I won't run outside when lightening is nearby, but have wondered about the relationship between percent time feet are in contact with the ground and chances of being struck by lightening. When caught outside in a storm, it might be prudent to practice striding! Better to minimize chances of being struck by having one foot in contact with the ground at a time, each for as little time as possible.
Hgss wrote:
I won't run outside when lightening is nearby, but have wondered about the relationship between percent time feet are in contact with the ground and chances of being struck by lightening. When caught outside in a storm, it might be prudent to practice striding! Better to minimize chances of being struck by having one foot in contact with the ground at a time, each for as little time as possible.
Can't tell if you're serious, but you do know that you don't have to be in contact with the ground to get hit by lightning, right? Aircraft regularly get hit by lightning.
Totally serious. Air conducts electricity much less efficiently than a human body or an airplane. By keeping your foot off the ground the chances are better that the lightening will go directly through something else nearby that is grounded, rather than through your body. Bounding would not eliminate the chance, but surely decreases it compared to the guy you pass standing there with a golf club extended into the air.
An airplane will easily take a jolt if the only alternative route for the lightening is to go through the air.
What if an overweight person gets struck by lightening and ends up normal, that's a good thing.
Edward Teach wrote:
There is about the same odds it will strike you in your house.
Umm ... no.
Also, running during a thunderstorm is dangerous and I feel foolish for having done it.
Finally, everyone, there is no "e" in the word lightning.
Absolutely not!
I was doing a track workout at UCLA many years ago when a thunderstorm came along. I was determined to finish my workout, charging down the backstretch full of water, when lightning flashed across the track, every hair on my body stood up and I couldn't get out of there fast enough. There is no way that I would ever try that again.
yes, protected by a row of trees. i think i was safe because it was sheet lightning.
Yes. Thunderstorms fill the air with negative ions
some say the track at Oslo is fast because of naturally abundant negative ions
.
Hgss wrote:
Totally serious. Air conducts electricity much less efficiently than a human body or an airplane. By keeping your foot off the ground the chances are better that the lightening will go directly through something else nearby that is grounded, rather than through your body. Bounding would not eliminate the chance, but surely decreases it compared to the guy you pass standing there with a golf club extended into the air.
An airplane will easily take a jolt if the only alternative route for the lightening is to go through the air.
When you are running, even those fleeting moments when you are in the air you are still a conduit for lightning. The air at the bottom levels of the clouds become negatively charged. The ground and everything touching the ground, including you, and the air around you becomes positively charged. Spikes of negative charges reach towards the ground, and when it reaches any ground object a massive electrical discharge occurs and lightning forms. It's not going to matter that you are running or not.
Atoll 238 wrote:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24149934Yes. Thunderstorms fill the air with negative ions
some say the track at Oslo is fast because of naturally abundant negative ions
.
My thread lives......Had to comment on the negative ion article....interesting, never would have considered that the negative ions would make me run faster. Always thought it was due to the fear of being struck.....:)
Oh we'll, I did a run in the rain last week, was nice and refreshing. A steady rain with light wind and occasional rumble of thunder from cloud to cloud, no cloud to ground observed. Of course that was probably just luck. Risky? Always when it's lightning, but with measured discretion. The storm had run its course and was moving away, it was much worse an hour earlier. So it was more of a post storm run after it nicely cooled down the 108 degree day and allowed me to burn a good tempo workout.
lightning and hail dont do it. Up until I finished college, Id run in any weather, hail, lightning, even a hurricane once. Looking back, I dont think the reason I ran 2:2x:xx or whatever is because I got a few more runs in when it was raining and cooler and thunderstorming. Wait until it ends, go at 2 am if you have to or just make up some miles the next day.
Got caught in a hail storm in the open running at Snowmass, CO. It hurt.left welts.
Ran after snow/ ice storm outside Boston. Power out , no traffic, moon came out of clouds and lit up the road to a silvery serpent. hen branches and whole trees started coming down .almost got bopped. Went home devastated.
Zev wrote:
I love running in storms & bad weather in general. I like testing myself against Nature's fury, daring fate to take me out. I've had a few close calls out there, but nothing particularly bad enough to make me want to stop. A few highlights, if you will, follow:
1) Ran during Superstorm Sandy; although my area only caught the edge of the storm, it was pretty crazy, with the wind and rain. Being after dark made it exceptionally fun, especially when I had to cross a couple bridges with lightening all around me.
2) Got caught on some trails during a sudden storm. By the time I got out of the woods, I was covered from head to toe in mud and leaves. I felt as primal as I looked.
3) Was on a six-mile run one very windy evening, trying to outrun a storm. I did not. Branches were being ripped from trees and the thunder was deafening. I got home just as the sky opened up.
I bet this guy is no longer with us.
Why would you not? During the summer that's the only relief.