4W.2.10K&c

I write this on an afternoon that is the haziest I can remember in Seattle. Looking out the window, I see a sky as bad as it was in Spokane last weekend... which means that the Lilac City and the rest of Eastern Washington must be much worse. The fires are particularly bad this year and the dust from the unusual dryness is adding to the issues of air quality. Good wishes to all who might face this as a real health challenge instead of an annoyance, and good wishes to all the firefighters.

Running

No chart this week. After running the Ben Burr Trail last Sunday morning, I could barely walk. The ache persisted and my running partner, noting my limp on Tuesday, spoke from experience tat I should give it a good long rest. My massage-therapist spouse Coco feels it might be a piriformis strain, apparently a common running injury. Ne recorded runs this cycle, just some daily hobbles at the lake or on the track. I wish I could say it felt like it was getting better, but I might be lying if I did. We'll have to see Tuesday.

This injury, plus a scheduling conflict, may make the planned September 19 10K unfeasible.  But this is Seattle, so there are plenty of other 10K options the next week, including a fund-raiser for which I ran a 5K two years ago. We'll arrange something.

Facebook

I guess I can say I miss it a bit right now. A pal just got married, and there's lots of pictures and whatnot online that Coco has been enjoying. I am realizing that it is not so much the idea of FB that was getting off-putting, but rather the execution. The notion of a place to keep in contact with far-flung friends, family, and acquaintances is a groovy one; it's just that the algorithms, the inherent commercialism, and co-opting of the forum by other messaging gets in the way of that. I'm still trying to make my peace with the whole structure of online communication in a capitalist society. I'm not sure there's any entirely reasonable alternative out there.

Reading

Finished Old Venus.
Started and finished Fuzzy Nation.
In the middle of The Rhesus Chart by Charles Stross.

Making

No workbench time this week. Yeah, yeah.

Miscellany

• One partial day and one full day on work stuff.  
• One game night, a few lunches and dinners out.
• A wedding!
• On the docket: a live music show. As this is published, we'll be listening to Mama Doll at the Columbia City Theater! Here's a sample: