Running With Ike

This was taken by the International Space Station and is credited to NASA.

We knew it was coming. For days I’d been watching the weather forecast and it wasn’t getting any better - one day of precipitation sandwiched in between 10 days of mild temperatures and “abundant sunshine”. That one day’s weather prediction went from “showers” to “rain” to “HEAVY wind, rain”. Hurricane Ike was about to slam the Texas coast and then head straight for Missouri.

Was I still game to run the Lewis & Clark Half Marathon? You bet! With the magic word “lightning” missing from the weather forecast I was in the hunt and undeterred. I’d been through similar conditions at the Evergreen Triathlon in July where the rain came down so hard I couldn’t look straight ahead while on the bike segment of the race. I remember my “transition towel” consisted of a little plastic grocery bag that acted as a mud-shield for my shoes, race belt, and ball cap. Why bother with anything else? I was soaked within seconds of getting on the bike.

Sunday morning we woke up at 4:15am and I looked online at the National Weather Service’s radar. After plowing through Galveston Island in Texas, Hurricane Ike had overnight roared up the Mississippi Valley and was blanketing the entire state of Missouri. It was actually smaller than it had been when making landfall on the Texas coast, but still unbelievable. I had trouble imagining a storm system over 250 miles wide; when it reached Texas, Ike was estimated to be anywhere from 600-900 miles across!

We arrived at the race site at 5:45am, a full hour before the Start, and cars were already backed up to both main entrances in the parking lot. The rain was coming down in torrents and after parking we just sat in the car and stared straight ahead - me longing for (more) coffee and Steve possibly wondering what he was smoking when he agreed (enthusiastically) to accompany us to the Start before heading off to church later that morning. The good news was that we had prepared with the right gear both before and after the race – Gore-Tex rules :).

Finally we got out of the car and within seconds were drenched and sloshing through standing water. He wore a poncho, and I had on Gore-Tex pants and jacket, and also brought a post-race change of clothes stuffed in a plastic bag. We met Patrick and Kristin at the bag drop tent and just stood there under the umbrella…waiting. I thought (for about 2 seconds) about warming up but laughed it off – sheets of rain were blowing sideways and winds were gusting at 50mph. There would be no Personal Records set today, but at least we would all have a great “Running With Ike” story :).

6:45 neared and Steve headed home while the three of us sloshed our way to the Start. There were pace corrals (flags with per-mile-pace times) to help us get organized according to running speed. Patrick and I stood in the 9:00 corral and Kristin moved up to the Supersonic corral :). It was a sea of plastic – all of us wearing trashbags with holes punched in them to conserve body heat while standing around.

They delayed the Start nearly 30 minutes and we were all shivering and grumbling, wondering if the officials were debating canceling the event altogether. We would later find out the reason for the delay was that the police were not in place yet on the course because they were still dealing with numerous traffic accidents due to the weather.

The gun finally fired and we were off. All things being equal I felt pretty good. Patrick and I had agreed to run together and not talk – during a race the heart rate is so jacked up, one needs every bit of oxygen shuttled to working muscles and talking interferes with that process.

The first 6 miles were insane, but I was surprised how quickly the mile markers came. My mind was busy dealing with extremely adversarial circumstances but they were external and it made it easier to deal with fatigue and discomfort. A pathway opened in my head and I could clearly focus on running steady, holding back just a little in the first half so I could build and pour it on in the last 5K.

It worked for 8 miles and then Patrick said “hey, we were supposed to turn right here, but we turned left…” Sure enough, the course was shortened to 10 miles for everyone, including the marathoners – a disappointment for all. The south side of the course was flooded and entire trees had fallen onto the street. I applauded the wisdom of the officials to hold a challenging event but still take safety very seriously.

I crossed the Finish line still quite strong despite the weather and was very pleased. We were bussed back to the parking lot where modesty was momentarily ancient history and hundreds of athletes were changing into dry clothes.

Patrick drove me home where I promptly discovered we had no power. I let myself in the front door and realized it was Decision Time. I was already late for church but not too late. Would I give the same importance to serving God and others as I did to my fitness pursuits that morning when I woke up at 4:15am to slog my way through a 10-mile road race?

I showered in the near-dark, drank a tall glass of chocolate milk and stashed some more vittles, manually raised the garage door, and carefully backed the Jeep out. 5 minutes later I arrived at church to discover they had no power either! 300 congregants were in the lobby area of the auditorium we use – Steve and his team had scrambled to find chairs anywhere they could and it was still Standing Room Only. Turns out we had a lot of visitors from other churches who canceled services due to power outages.

I was so glad – glad to have run in the driving rain and finished strong anyway, to have made the effort to see our friends and help other folks on their spiritual journey (our church is called The Journey for that reason), glad to see Steve’s face as I came in the door.

By 1:00pm Ike was outta here, and we spent a relaxing afternoon reading and playing – how old are we again? :)

Kristin and I before the Start - check out our fashionista bags and Patrick's umbrella!!