Off The Sofa

DAVID:
Sunday, June 29, 2008. The Basin Complex and Indians fires continue to rage in the Ventana Wilderness, south of Monterey. The Indians fire has consumed 94 sq mi, twice the area of the city of San Francisco. The Basin fire has kept CA Hwy 1 closed through Big Sur for a week. Each night the summer fog absorbs the smoke and ash - each morning the sky is dirty and lowering. Yesterday as I read the fire coverage in the S.F. Chronicle I could smell the very flames pictured in the paper. Call it scratch and sniff news. The inlanders have been urged to stay indoors and avoid exercising. We are not so lucky – our training will proceed as scheduled.
Judy has hewn closely to the pre-race regimen. I have been severely hobbled by a months old hamstring injury that just now starting to allow me to run a little. I have a LOT of catching up to do, and the prospect is daunting, to say the least. It is hard to know yet whether the Higher Peak machine is really going to help. Judy says her lungs are way ahead of her legs in terms of endurance at this point. This week we have been breathing a nightly oxygen mix that approximates sleeping at 10,000’. Are we crazy? Let me state here for the record: I did not volunteer for the TransRockies – I was drafted.