Men's Wear - Running in the Rain (Read 1346 times)

Races are cancelled for thunder and lightning. Often not even then. I wear in the rain what I wear in the sun. Moisure wicking clothes, including socks, shorts and shirt. If it is sunny, they get wet from sweat. If it is raining, they get wet from rain. I never ever wear a jacket. I do have a windbreaker vest with reflective material that I wear at night, more for reflectivity than for warmth, wind protection or rain protection. Nothing wrong with a little (or a lot of) rain. Rain on your face feels good. Rain on your face feels better than sweat on your face. Rain on your face feels far better than an unnecessary hood or visor.

Always start right before the rain When it is raining, I cannot see, glasses or not. So my glasses go into my pocket. And off I go...

Light breathable shoes with very thin socks [better than having water sloshing around], windbreaker pants, wicking tee, wooly/acrylic hat... and on the top layer... it depends - if it is light rain a sweatshirt is fine. Otherwise a very light waterproof jacket. Breatheable tops do not really work in heavy rain. You get totally soaked.

I get very warm, very quickly. I've long searched for a jacket that would protect me from the rain while I was running. It took me a while, but I discovered something.... It doesn't much matter, since I'm going to be wet from sweating anyway. I have a Pearl Izumi Zephhr jacket, and one from Adidas (the joys of outlet shopping). The Adidas one is thinner, has a nice pocket in the back, and lots of ventilation mesh. The PI one is tighter, no vents, no pockets. If it's bitterly cold out, with a nasty wind, I'm going with the PI. If it's raining, then I'm just wearing what I would normally wear. Maybe an extra layer. If it's cold and raining, then I'm wearing waterproof gloves, because my fingers will freeze otherwise. Serius makes some decent all-weather gloves. As for a hat, I have a Nike Dri-Fit hat I wear. Shoes are probably gonna be the Gore-Tex Adidas.

Generally no, but I have seen a race cancelled because of a hurricane...destroyed a large section of trail in the Blue Ridge mountains. Also, races out West have been cancelled due to forest fires. I have run races in hailstorms, complete with lightning and heavy winds, no discussion of cancellation... (disclaimer: races in this post were all trail races). Oh, about what to wear, I have a couple of jackets made by Marmot (Precept, I believe). They are waterproof and are breathable, but I still sweat up inside...sweat running out the wrist openings... even in cooler weather. Understand that you probably won't find anything to keep you totally dry, but you will want something to keep the wind off your body. Lynn B

I ran a 10K in NYC once that was changed from a race to a "fun run" after only 60 people showed up because there was about 10 inches of snow on the ground and it was still falling fast. I still ran it though. Just shows how stubborn I am I guess.

I wear a hat with a brim (one of those light-weight breathable running hats) for pretty much all my runs. It works to keep the sun and rain off my face... personally, I don't like rain running down my face, into my eyes and nose.. very distracting. If it's cold out, I'd focus on finding some warm, waterproof gloves. I really like gortex ski mittens (with or without a soft inner liner, depending on the temp). If my hands get cold, I'm a mess. After that, I'd probably try to find a very light-weight but waterproof/resistant jacket.. but I don't have one so I can't offer any recommendations. I've actually been pretty lucky not to have run many races in the rain.