Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Weather Made Me Do It!

I’m still here. I’m also pretty happy about now that I don’t have a goal race soon.

The weather has been awful here in Southern California. The rain started Friday. Today is Tuesday. It hasn’t stopped. I keep looking for the line for the ark. To put things in perspective, a “normal” rain year here would be somewhere around 13 inches. It’s rained 5.25 inches since last Friday. The forecasters are saying another 5 (inches) before the storm blows out of here day after tomorrow.

Now I know what you’re saying – “Pshah! It’s only rain!” Yes. That’s true. But my attitude of rain (and weather in general) in Southern California is “Why run in foul weather today when tomorrow it’s going to be nice?” Of course I wasn’t anticipating seven days of rain when the storm started….

There’s other good news too. My knee is doing much better. Last week I got out for three days of running (somewhere around 12 miles) and the pain that has been dogging me the day after is abating. Yes! Now all I need to do is start working off the extra weight I’m dragging along and get back into shape. One step at a time.

I’m not posting a training plan for this week because, well, it’s going to rain until Friday! Yes sir. That’s what the weather person thingy on TV keeps saying. And then, this being Southern California and all, it will take a day or two to dry out (my normal running route in the Back Bay is currently closed due to flooding, and the trails in the local wilderness parks will be closed for a few days due to muddy conditions – yes – that’s they way we roll here in Southern California). I’ll take it as it comes.

And just in case you think we don’t know what bad weather is here in Southern California, I leave you with this photo:

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That’s one night’s worth of snowfall in Mammoth Lakes (about five hours north of here) where they have had a mind boggling 12 feet of snow since last Friday!

Stay warm! Stay healthy!

14 comments:

  1. Back Bay is closed? I didn't even know that. I've been taking the running indoors. Man, that blows more than it sounds! That sucks, it normally takes a few days for that area to de-flood itself. Thank goodness its Christmas and I'll be busy and not complaining about not being able to use Back Bay.

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  2. Its pretty nasty out there - I went out in it on Sunday and the Back bay was still ok (on the Irvine street side, lots of gross little worms though. I have been waiting for a break in it since. I'm debabiting the "just do it" phrase.

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  3. We have had a lot of rain here in So Utah as well. Lots of flooding going on...crazy. Enjoy your rest week (:
    Merry Christmas!!

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  4. Yay! So glad your knee is feeling better. Perhaps the rain was just a way of getting you to rest a bit more and heal completely. Stay dry my friend!

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  5. Rain, splain!! I saw a hard core chick out there by Cardiff today, running her heart out and wet as rain!! Glad I'm not back to running or I'd have felt guilty! That's the great thing about swimming and pool running, already wet. The bad? Everyone still goes to the pool to swim and it's packed with runners who can't run!!

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  6. PS,
    I'm glad your knee is getting better!

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  7. It is NOT going to rain until Friday and don't jinx things. It will be dry Thursday and I will be out on my bike. So there.

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  8. well it is just rain, but since california is about to fall into the ocean anyway, muddy ground doesn't help. i hope the skies clear up soon!

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  9. Yeah...all things being equal, I'd rather be here in 10 - 15 feet of snow, than 10 inches of rain.

    The skiing today was incredible, I will say that.

    I'd run on the mill too, but you know that :-)

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  10. Ok, ok...quit whining about all the rain - if it's on the national news then I guess it's pretty bad, so you get a free pass not to run in it. But swimming is an EXCELLENT alternative! Yep, seen that much snowfall many times here in Colorado - in fact, the mountains are getting CRAZY amounts of snow this winter, the news said "epic proportions" - just glad it's not in Denver!

    Have a very Merry Christmas, Glenn! Looking forward to seeing you in 2011 up Whitney - and maybe Half Dome :).

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  11. I'm glad I'm not the only one happy to not *have* to run in this mess. This is nature's way of helping your heal, Glenn.

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  12. I kinda like the weather-but I'm that freak So Cal resident who hates the sun!!

    happy Holidays if I dont talk to you before!!

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  13. The weather is also very wet in NorCal with snow in them mountains. We're expecting another system this weekend.

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  14. That is completely insane about the amount of snow Mammoth Lakes got!! Isn't that where Ryan Hall and Meb live??

    And I was hearing all about your guys' weather on the internet - not sure if you read the Run DMZ blog - Anne is from San Diego - she has a video of the rainfall that they had near her too.

    I heard it was going to rain at the rate of 1-2 inches per hour on Wednesday - we realized that was about the same rate as getting 1 foot of snow per hour. Holy crap.

    So glad you didn't have any major problems at your house. if we got that around my old neighborhood, everyone would be pumping out their basements for days, if not weeks. Really. (I lived near a "wetlands" so the water table was always very high and most homes around here have basements.)

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