Ultrarunner Adam Campbell on being struck by lighting

Petzl team ultrarunner Adam Campbell, of Canada, recently finished third in the infamous Hardrock 100 Mile Endurance Run, which plots a grueling course through Southern Colorado's San Juan mountains, gaining and losing 33,992 vertical feet in the process. Impressive as that may be, it isn’t the big story here. Most remarkable is the fact that Adam and his pacer, Aaron Heidt, were struck by lighting on Handies Peak (14,000 feet), at mile 56 of the race, and he still powered to third place in a very stacked field. (Did we mention he also works full-time as an attorney?) We caught up with Adam by phone while he was bouldering at his local gym in Vancouver.

Ultrarunner Adam Campbell wearing his NAO headlamp in the Ultra Trail Mount Fuji. Photo: Lafouche / Petzl

Can you describe what it felt to be hit be lighting?

Beforehand, the whole area just felt electric. Super, super scary. You could feel it crackling everywhere around us. Then there was a loud bang, like a gunshot going off in my ear, and we got knocked off our feet. We just looked at each other and said, “Did we just get struck by lighting?” There was an electrical smell and taste. We were hyper-aware. … It was probably an indirect hit. It hit the area around us and either rebounded off of us or came up through the ground. Aaron said he felt like he was hit in the back of the head.

Are you experiencing any lasting effects?

My feet are still completely numb. I’m not sure if that’s from my feet being swollen and cold for so long, or what. The swelling has gone down at least and I’m able to run. I plan to go to the doctor if the feeling doesn’t come back soon, but that’s it!

You were wearing your NAO headlamp when you were hit, and there were some articles online about your battery exploding. What happened?

There was a huge crack—it sounded like it exploded—but actually it just short-circuited. There’s a bit of charring on the inside of the battery case, but really minimal. The lamp still works.

So did you find cover and lie low after that?

There is no cover up there. It’s a completely blank zone. We both lay there for a second, swearing, and I had a mild panic attack because there was still lightning all around us. We did a soft check and realized we were both OK. I had a spare battery for my headlamp in my pack, but our packs were underneath our jackets. We both got up right away and without saying anything we somehow understood that we could worry about my light later, and we started running. Aaron had a spare light and he ran off my shoulder, lighting up the area in front of me. We ran for 20 minutes that way. I kept tripping and falling—it was pitch black out and pouring rain—so I swapped out the battery on the NAO and it worked!

Did getting hit by lightning slow you down?

For the next two hours, I actually had a crazy surge of adrenaline—I felt like the luckiest guy in the world. I actually ran too hard through that stretch and paid for it later. I burned a little too much fuel… . In these sorts of races, literally anything can happen. You need to pay attention and make smart decisions. Anything could have happened to the two guys ahead of me. It just reminded me you have to keep plugging away.

Did you see the storm coming as you ran?

Right before we got to the summit, we saw lightning strike it. It wasn’t a cartoon lightning bolt, you know, it was more like a tentacle or cobweb of light hitting the ground.

Why did you keep running with lightning striking up ahead?

Aaron and I didn’t have a choice. Where we were was fully exposed and it was just as exposed going backwards as forward. When you’re doing these sorts of races in the mountains, you’re going so light—I was wearing shorts, T-shirt, a light windbreaker, a running pack with water, and a Buff—that if you stand still, you get hypothermic. Speed is our biggest safety net. The faster we’re moving, the better we're staying warm, and the odds of something happening are lower. It wasn’t until we got to the ridge that the weather turned. Later in the race, we still had five other 13,000-foot peaks to go over. Aaron and I are conservative with our risks—really it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

You could say you were very unlucky to be hit, but very lucky to have survived with relatively minor after effects…

Aarons’ wife is an ER doctor and she read up on it. She said 10% of people who get indirect hits get killed, and 80% of people suffer lasting effects, such as personality changes… .

Are you doing anything to recover?

Just active recovery. I’ll take it easy for the next week or so then get back into training. I ran a 10k last weekend and won that. I’m running a 15k this weekend. I just got a new job, which just added to the madness of everything because I moved cities the day after the race.

Sounds like you’ve been getting lots of media attention lately for this…

Yeah. The funniest thing that happened was that one paper in the UK had a spelling mistake in their headline—it said, “At the finish line, Adam drank half a bear and poured the rest over his head.” I’ve also been getting all these invites on Facebook to join lightning-strike survivor groups.

What’s your takeaway from this experience?

We all enjoy playing in the mountains, but mountain weather and space is a bit wild, so remember to play it safe and don’t take risks. It’s a good reminder that you don’t always control the situation. It’s not going to stop me from playing in the mountains, but you just have to try to minimize your exposure as much as possible.

More Info:

• Adam Campbell's personal blog
• [Video] Trail Runner Nation interviews Adam Campbell