There are hazy skies and according to AirNow.gov the air where I live is “very unhealthy” due to Canadian forest fire smoke. I’m running a half marathon in two days, in PR shape. It’s possible the air will be better by then but if it’s not, my inquiring mind wants to know: what’s your threshold for calling it or taking it easy in this situation?
Personally I wouldn't race more than a 5k in "very unhealthy" air. It's a personal call, and one race isn't going to make or break your health. But I don't like to do things that I know are causing heart and lung damage.
Raced my final high school 1600 with a nearby fire causing serious smoke and it made the race pretty brutal. I ran almost 6 seconds off my PR but felt absolutely spent and my lungs were burning for a while after. I couldn't imagine running long distance races in those conditions as I'd think the effects would only compound the further up in distance you go.
Assuming this was the denver colfax half marathon? How’d you do? The air quality Sunday was way better than Friday or Saturday
It was the Fargo Half. The air cleared from very hazy Thurs to perfectly clear by Friday, staying that way for race day (Sat). How’d I do?..positive split, bit off a little more than I could chew, lost a bunch of time over the last 3 miles. Learned good lessons for executing my next half, and useful info about my fitness.