I’m Afraid Climate Change is Affecting the Sport of Running

This seems like the hottest summer yet

Wow. Did I ever pick a great day to get back into the practice of running!

My last run until yesterday was in London when it was still the month of June. My least favorite souvenir was the sinus infection I caught on the trip. It rendered me unable to run until yesterday. Well, I guess I could have run before that, but working zapped all of my energy in those initial days of recovery. And, well, the need for money definitely won!

But yesterday’s run was brutal. 

Temperatures were in the upper 70s with humidity at 92%. It felt like swimming instead of running. Every breath felt like you were adding another row to the sweater lining your lungs. And my legs were definitely not happy with my choice to make them run 9 miles after such a long break. The only saving graces were the slight breeze and the company. 

I can’t remember such relentless heat and humidity. 

Maybe I should consider myself lucky that I don’t live in Texas or Arizona right now. The high temperature in Phoenix today was a high of 115 degrees, and in Dallas the prediction was 105 degrees. Yikes!

Is it really getting hotter? 

The short answer is yes. If it feels like summers are getting hotter, it’s because they are. Between 1970 and 2022, the average summer temperature increased by 2.4 degrees. And it’s exacerbated in urban areas by lots of asphalt and limited green spaces. 

Does anyone remember the extreme heat in Eugene, Oregon during the 2020 US Olympic Trials held in 2021? Oregon typically has mild summers, but not that year. Races were moved to earlier during the day to beat the heat, and some athletes even passed out from the demand that high temperatures placed on their bodies. 

Nighttime used to bring cooler temperatures that allowed for more comfortable running, but now even night temperatures are staying higher than average, warming by 3 degrees on average since 1970. 

How about that air quality? 

The other effects of climate change? Dry conditions that lead to wildfires affect air quality not just where the fires are, but hundreds of miles away as the smoke and ash are carried by the atmosphere. Canadian wildfires caused brutally poor air quality throughout the US for multiple days in the summer of 2023 already. 

During low air quality days, my asthmatic lungs couldn’t tolerate walking outside to my car, much less sucking wind during a run. My lungs just burned with all of the smoke, so being active outdoors was a no for me on these days and definitely affected my ability to train. 

On these days, the parent organization for my marathon training team advised us not to run or to take our training inside on the treadmill. The scary fact is that running with such dense particulates in the air can cause dangerous cardiopulmonary effects. 

What does this mean for running events?

Climate change is beginning to affect races as well. My own run club is considering moving one of our hottest races from late August to early September, hoping in part that moving the race later by even two weeks will make for more ideal race conditions. 

And even my spring marathon was plagued by a highly unusual April severe thunderstorm, causing the race I had trained for all winter to be canceled mid-race. It was a huge disappointment. 

What can we do about it? 

In our inability to adapt to the intensifying summer heat, we try to combat it in other ways. Taking to the trails to find shade, slowing your speed, running at night, wearing light clothing, and a wonderful concept called “bra ice” are ways to attempt to work with the evolving inferno that is summer in the US. 

Wait… you haven’t heard of bra ice? Maybe it’s just a thing on my running team, but when we provide water stops, we always have ice to stuff in your bra in the summer! It may only last for about a mile, but it does help!

And, of course, it’s essential to stay well hydrated and replace electrolytes. Maybe older generations will make fun of younger runners who take advantage of the plethora of new hydration products on the market, but I don’t think the development of these is coincidental. Using these may become the difference between a successful and failed run during the hottest training season. 

Like it or not, it seems the heat and weird weather patterns are here to stay. Time will tell whether our sport can adapt. 

All I know is, this summer training season has been the most miserable yet. 

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Do you think climate change is affecting the sport of running? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

As always, I hope you all are safe and healthy.