course. It was about 2 feet deep. There was a second puddle in another spot on the course that was a good 3 feet in depth. That was hard as hell to run in.

December 24, 1993

Janesville Wisconsin.

Temperature was roughly -25degrees F, and I ran 25 miles at 6;00/mile.

Came back and I could not feel my face or my nads, and I had ring of frozen sweat around my turtleneck shirt!

You guys might have crappy weather, but only I have my wife.

She's brutal. Once on my 20 mile long run, she drove me out, so I could have a straight shot home. She had chores and stuff to do, but checked up on me (by driving by in the car) a couple of times, 8 miles, 12 miles... Obviously, she saw me everytime as we would wave or something to acknowledge each other. Well, at about 14 miles into my run, something happened to my knee, and it was getting kind of sore quickly. By 15 miles, it seemed like my run was over. Luckily, I soon saw my wife driving the opposite direction. Standing in the middle of the road and waving my hands like an air-traffic plane guide, I tried to get her attention (and I know she saw me). But, she ignored me and just drove away. So, I lightly jogged (or hobbled) for the last 5 miles. When I inquired (kind of ticked), she said she knew she saw me and it looked as though I was struggling, but she wanted to toughen me up.

Then, for a marathon, I had been practicing drinking Pepsi.. At 18 miles in the race, I was ready for my Pepsi fix. However, my wife had grand ideas about "helping" me out by fortifying my cup with extra sodium (table salt). Let's just say that she took no chances that I would not be denied a full reccommended allowance. Ever expect a familiar something while eating, but get something totally gross and hard to swallow instead? Yeah... Well, my stomach started revolting and wrenching to get everything out. Good thing her previous "toughening" technique helped to get me through that marathon.

JasonInThailand wrote:

December 24, 1993

Janesville Wisconsin.

Temperature was roughly -25degrees F, and I ran 25 miles at 6;00/mile.

Uhh, don\'t you mean \"40 km @ 3:45/km\"? Or have you dropped that precious little affectation?

The 1996 winter ice storm in Spokane, WA. That was simply awful. Trees falling down everywhere on account of the frozen ice. I won't forget that one...

GHOST

"all-time worst conditions is 38 degrees and steady rain"

I would agree with you there (if you added wind), except that then I would never run in Pacific NW winters. That's the morning (5 am) run out here from Nov. through March.

At least I no longer have to deal with below freezing cold, but maybe twice a year.

St. Pat's 10-Miler starting and finishing in Margate, New Jersey, late 1990s. Out and back course along the boardwalk into Atlantic City and back out. 40mph wind whipping east to west. Sand. Tons and tons and tons of sand. All blowing into our ears, mouths, noses and other assorted places. No let-up. It was like running in a sandstorm. Kinda fun.

miles or km's or whatever.....still the same shit.

Back then I went by miles. Now I go by km's since I spend 95% of my time in kilometer nations only.

jason

i did that 10 miler in margate in the late 90s. 5 miles out with the wind at our back and then 5 miles back with it in our face (i think my first half was 8-10 mins faster than my second half). my father has pictures of traffic lights sideways because of the wind. on the way back me and about 4 other guys got together to draft, a la nascar, but i agree with just a guy, it was kinda fun.

Back about a half dozen years ago while with the US Army in Korea, I went on a long run on a Saturday morning on a loop around the countryside near my base. At this time, there was no Weather Channel in Korea, so I sized up the weather (low-40s, overcast) and headed out the door with tights, knit hat, cotton gloves, and a long sleeve cotton T-shirt (I know-stupid). About an hour into the run, the road took me over some mountain and it's not just raining, but freezing rain on top of this hill. Not only do I get soaked, I fall on the ice several times down the other side of this hill. I manage to make it back to my barracks room about 45 minutes later and I'm in the early stages of hypothermia (confused, shivering uncontrollably). I got in a hot shower and eventually recovered, but I never ventured too far away from the base on any more runs after that.

During X mas break in college:

Ran during a blizard in Cape Cod, MA and ran with out pants (always run in shorts) and the sleet/rain/snow combo turned my legs red. My face was frostbit from the intense winds which drove every bit of frosted ice falling from he sky into my flesh. The run was only about 5-6 miles, but it was fairly brutal. When I got back, I had to hide from my parents who told me not to run b/c my face was so badly puffed up from the frostbite.

9 miles under the hot open summer sun after a night of intense drinking-almost drank out of a puddle like a dog b/c I was so dehydrated during the run.

...bad times

All bad weather running makes you tough...if you don't whine about it afterwards. Then you dilute the experience.

Other than you, who's whining? This is pretty funny stuff, not a bunch of bitching. So far you're out-voted 19-1. "Running" on several inches of ice around Central Park last winter was a death-defying experience.