Go, you chicken fat, go away!

You all remember Maggie from my Ragnar team?  Of course you don't.  Nobody reads this.  Anyway, she moved out of the house she's in now.  Her soon to be ex-husband will be keeping it.  We helped move the heavy stuff this morning.  I wore my running clothes so I could get a bit of a run in, but I didn't know how much I wanted to do after carrying heavy stuff.  Anyway, we loaded all the stuff on to a trailer, and I jumped in the back of the trailer and rode down to her new house, which is probably less than a mile away.  Or very close to a mile.  After unloading her stuff I took the long way back to her house where I had left my car.  It ended up being only 1.61 miles, but I felt a little stiff, so it was good enough.

Emily didn't want to get on the bus today.  She was still hungry after eating the eggs and potatoes mommy mader her.  I had to use the bathroom real quick right before her bus came and by the time I got out I could see her trying to sneak some pancakes out of the fridge.  I told her there was no time because her bus would be there in two minutes.  That's when she decided she didn't want to go.  I had to prod her out the door.  She didn't fight me, but she started crying.  I had offered to heat up half a pancake and let her eat it while she waited, which I did, but she wouldn't eat it.  So I ate it.  Anyway, she got on the bus and I started my run with half a pancake in my belly.  I usually run on an empty stomach, but it didn't seem to bother me.  This was the first time in forever that I ran with headphones on.  I was listening to the Ben Shapiro Sunday Special from yesterday where he interviewed Dan Krenshaw.  He's the congressman that SNL made fun of for having a pirate patch.  I had my phone in my pocket, but after about three quarters of a mile I took it out because I heard an alert.  Then I saw I was on a different screen, so I was afraid that if I left it in my pocket, I would mess up my settings, so I just carried it in my hand the rest of the way.
 

I felt blah today.  My back was sore and I had to go potty.

My back was real sore this morning when I got up.  I made sure to stretch out real good and roll it.  I felt decent as I ran.  My back didn't bother me, and I noticed my pace was about 13 seconds faster per mile than two days ago on this route.  There were a lot of runners out this morning and they all had one thing in common.  THEY WERE OLD!!  I could see some clouds building up to the west of me.  The more I ran the closer they got.  When I turned back north again I could see a partial rainbow.  If finally started to sprinkle with about 0.15 miles to go.  Good day to be running.
 

My legs felt heavy this morning.  It was nice out and slightly overcast.  Yesterday when I crossed University I saw this group of 5 women all walking side by side.  So they basically were taking up the entire path.  And the path has got to be 15 feet wide at least.  Today I saw the women again.  Only there were just four of them.  I asked them if they were missing one today and they giggled and said, "Yep."

There was another move this morning.  It was in Maggie's new neighborhood, but a few streets down.  We're supposed to be going out of town for vacation today, so my wife was a little upset that I was going to help.  Well, there was a bunch of stuff to move and not a lot of people showed up.  One guy told me that he's never been at a move for longer than an hour and a half, which is what we were going on.  I told him my wife was going to be mad at me, so he kicked me off the job.  I ran home and I saw Maggie's van parked in her driveway.  Right before I got to my street Maggie drove by me.  I waved and then I texted her to say that the only thing that offends me in this life is when someone I know sees me running while they're driving and they don't honk at me!  :)

It's Spring Break for the kids this week.  Like last year, we decided to take a mini-vacation up to Pinetop, AZ.  Well, last year we went to Heber, AZ, but you get what I mean.  I looked at the map on Google and decided on a way to go.  I had to turn left at the first road to the south, run to the end, then turn east and run as far as my heart desired.  The elevation in Pinetop where we stayed is around 7,300.  When I turned on that road it immediately starts going uphill.  Between the slight uphill, the cold, and the altitude, I thought I might die.  Luckily I didn't.  I got to the end of the road where I was supposed to turn east and I saw that it was gated.  I had no choice but to go west.  This would take me through the neighborhood.  We were renting a cabin at a country club on the south side of town.  After turning west, I started to feel a little better.  The elevation leveled out and even started going downhill a bit.  It had rained during the night and there were places on the road where I was running that it literally sounded like I was wearing spikes.  I worried that I might wake up the neighbors.  As I rounded a curve I passed this gentlemen out walking his dog.  He was all bundled up.  As he saw me coming he started to yell encouraging things at me in what I'm guessing was a German accent.  I can't remember everything he said but he said something about my muscles.  Then he told me I was very brave for wearing shorts.  I was very brave.  Very brave indeed.

I continued going and I had to look at my map on Strava to see what would be a good route.  I could see that if I made a loop around the neighborhood that it would be right around 4 miles, and that seemed perfect.  Once the loop turned back east again, I was heading uphill.  There was a garbage truck that had passed me.  It was trying to grab a garbage can that seemed just out of its range.  He tried several times to get a good grip on it, but he finally had to get out and move it.  I was able to pass him when he did and I saw another garbage can up the street that was tipped over.  I decided to be a good Samaritan and pick it up for him.  I lifted it and it felt quite empty.  I took a quick look inside and it was completely empty.  Then I realized it was a recycle bin.  So no good deed goes unpunished, I guess. 

I finished the loop and actually felt pretty good about it.  I wasn't overly frozen either.
 

I woke up kinda early before sunrise and my phone said it was 43º out.  That's warmer than it was yesterday.  However, the longer I waited before I ran, the colder it was getting.  I've noticed that happen over the years as the sun rays start pushing the air around it cools down.  I figured I'd wait a while and it should warm up again.  But then I noticed something from behind the slits in the blinds.  Something strange.  There were hundreds, thousands of small particles floating gently towards the ground.  Were we under nuclear attack?  I drew the chord on the blinds so that I could face head on my impending doom.  I was struck with wonder and amazement.  Was this the end?  No.  Memories came back to me of pictures that I had seen from friends that live to the north of me.  It was snow.  Actual snow right outside my window!

Of course I've been in snow many times.  But I have never run in it.  I decided to wait and see if it would die down some.  Emily has been getting real sick, as she does.  So when the rest of the family wanted to antiquing, I stayed home with her.  It didn't seem like the snow was going to let up.  And if it did, it was still being blown down from the rooftops and the trees.  Perhaps I wouldn't go running today afterall.  I needed advice.  I reached out to people with experience, but they were of no use.  So when my family got back, I decided to just go for it. 

I just wore my shorts and T-shirt, as always.  It was cold, but  not terrible.  I would just do a small loop.  I'd follow the same start as yesterday, but instead of going all the way around the neighborhood, I would just go around the block.  It was about 1.7 miles.  I was worried that I might slip and fall, but I seemed pretty stable the whole way.  That first little climb felt like death was knocking again.  But I knew I survived it yesterday, so I would survive it again today.  I would look back and see my footprints in the road every now and then.  They were leaving marks for everyone else to see what kind of fool goes out in this weather.   About a quarter mile before I finished my phone rang.  It was my bishop.  He wanted to make sure Emily had a helper now that she's in Young Women's.  I told her that it was covered and made sure I explained what I was doing at the moment so that he wouldn't wonder why my breathing was so labored.

I woke up this morning with a sore throat.  I wonder why.  Actually, I woke up yesterday with one, too.  We're back home now.  I got dressed for my run.  I wanted to do 4 miles, but after about one mile, I decided I wasn't feeling great, and one loop would be sufficient.

I still don't think I'm over the flu.  But I was hoping I was good enough.  I took Herbie with me.  As usual, he just wants to pee all over everything.  But that was ok, because I was able to stop long enough to hack up a lung.  Finally after about the half way point I felt a little better and wouldn't let him stop anymore.
 

I am feeling better each day.

I got up at 6am, but waited until we got Emily on the bus before I went running.  Emily has been sick, too, and today was the first day back at school in forever.  I started running, and I didn't feel great.  I saw a ton of people out today.  Lots of runners, too.  Most of them looked older than me, but faster than me.  Except that one guy that took his shirt off.  I passed him.  I saw one lady that was wearing last year's Ragnar McDowell Mountain Trail relay shirt.  I told her I have that same shirt.  She had to look down at it to remember what she was wearing.  Anyway, my pace was 7 seconds faster than my average pace on this loop.  Go figure.

So every day I take my dog, Herby, on a walk.  We can't keep him outside anymore because he always finds a way to get out of the gate.  Even putting him on a chain doesn't work because he will rip out of his harness or leash or whatever is restraining him.  One time he chewed through the trampoline.  I've never seen a dog so determined.  So I have to walk him so he can poop.  Yesterday we were walking and all of the sudden he stopped.  A coyote walked out of the bushes in the bottom of the Floodway where we were.  It stopped and stared at us for a while.  We then decided it would be a good idea to chase it.  So we spent the next half hour chasing it back and forth in the Floodway.  There was one chase where Herby and I ran down the bank of the Floodway and I couldn't keep up, and I wiped out.  I still managed to hang on to the leash, thank goodness.  I also recorded another chase and posted it on Facebook if you're interested in having a good laugh.

Long story short, I was sore this morning.  I started running and all of my joints felt stiff and sore.  After a while, I felt better, but I ran considerably slower than yesterday.  While I was running on the RWCD path, I could see a woman running on the Floodway path.  She was faster than me and she passed me.  We both turned on University and I thought about giving her a high five, but I'm not as brave as I used to be.

I thought I was running faster than what I did.  It kind of felt like I was pushing it.  But I guess I wasn't.  Maybe because I felt real sore this morning.  But it was the kind of sore that you can push through.