Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I wasn't in a good mood this morning.  It's hard to have a positive attitude when things aren't going the way you'd like them to.  So, I was just about to run when I saw the garbage man coming.  I decided to wait until he was done so I could bring the trash bin back to the house.  Then I saw the mailwoman.  I decided to wait until she was done so I could get my mail and see how many more bills I get to pay.  Then right when I was ready to go, I saw this guy riding a bike with one hand and pulling another with his other hand.  He said something real loud to an old lady that was walking her dog.  He looked like a psychopath so I decided to wait until he had passed.  He rode passed, but then he skidded to a halt, turned around and rode up to me.  He offered me $5 to drive him to his motel.  While I could use the money, I was in a bad mood and there was no way I was going to give a psychopath who was in the process of stealing a bicycle a ride to his motel so that he could avoid the police and possibly slit my throat.  I told him, "I don't think so, dude."  He said, "You know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover."  He's right.  But that didn't stop me from saying, "I'm not judging you by your cover.  I'm judging you by your actions.  What did you just tell that lady over there?"  He said he told her good morning.  "Is there anything wrong with that?"  He asked me if it was my mom.  Nope.  Was it someone I knew.  Nope.  Then he told me, "You have a good day, buddy."  Well, I just made an enemy with a psychopath that knows where I live.  That's great.

I ran down the Floodway and turned around right at the corner where the guy wanted me to take him.  I didn't see him anywhere.  Maybe someone else gave him a ride.  I was dragging the last 3/4 of a mile.  My arms are starting to recover from my Saturday workout.  I could barely lift them yesterday.
 

I took Ginger with me for a short run.  Tonight is a special Adventure Run for people who are running Ragnar Del Sol.  I should get a few more miles in tonight.

*************************************************************************

Tonight:  I took the early shift for volunteering so that I could run in the Adventure Run.  My plan was to run and pass out Ragnar technical T-s as I went.  I had to do a lot of lifting tables and carrying boxes to do before the rest of the volunteers got there.  And it was like 85º!  When did it get so hot?!    Luckily I can now move my arms as the cross fit workout I did Saturday completely immobilized them for a couple of days.  When the other volunteers got there, I still helped out a little.  But then I went and visited the vendor booths.  I got a 20 minute massage.  I've never had one before.  It was wonderful.  WONDERFUL!  About the time they finished, it was time to run.  Technically I had run an Adventure Run before, but that was as a volunteer helping other runners.  So this was the first time I collected raffle tickets and was able to try to win prizes at the end.  I ended up running almost 4 miles.  But as I was coming back I stopped at this bike shop that was handing out tickets.  I was keeping my tickets in a Ziploc® bag in my pocket so each time I would have to let the air out.  At the bike shop I didn't feel like letting the air out and I had the thought that the extra air would help hold the tickets in my pocket.  Nope.  They helped them fall out of my pocket.  There was one more checkpoint right before finishing up and I realized my tickets were gone.  So I ran back to the bike shop (probably just under a half mile away) and searched for them.  Couldn't find them.  I figured another runner must've picked them up.  When I got back I asked the race director if anyone had turned them in.  She said, "Just take some more."  So I did and right after that someone turned them in.  I just kept the new ones and ended up winning $15 to a restaurant.  My great idea to hand out T-shirts was an epic fail because my backpack is not sweat proof.  But people took them anyway.  Except for the one that was just dripping.  Then I came home to a house where Emily had taken a marker to everything downstairs.  EVERYTHING!!  She's never done that before.  Sigh.

Yesterday was my daughter's birthday and she wanted to go to Golden Corral.  I ate way too much.  I've been dieting lately, so this was not a good idea.  I think my body was not used to the large amount of food I had just consumed, so I wasn't feeling well.  I didn't eat breakfast this morning, and I got out the door to run at 11:40am.  I felt terrible.  After the run my nose clogged up and I felt worse.  I hope I'm not getting pneumonia again, but it seems like it happens every year about this time.

3 miles up Usery Pass and 3 miles down.  626 feet climb and descent.  I was less than a mile from the top when I decided to turn around.  Gotta play it safe with Ragnar Del Sol this weekend.  I don't feel bad about it.  I only saw 3 cyclists out this morning.  Seemed like a beautiful day for a ride, but maybe everybody was at work.  Or they all went for a long ride yesterday (President's Day and were tired.)  I really have to watch the traffic as I'm running.  At least half of the vehicles on this road are towing some sort of a trailer behind them.  I don't trust trailers.  Good run.  Felt good.  Think I'll do all right at Ragnar if I take it nice and easy and pace myself.  I had a breathing treatment before I ran.  I'm about due for another one.

Slow shakeout run.  Right around 11.5 minute per mile pace.  I'll take tomorrow off and be ready for Ragnar on Friday.  Ugh, I have to get up at 2am to get there on time.
 

Ragnar #20.  Wow.  That's a lot. 

I joined my old bishop's team which had many of the same runners as the 2012 Las Vegas Ragnar.  Last year's Del Sol race was such a disaster in my mind because of the bronchitis or pneumonia that I had, that I thought it would be a better idea to be on a team with people that aren't quite as fast and competitive.  No offense to any of them that read this.

It seems the team got finalized at the 11th hour.  I was beginning to wonder if it was even going to happen.  Our team name ended up being - We'll think of a team name later.  Which is kind of funny, but seriously, that was meant to be a placeholder until we actually thought of a team name.

My van consisted of me, two of bishops's sons, Bryan and Brandon, his daughter, Stacey, a young kid from the ward, Jason, maybe 15 or 16, and a guy that nobody had met until about 3 days before the race, Irving.  Irving ended up being our star runner.  Pretty fast guy, a bit of a strange duck, but he was cool.

I was runner #2.  I had the least amount of miles in my van.  And I was ok with that.  Truth be told, it was probably the easiest set of legs, too.  Again, no complaints coming from me.  Irving was runner #1.  His first leg was over 8 miles and mostly uphill.  I'm pretty sure he averaged around a 7:40 pace.  He handed off to me.  I had to run 5.53 miles all downhill.  I took it nice and easy.  It was tempting to run hard and see how fast I could go downhill, but I knew I had two more legs to run, and after 19 Ragnars, I think I've learned how to run them.  It was just after 7am, and the weather was beautiful.  I had to wear my night gear (reflective vest, headlamp, tail light) even though it wasn't dark out.  I actually had to wear the night gear for all three of my legs.  Small price to pay for not having to run in the heat.  I remember thinking that every Ragnar leg should be like this one.

Leg #2 was at 8pm.  I decided not to wear my hat because the sun was down.  I wish I had worn it because you can't feel the headlamp with it.  I was feeling great, but the further I got into the run, I realized I was starting to crash.  The distance was only 5.19 miles, and I think it might have gotten ugly if it was any more than that.

My last leg was 4.63 miles.  I started at quarter after 7, so the sun was up, but it was nice and cool.  This leg was all uphill.  It wasn't too bad because it was only 100 ft/mile as compared to Usery Pass which is 200/ft mile.  So I knew I would do all right if I kept a nice easy pace.  It's kind of nice just to go out and enjoy running instead of trying to go as fast as I can like I've done in the past.  I had a good time and enjoyed the company in my van.  Brandon hurt his ankle on his second leg, and Irving picked up his last run for him.  Our team finished somewhere between 34 and 35 hours.  I'm looking forward to next year, when I will do my 10th Del Sol relay.

Tonight was the mandatory volunteer meeting for the Adventure Run.  It was also what they were calling the Launch Party for the new Adventure Run T-shirt.  They had a short group run, which I decided to do.  It was only 2.34 miles, but I quickly found out that I couldn't breathe.  I haven't done any breathing treatments since before Ragnar, and man, I was wheezing!  The meeting was boring, and annoying to me because I stunk and couldn't breathe.  At least they had pizza, and my brother-in-law is signing up to be a volunteer.
 

Sasha and Benjamin are staying the night at my house again  this year as they attempt to break the world record fastest father and son half marathon times in the same race tomorrow morning at the Phoenix Half Marathon.  I don't know if there is such a thing as that world record, but they're bound and determined to break it.  I ran 1.9 miles after Sasha talked me in to it.  Still very restricted with my breathing.  I haven't done a treatment since before Ragnar.  But he reminded me of the importance of running 6 days a week without fail.

This morning I got up and took Sasha and Benjamin to the start line of their Half Marathon.  Then I went and picked them up at the finish line.  Benjamin came in 7th or 8th with a 1:13.  Sasha finished in 1:16 something.  Jake Krong came in 5th with a 1:09 something.  Spoiler alert.  (Why do I always say spoiler alert after I've spoiled it?)  Then I came home and walked 3.61 miles with my wife.  We ran a little, but mostly we walked.  We had a 16:30 pace which isn't much slower than my running pace lately.