Last week was a landmark for problems with putting on a race.
Because of severe weather the Capital 10K was canceled at the last minute. It is unusual for a race to be canceled. There are very few reasons for a race to be called off. It takes some severe weather to call off a race. Rain, even a very heavy rain, is not a good reason to cancel. Years ago I canceled a race here in San Marcos because of a very heavy rain storm. It was not so much for the few runners that were there ready to run as it was for the volunteers who would be forced to stand out in a driving rains storm to pass out water and point the runners in the right direction at a turn. Runners were upset at my decision but the rain was a real storm and visibility out on the road was very limited. The other factor was not so much for the runners but more for any cars that may have been out on the road and had a very limited visibility. There is a very good chance that a driver will not see a runner on the side of the road until it is too late.
While rain seldom cancels a race the combination of rain and lightning is a different matter. The general rule is if the race director sees lightning within a 15 mile radius from the race you either cancel the race, or try to delay the race until the storm passes. Basically the rule to follow for most race directors if lightning is visible is you try to check the direction of the storm on your cell phone. Hopefully the weather station will let you know the size and direction of the storm. This lets the race director decide if a delay will let you run later, or cancel the race. The runners will understand if you have to delay the start of the race for up to one hour for their safety. This is a case of better safe than sorry.
