First Annual Pasadena Marathon: CANCELLED!

[JRM]

If you've been watching the news out of Southern California, I'm sure you've seen the fires we're currently experiencing. Today in Pasadena, the sky is hazy, the lighting orange, and the air filled with wood smoke. The result: a last minute cancellation of the first ever Pasadena Marathon, which was supposed to be run today.

I wonder how this air quality compares to Beijing?!

http://www.pasadenamarathon.org/

[malmo]

Poor air quality in Southern California - imagine that?

[br]

Poor air quality in Southern California - imagine that?

Well Malmo, I would have thought you would have known that the air quality in So. Cal is actaully quite good in the fall/winter months and that the fires that have been ravaging the area have nothing to do with the L.A. weather stereotype. God help the people that have lost everything in this catastrophe.

[JRM]

Agreed. I'm forgoing my run today because there's ash falling from the sky. That's not typical for LA, malmo.

[Run DMC]

Had some friends planning to run Pasadena. I don't think they were frustrated with the decision to cancel. The sky was orange with soot and ash falling from the sky. Not good for the lungs of a runner or anybody else. I drove by some burned buildings and scorched earth yesterday. Very sad.

Air quality in So Cal has progressively gotten MUCH better since the 70's thanks to the EPA and California's relentless pursuit of air quality standards.

[orvilleatkins]

I live in Los Angeles. I can remember a day in 1965 when I was on my knees on the grass on the of the track at Dorsey high school vomiting during a Coach Mihaly Igloi workout. That was only one day and, as stated by Run DMC, the air quality here is greatly improved since then.
The Los Angeles Times listed the air quality in Los Angeles most days this summer as "moderate" and the week or two before I went to Beijing for the Olympic Games I was feeling bad air in my eyes very slightly. I only noticed smog in Beijing on two or three days. The Times ran a chart comparing the air in the two cities for the duration of the games. It shows that the air in Beijing was better than that of LA on 4 days and they were not very far apart on three other days. I only felt the smog on one occassion while there. That was on the bus to the hotel from the airport on my first evening there, October 13th.
The Pasadena Marathon made the correct decision. The horizon was brown in all directions over the weekend. The LA times lists the air quality as "Unhealthful for sensitive people" today. Often, when there is smog, the farther west one goes the better the air quality is.