I woke up the other day at 5am knowing I have to get up now for my morning run, but looking out the window I see its raining. Not a hard rain just a little soft rain. So what do I do…. Am I a Fair weather runner?
Urban dictionary definition: A person who runs when the wearher is excellent but otherwise stays indoors
For me if I have paid for it and it rains I will still go rain or not. Sometimes when you get to the race venue its not raining there, othertimes you’re not so lucky.
Training runs however… If its raining I will go back to bed and try in the afternoon. If it starts to rain while I’m on the road depending on the shower I would either cut my run short or run in the rain.
In South Africa all we have to worry about is Rain, heat, hudidity and a bit of cold. Some place have extreme heat, snow, days of raining, and humidity.
Some people would say that if you are a fair weather runner you will put your fitness as risk as you could have days of bad weather.
We need to be reminded that if you are training for Comrades or Two Oceans you can have some extreme weather in your runs. At Two Oceans some years you start in the rain and there have been runs with the wind literally pushing you off Champmans. At Comrades you start in the cold and humid conditions and then as the days goes it gets really hot really hot, can rain and then it goes back into cooler temp depending on how long you are running for.
So what I am trying to say is be careful of being a Fair weather runner. You should be training in any weather as you never know what you will get on your run. Training in all weather conditions will prepare you for anything.
Hope to you to see you on the Road
Marelise da Silva