Go, you chicken fat, go away!

It rained a lot yesterday.  Not much motivation today.

I got some new running shorts in the mail from Reebok and decided to wear them.  They were nice, but they don't have pockets.  So I figured today would be a good day to practice running while holding stuff in my hands.  I ran with my phone in my left hand and a water bottle in my right hand.
 

Friday I sent a text to John, Mike, and Phil about running this morning.  I wanted to go early because I needed to go out surveying afterwards.  Mike said under doctor's orders he couldn't go.  He's going to rest up until the race.  I hope he'll be all right.  Phil said he couldn't make it either.  I sent out an email to the entire team, but the only people that came were me and John.  John had just run a 1:39 half marathon the week before and is doing seemingly well.  I got there before he did and wasn't sure if he was coming, so after I stretched, I ran up to the porta potty at the intersection.  I saw a car pulling in to the parking lot and figured it was him.  I texted him and told him I was in the porta potty.  It was him, and lucky for me he waited because I saw this guy and girl running down the street on my way there and now the girl was going to try and use the porta potty, but John told him someone was in there.

After I took care of my business, the guy and girl were gone.  I guess they didn't want to wait for me.  Or they didn't want my cooties.  So John and I began our ascent.  After 5 minutes I was only about 8 seconds behind John.  It was close enough to where he could hear my Runkeeper go off, so he turned to make sure I was ok.  That first half mile always goes by much faster than the subsequent uphill miles.  That's where I really start to slow down because in between 0.5 and 2.5 is the steepest part.  My plan was to go beyond the top today to the Usery Park entrance.  That would be 9.2 miles.  That's why I drove myself because I didn't want anyone to have to wait for me.  John went at least that far.  I finally lost eye sight with him after 2 miles, but I was less than a half mile from the turn around point when I saw him coming back.  He asked how I was feeling, and I told him I was feeling great.  About 10 seconds after that my knees started to ball up on me.  Sometimes they do that after I finish running.  It hurts for a little bit, but goes away.  Now it was happening while I was running, so I just ran through it.

About a tenth of a mile (maybe less) before I turned around there was a girl running up the hill.  When I turned around she had a pretty big headstart on me, but I wondered if I would catch her.  Nope.  She was running pretty good, and put some major distance between us.  About a quarter mile from the top, I saw the guy and the girl from the porta potty.  They were running with another guy now.  They guy crossed the street and turned around and started running with the other girl.  They were fast.  I apologized to the first girl for being in the porta potty.  Once I got to the top I knew the rest was downhill.  Even though my knees still hurt a little, I knew I'd be fine.  There were a ton of cyclists out today.  Half a mile before I finished John pulled over in his car.  He said, "You made it!"  I said, "Yep.  Great confidence booster."  I finished up and headed home.  I spent the rest of the day outside walking around surveying.

A nice easy run before Ragnar.
 

Ragnar #24.  I love the Del Sol course.  This was the first time in years that I've been in Van #2.  But they changed the finish line to Fountain Hills this year, so my third leg ending up being one of that I've done many times.  They also changed the date of the race.  They pushed it back a few weeks because they were afraid they were getting too much competition with the Phoenix Marathon.  I'm sure that's true, but perhaps they should have changed it to January.  They said they looked at historical weather data and that it was only a few degrees hotter.  Well, hotter is hotter, so yeah, it was hot.

I had a fun van.  It consisted of Mike and John, who I've been running with on Saturday mornings for the last few months.  It also consisted of Megan, Mike's daughter, Alyssa, who I recruited as a former teammate of mine from several teams, and Bethany, another one of my recruits and former teammates.  This was Megan's first Ragnar and she was a trooper.  Alyssa is a Ragnar veteran, but recently was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes.  She struggled, but she was able to do all her runs, even her last leg which was all uphill.  Bethany was as solid as ever and made good friends with the other girls.  Actually, Bethany's husband, Nate, was in the same van with me and Alyssa when we did So Cal Ragnar, so it was cool that they got to meet.

My first leg was 8.2 miles.  It was shortly after 4pm on Friday, and it was probably in the mid 80's when I started and low 80's when I finished.  I was doing good up until the 2nd water stop right around 5.8 miles.  That next mile was a real struggle.  Lots of walking.  I wondered if my compression socks were cutting off the circulation to my legs.  Thoughts?  Obviously the heat also had something to do with it and the fact that it was all uphill, albeit gradual.  I was surprised because the 9.2 miles I did the Saturday prior felt great.  Anyway, with about a mile and a quarter to go, I finally talked myself into running the remainder of the leg, because, come on, one and a quarter miles is easy, right?

My second leg was 5.2 miles, again all uphill.  It was around 2am.  I felt a little better, but still struggled to really push the pace.  This was the only leg I didn't pass anyone, but I only got passed by a handful of runners.  I stopped once because I thought my sock was sinking down into my shoe.  That would have been a disaster.  Luckily it wasn't, but it took me about 30 seconds to get going again.  Other than that, it was a good run.  Oh, and I saw a couch on the side of the road that I almost took a nap on.

You may recall that Mike had run the Phoenix Half Marathon two weeks ago and really struggled with his knee.  Well, it was getting really painful for him and his last leg was 9.2 miles.  Bethany, John, and myself offered to run his last leg for him.  He was going to take me up on the offer, but Rebecca from Van 1 joined our van for the last set of legs.  She's also a solid runner and had done the Phoenix Full.  They decided to do Mike's leg together, Rebecca would run the first half, which was half uphill and half downhill.  Then Mike would run the last half, which was all downhill.  I'm glad I didn't end up running it, but I feel like I could have done it.  Anyway, it was getting hot again, but Mike powered through the pain.  He handed off to me and I was off for my final 4.3 miles.  Finally some downhill!  It was nice, but it was hot.  I carried a bottle of water with me and I would take small drinks and dump some on my head.  Within 5 minutes it would be dry.  Luckily there was a water station half way through.  This is where a guy and a girl passed me up.  I filled up my water bottle and took off with a nice slow pace again.  About another half mile down the road my van was stopped and John had a bottle of Gatorade and water.  I motioned to him for the water.  I just used it to dump all over myself.  I started again and was able to pass the guy that passed me at the water station as he had started walking.  I noticed the girl was walking, too, and I closed the distance on her.  When I passed her, she started running again.  She was a few steps behind me and we were able to talk and joke about the race so far. We encouraged each other and with about a half mile to go she pulled up even with me.  I told her I wanted her to beat me, but she said, "No!  You're the only reason I'm even still running at this point."  So with a hundred yards to go I said, "Come on!  Strong finish!"  I expected her to pick up the pace and run with me, but she didn't.  So I ended up beating her in and I actually felt strong.

Bethany and John were our last runners.  To get to the Fountain Park in Fountain Hills we had to park at the high school a mile and a half away and catch a shuttle.  I was worried that it would be a disaster, but it was good.  We got there in plenty of time.  I Facebook lived our finish.

Here's our team minus Tyler, who I guess had somewhere more important to be.

Here's van 2.  Mike, John, Rebecca, Megan, Alyssa, Bethany, and me.  I don't consciously remember sucking my gut in.

FedEx dropped off a new pair of Reeboks to my door this morning.  My third new pair of Reeboks from Ragnar in less than a year.  I ran with them and they did all right.
 

With no upcoming races in the forseeable future, I've just been lazy.

Two days in a row?  Whuh what?

Well, it won't be 4 days in a row, I can promise you that.  I was all decked out in an orange shirt and orange shorts.  I planned on running 2.5 miles today, but about a quarter of a mile into it my knee started to hurt.  In hind sight, I should have turned around then.  When I got to Brown Rd. I decided I would only do the 1.5 mile loop.  I ran over to the canal and started heading back.  I saw two old ladies way off in the distance wearing bright pink shirts and black leggings.  I couldn't tell if they were coming towards me or going the same direction I was.  After a while I determined they were going the same way I was.  My knee wasn't bothering me too much, so I decided I would do my 2.5 miles after all.  This would give me a chance to make a funny joke to the old ladies.  I caught them shortly after Adobe Rd.  I asked, "were we supposed to wear pink today?  I thought it was orange."  One of them said, "You didn't get the memo."  I finished my run and felt strong, even though my pace was slow.  Two hours later and now my knee really hurts.  Stupid old ladies.