I have attempted 2 runs in the last two weeks. Two.
The smoke rolled in pretty heavy around Labor Day weekend and then just stayed.
I headed out for an attempt the Thursday after Labor Day. The skies looked horrible but the local news insisted the AQI was beloe 100 as the smoke was high up in the atmosphere. That being said, I told myself to take it super easy. So easy, I forgot to take off my earrings, ha! Anyways, I was wheezing after 30 minutes of walking. And then low-key wheezed for another 3 days. Boo.
Oh, and I dyed my hair a while back.
The weekend was a smoky mess. Actually right now, I can’t remember what I did. Oops.
Last week started with smoke. I decided I wasn’t going to attempt running until I make it through the night with the window open without waking up wheezing. Yeah, that was Friday. And I don’t mean wide open, it was open less than 3 inches. I usually ended up closing the window 30 or say minutes after trying to go to sleep.
The smoke had cleared by Friday but the migraine I had been fighting since Wednesday was taking me out. Not gonna lie, I slept most of Saturday. Both by sleeping in and taking a nap. Also, I just bought black out curtains and oh they are amazing. Amazing.
Finally on Sunday, I headed out for a run. Haha! The smoke was gone but I was still on the struggle bus. Such a struggle, I ended up walking all of it. And not even power walking, more like leisurely walking. It felt damn hot which is sad as it was only 91. Two weeks of smoke filled skies and I lost any fitness gains I may have made on my vacation week. Boo.
The beginning of the week was crazy. The middle wasn’t much better.
A heatwave- all days above 100*- rolled in on Friday.
A migraine followed that for Saturday and Sunday.
I did not run at all last week. Zero. I didn’t do any workouts.
Hell, even my step counts look horrible. I work in a 2 story building with a stand up desk and I was never anywhere close to 7500. Which is the goal set by my calorie tracking app.
To add to that insult- our bathrooms broke on Wednesday at work. So that meant each time I needed the restroom, I had to go outside, cross 2 parking lots and an alley to get to the bathrooms in one of our other offices. Which I did twice. I still didn’t hit 7500.🤦♀️
The weekend brought more than heat and the migraine. Severe dry lightning sparked several fires around the state- 3 in my county- which brings the smoke into the county. I usually sleep with my window open a bit and my fan going full steam but after waking up choking, I won’t be opening that window anytime soon.
So here’s to hoping for an improved week to come….although the heat warning is still in effect. For at least another 7 days.
Disclaimer: I received an entry to Oakland Running Festival as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!
When I last left you, I had just received the email that had changed the course of my weekend.
If you are unaware- California is currently on fire, North and South of me; the largest of the fires currently being the Camp Fire and the Woolsey Fire. Thoughts and prayers to all the victims and first responders. I knew Woolsey was sending smoke our way but I admit I am bad about geography or maybe I was just naively hopeful when it came to the Camp Fire and Monterey Bay.
When the wind shifts, it shifts, which is what happened on Saturday. As a person with asthma who has been known to do stupid things (you’ve read about them here) I appreciate BSIM Events making the tough and smart decision for the safety of not only the runners but the volunteers and everyone else involved on race day.
Within an hour, I had more emails regarding the race cancellation. For those doing race day bib pick up, runners could still do so for their shirts and bibs at the predetermined location. Medals would be given out to runners at the finish line festival starting at 7 if runners in the area wanted to come pick them up. The beer tent was already up so it would start serving beer at 8AM. You couldn’t run, but you could have a little fun.
I live 2+ hours away and one of the reasons I was doing race day pickup was because I was going to have the dog with me. My mom was going to hang with her during the race but I wasn’t going to drag either of them 4+ hours just to pick up a shirt. I felt a little weird picking up a medal for miles that I hadn’t put in but I appreciated the offer.
Then I got an email this week with more post race information. I have to say that I am really impressed with how BSIM Events is handling this cancellation-
Deferral options???
And it got better-
They donated the food!
I loved this race before for the views, the organization and the on course support but the organizers themselves are class acts- I’ve run Monterey Bay, the Big Sur Marathon and Salinas Valley Half and loved them all.
Race day may not have gone according to anyone’s plan but I will be back one day. I waited 3 years, I can wait a little longer, it’s worth it.
I ended up feeling like crap for most of the week. I felt like I was fighting something and I had an odd migraine from Tuesday on. I actually even went home early one day which is something I rarely do but my head was just so damn fuzzy I wanted to be off the hill before it got dark.
In one way, being sick wasn’t a bad thing- combine with the rest from last week, it kept me off my left leg for 8 days. Had I not been sick, that would not have happened. I probably would have run on Tuesday or Wednesday. Instead by Thursday I was mostly pain free and outside of 2 truly gnarly charlie horses overnight, Friday was pain free.
I also admitted defeat and returned to the bed store. The brick is going back. I tried for almost 90 days to break in this new bed and no luck. My whole body hurts. Fingers crossed the replacement is epic-ally better because I used up my one return.
In bad news, the Thomas fire is out of control, it’s now pushed into Santa Barbara county. The smoke has inundated our county. We’ve had closer fires but not seen smoke like this. They’re saying the Santa Ana winds are likely partially to blame. Let me be clear that the fire is still over 100 miles away.
Saturday- 3.1 miles I ran!! Some parts were so damn slow and other parts were probably way too fast but I ran! I started off nice and easy and walked the first 10 minutes. From then on I alternated walking and running. I’m using a cool new running app and I’m hoping to improve my cadence so I have to say the running parts felt pretty dang good. In fact, I hauled a** up a hill like I never have before. It was awesome. Until my lungs reminded me that I had been fighting a cold all week and I bent over wheezing at the top, haha.
My legs probably also didn’t appreciate the annual visit to Vine St but it’s tradition!
Sunday- 3.1 miles. I had hoped for more miles but underestimated how much smoke was in the air. I was wheezing 1/2 mile in. I stuck it out for the same route as the day before but I took a more than a few breaks as I was wheezing more than normal. Considering how visible the smoke was I just slowed down and headed for home.
6.23 miles for week. It’s going up! Baby steps! Baby steps!
I feel like it just last week that I was writing the post about signing up for the marathon. In some ways time flew and in some ways, I wish that I had had more time. I don’t think you ever really feel prepared for a race let alone your first marathon but I felt like a wreck.
Monday- Rest With my last longish run of 9 miles the day before, I knew I wasn’t running today. It was another day of flats at work and trying not to freak out.
Tuesday- 3.1 miles With the race so close, I knew I wanted to run but also didn’t want to go crazy with the miles. Especially since week 17 was such a small one. I thought abut running in work town to expose myself to more humidity but decided that was silly. I thought it would be akin to trying to run ALL the miles right before a race. So instead I headed to home town and temps of 93 degrees. Why not dry out the lungs? 😛 My calves were so tight. They might have gotten better if I had run more but as it was a short run, they never loosened up. It stressed me out and I headed home for a date with my foam roller.
Wednesday- Rest Not only did I think 2 days in a row would be silly, this was also the day I dropped a FULL 5 gallon water jug on my left foot. Son of a monkey. I later found a bruise where it hit my stomach on the way down too.
Thursday- Rest Yeah. I fell off my chair this day and re-bruised the same foot. Like fall on the ground, legs splayed in a dress. What the hell?!
Friday- 2.21 miles Last run before race day. I had the day off work and I forced myself to stay in bed until 9. Once up, I headed out for a very short run. Figured the heat wouldn’t be too bad as I was only running for 2 miles. I didn’t take the fires into account. Oops. The smoke from the Sobraones fire has been burning for over a week and the smoke coming our way made for a severe air quality warning last week. My legs felt ok but I was disgustingly sweaty and gasping for air after a slow 2 miles. I had taken a 24 oz bottle with Ultima in it and I drank the whole damn thing. It was only 2 miles!
essentials, right?
Then I headed home to pack for San Francisco and to try to not stress. I watched a lot of Lost. 😛 Saturday- Expo day!! Ashley picked me up and we headed north. We made good time and checked into our hotel before heading for the expo. Seriously, roads and traffic in San Francisco are a giant cluster f***. Who designed that crap? It took the Uber driver 20 minutes to go less than 2 miles! It’s not even the time that made it stressful- that actually happens in Paso all the time but in apparently in SF red lights mean nothing and everyone loves their horn. Grrr.
I won’t lie- the second we got out of the car at the expo, my heart rate spiked. My Fitbit says it hit 105. Ha! We wandered around the expo a bit and picked up our bibs. I caved and bought a San Francisco marathon 3/4 zip. I hadn’t wanted to buy anything until after the race since I wasn’t even sure I was capable of finishing but they were selling out too fast. From there it was back to the hotel after picking up a pizza for me. I piled up my clothes for Sunday, tried not to panic and was in bed by 9. Once we had linens for the pull out bed that is. I think we frustrated room service that night. 😛 Surprisingly, I slept a decent amount of time. But race morning arrived all too quickly.
My legs probably also didn’t appreciate the annual visit to Vine St but it’s tradition!
Slacker Runner 