Tag: smoke

Countdown

Disclaimer: I received an entry into the Santa Rosa Half Marathon to review 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!

I am at the point of fitness where sometimes a rest day is smarter than pushing it before a race. But that also makes it way too easy to remain a Slacker.

Last week wasn’t horrible and I did get out for 2 days of runs. They weren’t bad either. Both were short but both were decent. Slower than crap but decent. The only downside was the humidity during Saturday’s run. What was that all about??? We don’t do humidity here! 100 degrees, sure but humidity, no. Yuck.

Then I rationalized that a long run on Sunday wouldn’t help me for the race but could possibly hurt it. I was feeling an odd ache in my left leg and was freaky tired. Nap time!

I still had a shoe dilemma though. The farther I had run in the Torin’s was 6 ish miles and that makes me nervous for Santa Rosa. So I figured I would try a short in the Wave Riders even though Idaho made me want to burn them. Nope, no change. In fact, I took my shoes off and finished my run barefoot. Well, let’s be real- I was walking. Only crazy people run barefoot on concrete. Or people with stronger feet than me.

Then the week ran away from me and now Santa Rosa race weekend is here. What????

Don’t get me wrong, I am looking forward to it but I have some concerns. First is obviously my fitness level, well lack there of. Next is smoke. It’s hard to find somewhere in Ca that isn’t affected by smoke at the moment. Worse is the fires causing the smoke.

So, Santa Rosa, here I come!

37/38 Wheeze

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.

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.

How was your week?

34- Smoke

Last week was another lazy week. However, this was not my fault.

If you’ve read the news or watched it, you may have seen that California currently has an unprecedented number of fires. While the fires near my city and in my county have been small and put down quickly, the same cannot be said for the rest of the state.

While our fires were small, the smoke was not. Something about the way our county sits seems to make it a settling zone for the smoke from other fires. It’s happened with other fires over the years but this was a new level. Our air quality made headlines last week and not in a good way. The one site only went to 500 for AQI and we were maxed out.

I spent very little time outside all week and had the air conditioner maxed at home (with a new filter). I still ended up having asthma troubles most of the week and ended up going home sick on Thursday. Boo. So it was a very low key week.

Oh yeah, and I bought a car.

How was your week? What weather keeps you inside?

33- Unsure

I am not sure how it happened.

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.

The Unexpected- Monterey Bay Half Marathon

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-

And it got better-

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.

Ever had your race canceled?