Smoke on the Water

On Friday night, Lisa and I drove over to Wenatchee, WA to go camping. I thought, cool, there should be some trails to run on. Nope. The park we were at, Confluence State Park, is on the Columbia River, but in a part of Wenatchee that was developing into a business district. So we had buildings all around us, and you can see the local Home Depot from our site. No trails, but the campground has a two mile perimeter, lined by grassy fields.

But there was an added bonus. Coming through Blewitt Pass that night, we could see the hills lit up from forest fires, several miles to the north. We weren't threatened by the fires when we got to camp, but Wenatchee is situated in a valley. You could see a layer smoke settle in the valley. It was so bad, you could see little bits of ash floating around. And it was still in the 90s at that time of night, so it was like everyone around was using wood stoves.

On Saturday morning, I decided to get a (relatively) early start and get in a run before breakfast. It was already hot. I ran anyway, deciding I would try to do a couple of loops around the campground. I only made it through one. The air still had that ashy smell, but that's not what made me quit. I was struggling a bit midway through the first loop, when I came upon a large group of teenagers. They had camped on the outside of the campgrounds so I had to run by them to stay on path. So I straightened up, sucked it in a little, lengthened my stride, and tried to not look at anyone. I should have been looking down more. As I ran by a group of girls, I rolled my ankle. I stumbled and almost fell.

Great.

I heard a couple of surprised, wincing "oohs" before I regained my form and composure. I'm thinking there were giggles, too. By the time I got back to my own campsite, breakfast was almost ready. Guess there's no time to do another loop. And it was over 95 degrees by then.

Yeah, that's it.