I have to admit, @Challengers, that it’s been a tough week. We pride ourselves on being able to run through adverse conditions: heat, rain, snow, wind, whatever. That which does not break us makes us stronger. (Not that I recommend pushing the limits on that which can break you!) But bad air is an amorphous evil. There’s no way to know how you’ll feel on a run, or what sort of damage it might do to your lungs in the short term. Or the long term. Worse, the guidance, even though it’s backed by precise-sounding numbers, is extremely fuzzy. The smoke comes and goes in non-intuitive ways and stymies prediction models more than a day or two out. It’s just maddening.
Despite relatively few runs logged over the last few days (almost entirely in the mornings, when the AQI was lower), we had a pretty average week in terms of mileage, with over 550 miles, pushing us past 8,300 for the year so far. And two more people claimed their medals, Rachel Neugarten with a Classic Challenge, and Pete Kresock as the first person to complete all 44 courses. Congrats!
Pete also moved into second place in Most Points for men, swapping places with Steve Nathans-Kelly, and the only other leaderboard change was a minor jostling that resulted in the @Fantastic-40s moving slightly ahead of the @Fabulous-50s in Team Points.
Lots of good photos from Community Stars leader Dennis Stadelman again this week, including this action shot of Tonya Engst and Marie Donnelly running Waterfront Trail Tuesday evening and the obligatory WWDD shot at Purity.
We don’t have an official group run scheduled for this weekend because it was supposed to be Trackapalooza on Saturday. Even though we’ve pushed it off to August 1, I don’t quite have the heart to organize a group run and risk having to cancel if the AQI spikes again.
Run smart and cover some ground when you can!