Friday, April 23, 2010

Weekend Weather Report

When it comes to my workouts and athletic events, I'm a Weather Channel junkie. I go to the on-line sight, search for the event city and study the hour by hour predictions like a gypsy reading tea leaves. Here is the hour by hour forecast for St. Petersburg, Florida, the sight of the St. Anthony's Triathlon for this Sunday morning:

sunrise Sunrise 6:56 am
7 am: Temp 75°F, Mostly Cloudy, Feels like: 75°F, Chance of Rain:10%, Humidity: 84%, Winds: From SSE @ 16 mph

8 am: Temp 75°F. Mostly Cloudy, Feels like: 75°F, Chance of Rain:10%, Humidity: 84%, Winds: From SSE @ 16 mph

9 am: Temp 76°F, Mostly Cloudy, Feels like: 80°F, Chance of Rain:10%, Humidity: 82%, Winds: From SSE @ 16 mph

10 am: Temp 77°F, Mostly Cloudy, Feels like: 77°F, Chance of Rain:10%, Humidity: 79%, Winds: From SSE @ 17 mph

11 am: Temp 78°F, Mostly Cloudy, Feels like: 78°F, Chance of Rain: 20%, Humidity: 76% Winds: From S 17 mph

I ran this search after a couple of other friends doing the event sent out the frightening statement that isolated thunderstorms were predicted for Sunday. Amateurs! They made the rookie mistake of simply checking the overall weekend forecast.

So, it looks like we may get some cloud coverage (a good thing), but no thunder storms (that would be a very bad thing). I'm not sure what to make about those winds. That's a bit breezy for the bike, but it may end up being neutral in that you sometimes have the wind with you, sometimes against you. Oh well, we can't control the weather.

Good luck to all my friends doing the event this weekend. Hope to run into all of you at the race. Be sure to save me some of the beer and food please. I'm in the 50+ wave and we don't start until about 8:30 AM. You'd think they would give us old guys a head start instead of making us wait until after the Clydesdales start. Me, I plan on passing some fat dudes on the bike and run courses.

Best wishes to buddy Wayne, running his 3rd marathon in 5 weeks in Europe this Sunday at the Madrid Marathon. Also, best wishes to buddy John, who is doing the Long Horn 70.3 this weekend in Galveston, TX. I guess an Olympic distance triathlon isn't long enough for Iron John.

I like what Ryan Hall said on Monday about his Boston Marathon strategy. "My goal was to have fun out there and to run free. Joy and freedom, that's what I wanted." So, my parting words to everyone doing events this weekend is just that: Have fun! Swim, ride and run with joy and a sense of freedom.

2 comments:

  1. Lookin good. Dont forget your flashlight for transition...

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  2. Ryan Hall rocked it, I love that, run free.

    ReplyDelete