early morning miles

The weekd of May 30/31 I needed to do a long run. But Saturday was busy taking the kids to the Herndon Festival and Sunday morning I was running a 5k with Emily (her very first race!) so I had thought I would run Saturday night. But Saturday night I was tired and decided I would sleep now and run later.

Intead, I got up at 2:45am and by 3:30 I went out for my 18 mile run. When I checked weather the evening before it showed all-clear throughout the night. When I checked weather as I got ready, it showed a 30% chance of thunderstorms. And when I was starting, I could see lightning in the distance.

I went down the Fairfax Country parkway, planning to turn around at Route 50 (about 9 miles) and then head back. There is a paved trail the entire way, though I've never been on it before. And as I'm leaving Herndon headed south, I can see lightning in the distance, and some pretty amazing electrical flashes.

I didn't bring a headlight, but there really was no need. There were only a handful of cars on the road, so once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see the trail well enough to run safely. There are only lights at the intersections, about once every couple miles, so it was a good chance to practice night running. The trail is in good shape with a flat, paved running surface almost everywhere. There are a few exceptions where weather and time have split the surface up, and those are mostly obvious.

I brought a couple slices of bread and a water bottle, driver's license and a credit card.

During the first 7 miles the lighting was coming closer and closer. I figured I would get rained on, just not sure how bad. About mile 7 it began to sprinkle and then shortly it began to rain. The air was warm and I was moving so it wasn't very cold, but I'm still not a fan of running the rain (though I am getting used to it). By the time I reached the turnaround point at Route 50 I was in the middle of the storm. There was a nice wind, a steady shower, and frequent lightning flashes. I was never the highest object in the area - always a light pole or trees or something -so I was never worried about being hit by the lightning. It was just fantastic to have these flashes of intense daylight and then darkness again. And the thunder pealing overhead was incredible.

The rain tapered off to a drizzle and then ended completely by the time I got back home at 6:30. Being rained on does make for "heavy feet" with the added water weight. All in all a successful and enjoyable run.