Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Today was cool.  I got up at 5am because Mike was going to pick me up at 6am.  I sat on the toilet for half an hour, but no bowel movement.  So I got ready to go.  Right at 6am I texted Mike to see how far away he was.  I wanted to give it one more try.  I sat down and managed to expunge a little, so I felt like I would be good during the run.  Nevertheless, I packed some wipes to take with me.  At 6:10am I looked out the window and there was Mike who had been waiting about 5 minutes.  Apparently we weren't getting each other's texts.  He brought his daughter Megan with him.  Last year was Megan's first Ragnar and this will be her second.  Today would be Mike's first attempt at running since his shoulder surgery.  He was also sporting a knee brace.  About two miles before we arrived we saw some serious runners out doing the entire loop.  I think it's about 17 miles.  I had a feeling they would catch us.  Sure enough as we crossed the intersection we saw two of them right behind us.  They caught us in short order and I said good morning to them, but they were having a conversation, and they completely ignored me.  Douches.  Mike and I stayed together for the first quarter mile and I asked him how he felt.  He said he didn't like it, meaning he didn't like the knee brace.  He started to inch away from me, but at 0.38 miles he stopped.  He said, "I can't do it."  I didn't know if that meant he couldn't run with his knee brace on or he just couldn't run.  He took his knee brace off while I supported his balance.  He then proceeded to find a hiding place for it over by the barbed wire fence.  By that time Megan had caught up to us.  She offered to carry the brace for her dad, but he said it would be fine.  We started running again and shortly after that the next guy caught us.  He did say good morning back to me.  He was a sweet guy.  Mike started to pul away from me again.  He was running with a handheld light that would illuminate the trees on the side of the road every time he swung his arm.  When Mike got two miles up the Pass he turned around.  He mentioned beforehand that he would probably do that.  But I really wanted to get all the way to the top today because it's been a while since I've done that.  I told him to just go down and get the truck.  I would continue going.  I figured with only 1.7 miles to go to get to the top I should be able to make it there even though he would be going downhill and I would still be going uphill.  I was right.  About a tenth of a mile before the top the next set of runners, a guy and a girl, passed me.  I put my hand out to give them five.  They guy only gave me two, so he felt obliged to slow down and make sure I got the entire five on the second attempt.  I made it to the top and kept going straight, now downhill.  About 0.15 miles later another set of runners, another guy and a girl, passed me.  They also accepted my five on the side.  It's a good feeling to make it to the top of Usery Pass, so a high five, a low five, or a five on the side is completely appropriate.  I got to 4.01 miles when Mike pulled up.  Even though I've been sick all week, I felt pretty good.  But then the most amazing thing happened.  We were driving back home and we turned on McDowell Road.  We passed the runners that had passed us.  Then I saw two other runners running towards us.  As we drove by I was like, "That looks like Nan.  But it can't possibly be Nan.  She lives in Utah."  Guess what.  It actually was Nan.  It was amazinnnnng.  I'm glad I can spot her as she's running down the road and I'm cruising by 40mph in a vehicle.