Mother Nature wins again

It is 5 a.m. and I can't sleep.

At 3:42 a.m. someone's car alarm went off on the street. I checked my e-mail and there was still no updates. Since I couldn't sleep, I went downstairs and got ready for the marathon as if there were a chance that it would still proceed as planned. I made my oatmeal and drank my tea. Then at 4:05 a.m. I got the e-mail saying that the Pasadena Marathon had been cancelled due to poor air quality from the wildfires surrounding Orange County and Los Angeles. Phone calls were exchanged over the next half hour as I contacted people and people contacted me regarding the cancellation. I tried to go back to sleep again, but I'm an insomniac and now up for the day.

I think the organizers made the right decision. After years of planning, it has to have been a hard decision to pull the plug today. From the beginning, the race organizers have taken the runner into account and this decision reinforces that. I look forward to whatever solution they may have for the cancellation because that have my full confidence and respect. If they want to increase interest and make a lot of people happy they will reschedule the marathon for mid-February when the L.A. Marathon was supposed to take place.

As for me, I have been specifically training for the Pasadena Marathon for half a year now and was looking forward to the marathon today. It was going to be my 'big payoff' before going into a much needed rest and recovery mode. It was also supposed to be a day of spiritual rebirth-- where each step symbolically represented the past that I am leaving behind and the future that I am moving towards. It was something that I did during the L.A. Marathon, and was planning on doing today. Oh well, I guess there will be no endorphin and sugar-depletion induced feel-good high involved in my rebirth today. Bummer.