Thursday, September 06, 2007

Mmmmm... particulate matter!

Wednesday 4.0 miles/33:34/8:24 average pace

We had a nice layer of smoke blow into the bay area yesterday from some fires to the northeast, in addition to a big fire down in Morgan Hill. The result was a really yucky haze and poor air quality, but a freaking sweet sunset! This definitely reminds me of Montana, where we dealt with these conditions nearly every summer. I know this year has been especially smokey for my family and friends up there, so I won't complain too much. In fact, I admit I kind of enjoyed it because it reminded me so much of MT. I'm weird.

Not only was it smokey, but it was hot and VERY dry as well. I was going to do a longer run, but the conditions changed my mind. I got in a pretty good workout though- I could call it a progression run. My splits were: 8:50, 8:40, 8:14, 7:49. I was a little worried about Maritza, who had to do 11 out there... I hope it wasn't too bad.

I also have 2 swims to report! Tuesday I did 750 meters in 15:03. This morning I got in 1000 in 20:06. :) I am getting really close to that 1:00/lap pace, but not quite yet! I definitely swam the last 500 under 10:00 this morning though, but that doesn't quite count. My swim idol was in the lane next to me again and I tried not to stare. Holy hard core swimmer though, seriously. I <3 her.

So, Maritza and I have officially volunteered for the Nike Women's Marathon on October 21st! We did this race together as our FIRST marathon back in 2005 so we can't wait to go back and help out. Miss Petite America is going to be out there running the full marathon, so we'll be cheering like crazy for her. :)


Here are a few more pictures from the last couple weeks that I finally got on my computer :)


Malibu coast:

Sweaty and hot at Cheeseboro Canyon in Agoura Hills last week:


Zach, canoer (so not a word) extrordinaire:



Canoeing it up at Lake Del Valle:

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, there is nothing better than some particulate matter. Of course SoCal smog is much better than wood smoke but you take what you can get :). Great job on the run and the swim. Your lap times are really coming down!

Marathon Maritza said...

Look at your negative splits despite inhaling dirty ashy air!!! Nice job!

It was still really dry this morning but I'm glad I pushed the run back a little bit...this is straight crazy!

Chris said...

We've been sucking smoke here too...it's blowing out of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming straight over western South Dakota.

We narrowly escaped the fires impacting the Missoula Marathon this year. Just a few weeks after the race, a fire burned right down to where the course starts in Frenchtown. I wonder if they considered that when they decided to have the race in mid July??

jahowie said...

Sucks about the smoke. You did manage to take some beautiful pics again though and once again you kicked butt on your workouts.