And he ran so fast that smoke trails came out of his shoes

Oh wait, that's because it's freakin' smokey outside due to all the wildfires in NorCal. In case you haven't seen the news, pretty much all of the upper central valley has been socked in with smoke. In the last week or so, I could always see the smoke, but the smell of the smoke was never that bad, if non-existant during the morning. However, today it was bad. Last night I was able to see a clear picture of the nighttime sky, so I thought the prevailing winds would finish the job today and push the smoke out, but alas, it did not happen. I headed to the gym today and hammered out a nice workout. It took all the motivation I had to get myself there. At about 7am I was trying really hard to talk myself out of going, but it didn't work! My other personality talked me into going.

Two days ago I took advantage of the nice morning weather and ran 10.5 miles. I cruised...literally. I felt like a Cadillac in no hurry to get anywhere. I was just taking in the scenery. I cruised my way to about a 9:34 mile pace...no wonder it barely felt like I was working. I was going to add in a 5k loop at the end but just plain ran out of time. It was nice to know that I had a lot left in the tank. My body felt like it had about 85% left. I'll take this as a minor victory because my running has been slacking lately. Only due to me choosing to go wakeboarding instead. The day prior to that I swam for 35 minutes straight and that was also a killer workout. I don't swim enough, but I should do it more.

I didn't share this in the last post, but I took 3 dingers the other night wakeboarding. The first one caught me by surprise so my body was still a little more relaxed. Just after I landed after clearing the wake, I got too forward on the board and pulled a face plant. It felt like I got slapped by a paddle. The 2nd one hurt! I felt this fall coming and so I tensed up a little. I landed right-ear first and immediately it turned red. Not only did I get a slight case of cauliflower ear, but I hit so hard that it kickstarted a migraine headache. Migraine and no meds = no fun.

Well, after my sight came back I decided to go out a 3rd time. One could argue, why? However my thought was this...I read many articles about migraines and I remember a few of them saying that if you could increase blood flow it would minimize the headache...knowing that whether I took another run or not, a killer headache would ensue, I said why not! The ride was going great, clearing the wake again...again...again... and then BLAMMO! I took a backside digger and landed on the back of my head. It hurt so bad that I ended up getting a straightline bruise on the back of my head due to where the water line and my noggin first hit. So yes, I will wear a helmet for now on (I always wear one when snowboarding) but for the first time in my life of migraines, my headache was not that bad and I didn't get nauseous. So, I think the increase blood flow thing is legit...if only I hadn't fell that 3rd time.

Lastly...how about them Fresno State Bulldogs!?!?! Winning the NCAA Baseball College World Series. I couldn't be more happy for my alma mater. Go Dogs!

In health.