Thirty years later and nothing has changed.
One of the most vivid memories and the most often told stories of my childhood are the ones with me on the baseball field. Those memories and stories don’t involve the successes and the failures, but only of the games never played.
I grew up in a humid part of the country and every afternoon brought the possibility of a sudden storm (not as bad as Florida). All of our games were played at 4:30 pm.
For me, the pacing began at about 12 pm, this is when I put on the uniform and started throwing the ball in the air in the front yard, it advanced to the tennis ball off of the roof or against the garage door (if the AMC Hornet wasn’t in the driveway).
The good days ended with an actual game (the better days were the ones that ended in a victory), but the bad days were the ones that involved a rain storm. I began pressuring my mom to go to the field at about 3pm, even if it were raining, but normally one of the assistant coaches would come and get me. I would go out on the field as soon as I got there. The hope, I guess, was to prove that it wasn’t raining too hard to play.
This trick NEVER worked. But it didn’t keep me from trying. Usually, the whole scene ended with me looking at the tail lights of every other car and me standing on the field soaked.
“IT’S BARELY RAINING…WE CAN STILL PLAY!”
Tonight, now that I have signed up for the 1/2 marathon, I am in full training mode. I ran 4 miles Thursday, 4 miles on Friday, 2 miles (with my son) on Saturday, 6 miles on Sunday and 4 miles on Monday. Yesterday was my rest day. We had football practice and I ran as the receiver as all of the kids lined up and practiced throwing.
Tonight was five mile night.
Torrential downpour!
There I was pacing between the front porch and my computer screen checking out the radar.
I would have toughed it out if it was just rain, but there was thunder and lightning too. I didn’t have a leg to stand on while trying to convince my wife I should still go running. Last week, a runner was killed after being struck by lightning and today a mail carrier was hit by lightning.
I am still watching the radar and looking for a dry hour.
“THERE ISN’T TOO MUCH LIGHTNING!”
Any lightning is too much lightning. Don’t take yourself out of the race before it even begins!
By: territerri on July 24, 2008
at 2:32 am
Running in the rain… ARE YOU CRAZY? Lightening means STAY IN THE HOUSE and snuggle your wife…
By: looksgoodinpolkadots on July 24, 2008
at 2:39 am
Ladies,
You have to have figured out how I am wired by now…I am pacing the house watching it rain at 11 pm, trying to look for a break in the storm.
By: morethananelectrician on July 24, 2008
at 2:57 am
This is EXACTLY me and me riding the horses around here. I’ll ride until I see lightening as long as it is barely raining.
I sure hope it doesn’t rain anymore tonight.. my outdoor arena needs dried out.
The storm we got yesterday must have finally reached your town!
Even distant lightening is good enough for me to go out there. “It probably is going go around us.”
By: Around The Funny Farm on July 24, 2008
at 3:30 am
I LOVE running in the rain…but not lightning!!!
I wonder what my girls will think when they here are real thunderstorm when we move back to the Mainland…thunder and lightning are few and far between here in HI…less there is a hurricane a comin’! Enjoy the weather and head out tomorrow…don’t overtrain either!
It dropped from 95 to 70 degrees…perfect for running…if you want to die. Time for bed…I’ll get up early. The alarm is already set.
By: Liz on July 24, 2008
at 3:46 am
Haha.. go read some of my comments from tonight and my reply to one about your idea.
Maybe I’d use some indoor/outdoor carpet instead of paint!
By: Around The Funny Farm on July 24, 2008
at 3:48 am
We were highly enjoying watching the lightning tonight…but we weren’t thinking about running out there!
Only a dummy would consider running in that storm…
By: maleesha on July 24, 2008
at 5:18 am
just run on the spot dude, run on the spot, knees up high!!!
By: romi41 on July 24, 2008
at 11:39 pm
It’s funny. I used to do the same thing in Little League. Since my parents were immigrants, it almost worked…or at least it worked enough to get me on the field in the pouring rain until cooler heads prevailed.
Our games were always scheduled on the day that the grass was cut so the smell of cut grass always reminds me of Little League.
Holding a lightning rod isn’t a good idea though so your running idea is better than the baseball one.
Great post.
By: The Last Spartan on July 24, 2008
at 11:54 pm
Awh man…what a bummer
By: Scottie on July 25, 2008
at 1:17 pm
Yeah, I don’t run but I’ve always been one of those weirdos who will sit by the window and watch the storms. I love lightning and tend to sit outside during the summer when we have electrical storms. Actually, now that I think about it I’m probably really lucky I haven’t been hit yet.
By: Sarah on July 25, 2008
at 1:22 pm
Romi: To run for an hour in place would make me kill myself
Spartan: There is nothing like the smell of freshly gut grass on a baseball field. BUt it is INDEED better to enjoy stnading on it instead of knocked out cold after being stuck by lightening.
Scottie: I made up for it last night.
Sarah: Storms used to be cool, now I just see them as potential leaks in roofs… “glass half empty guy”!
By: morethananelectrician on July 25, 2008
at 4:40 pm