Run4Fun Trail Run (3.19 Miles) 00:26:53, Place overall: 1
Total Distance
3.80
I almost forgot about this race until yesterday. My friend Sheldon from my Utah Ragnar team told me about it. He's good friends with the race director. I think the RD was bitten with the running bug recently and wanted to see what it would be like to organize his own 5k race. He did all right. He only charged $5 or $10 if you wanted a shirt.
Well, it turns out that the RD was the nephew of my bishop. When bishop showed up to run I was surprised because I thought he was going up to Salt Lake City for conference. Guess he had a change of plans. Anyway, when we registered for the race we were required to give our height and weight. I think the RD came up with some kind of formula to stagger our starts based off height, weight, and gender. I must be pretty heavy because only about 4 people started before me.
Bishop had an 11 minute head start. I couldn't catch him. Sheldon had a 5 minute start, and I was surprised that I caught him only about 1.5 miles into it, if that. He's a pretty good runner, but he's not in shape right now.
There was a girl that started 7 seconds before me. Or she was supposed to. Bishop's brother was getting us started, but he wasn't calling out the time so we could know when to go. I just stood there for about 7 to 10 seconds until I asked him if it was ok for me to go. The girl looked like she was in pretty good shape. I never could catch her, but I stayed right behind her the whole time. This was a bit of a disadvantage for her because a couple of times she had to stop to make sure she was going the right way. I just had to follow her.
The race started out on the road for about 0.6 miles. It was downhill, and I noticed I was cruising along pretty effortlessly in the low 6's. I reined it in because I knew I would be hitting the hills soon. The first mile was 7:07. The second mile was hillier and rockier. I hit this one in 8:35. The third mile, 9:47, was even hillier and rockier. I kept saying to myself, "Don't lose that farmer's tan." Yeah, the girl had a nice farmer's tan going. However, I did lose her for a bit as she started putting a gap between us after a particularly tough hill. But I had run the last 0.3 miles of the race during my warm up. I knew there was a very crazy steep downhill part into a wash, then crazy uphill out of it. After that, it was smooth sailing to the finish. I knew I could make my move there. Luckily the wash slowed her down, and I was able to make up some ground. I averaged 7:20 for the last 0.19 miles. I think I finished 3 or 4 seconds behind her. But I have to wait 'til he posts the results on Facebook to see how I did.
Oh, one more thing, it's getting stinkin' hot here. The high today is supposed to 93!
My ankles are very tender as a result of my race on Saturday. I have been doing some nice hills on occasion, but when you're trying to run all out, it sure does work them over. It took me a little bit before they felt okay. I just did my three mile loop this morning. Typically that involves running on the east side of the canal. But "they" are putting a sidewalk in, so I had to run on the west side. That should make it nice. I wonder if they're gonna do the entire length of the canal where I run. It's probably about 0.6 miles. If "they" are, I should probably good game "them."
It all started last night when I went to rent Dinner with Schmucks at the Redbox. I took little Emily with me. She is so observant about everything that we take for granted. She makes me appreciate things more. The movie was funny, but it seems every movie I watch nowadays I have to put the disclaimer in that it was also irreverent, and I wouldn't let my kids watch it.
I ran the movie back. That means instead of heading east like I normally do, I went west. This allowed me to get to the corner of Pueblo and Lindsay at the exact same moment this gangsta looking guy got there. Now, I'm not saying he was a gangster. I don't know. But I am saying that he is what I imagine a gangster would look like. So, he stopped when he got there, and I wondered if he was going to cross the road with me. But I also noticed that the light was blinking so maybe he was going to wait for the next signal phase. However, when the light turned green for me to cross, he crossed too, only he went the wrong way. Luckily the cars were watching him, and let him pass. Conclusion: all gangsters are morons. Not schmucks because I just learned what one of those was, but morons.
Tonight was group run night. I wanted to do the 6 mile loop since I missed yesterday. I pushed the stroller on the uphills. Good workout. My legs were burning. Better drink my Results and Recovery drink. Get yours from an Independent Beachbody Coach today!
It must be Spring. Last night on my run a little baby bunny ran across our path. Today in the canal there were a bunch of ducklings with their mother. All baby animals are born in the spring, right?
Today I saw my wife, my best friend's wife, and my best friend's wife's father driving while I was running. They weren't together. All separate. But maybe they were all going to the same place. I guess I'll never know.
Today I didn't have time to run a lot for undisclosed reasons. So I did my three mile loop. As I was coming up the canal I saw two ducks sleeping on the bank. I didn't know what they were at first. When ducks sleep they turn their heads all the way around and rest them on their backs. I honestly thought they were two chupacabras heads. Honestly.
A very easy three today because there may be a special guest appearance on my blog tomorrow...stay tuned.
So I was running by the ducks today and I'm pretty sure they are the ones that have been visiting my front lawn. Someone said I may be seeing little ducklings soon, and I saw them the other day, but today I got close enough to see that they indeed are the ones that have been coming by. Pretty sure. The sad thing was I only saw two little ducklings this morning. Did 7 little ducks go out to play over the hill and far away and when the momma duck said - quack quack quack - did only 2 little ducks come waddling back? Or perhaps it was flatlander's alligator friends that snatched them up. All I know is that when I was running by the momma, she shooed her babies underneath her wing opposite me to protect them. Why do all mothers do that with their children when I come by??
Finally I'm blogging! I've been so excited and scared all week to get to meet Julie Esplin. Would she really show up? Would I be able to keep up with her? Will she see me for the fraud that I am?
Despite her better judgment, she did drop by. I was really worried about where we would run. I mean, who wants to run around a boring neighborhood? But I couldn't really think of anything cool. Then I thought well, hey, she's on vacation. She might like to see the Mesa Temple. So she got to my house, begged me to see me spray water in my son's face to wake him up, I took a couple of failed attempts snapping some pictures, and we were off.
I told her to stick close to me because I'd never run to the temple before, but I knew we were going through a bad neighborhood. Actually I just didn't want her to ditch me. She got a couple of cat calls from the day laborers at the corner. We had a good conversation about our kids. We got to the temple and took a couple of pictures with her camera. (Don't forget to email those to me, Julie.) I showed her where the stage was for the big Easter pageant they have every year. There was already somebody there saving seats at 6:30am! Then we ran back, and she met my wife, daughter, and sister. She's so nice and so fast. It must have been killing her to run so slow with me :)
Today Julie told me I smell like chocolate roses. I'm not even lying. She told me her kids tell her that she stinks when she comes home from running. Later as she was leaving town she sent me a text that may have explained the reason for the stink. (Yes, I'm being mysterious again.)
Julie only wanted to run about 5 miles today because she's running a long one tomorrow with melanieb. I was okay with that. We ran my 5.4 mile loop, but we cut along the canal to shave a little bit off. I was sad that Lady Liberty wasn't out today with only a few more days 'til Tax Day. Julie would have loved that. But we did see some more ducks. They were surprised to see me running with a girl. I told them she was my girlfriend and they started doing the hokey pokey. Or was that a scene from Bedtime Stories?
2011 Meadowgreen Ward Beat the Bunny 5kish (3.46 Miles) 00:25:20, Place overall: 1
Total Distance
4.32
The goal: get to the finish line before the bunny. The bunny gives everyone a 4 minute head start. Could I do it? No! Why? Because I was the bunny!
With the prestigious honor of being the bunny, I got a set of ears and a fluffy tail to run in. Immediately after everyone started I had my wife draw on some whiskers and pin my tail on. Then right as the clock ticked 4 minutes, I started. I caught the first set of walkers within a half mile. I caught the walkers/runners right before the first mile. They were so disappointed. The first mile was in 7:08.
Then I got to the water station at the end of my street. I didn't take a drink, but I was so busy remembering that this was the way Julie and I ran the other day that I missed the turn. It wasn't too big of a deal. It only made me run up one extra block, then back down. The only problem was when I came back down to Pueblo I saw people running on the correct route. So I turned and started running the course backwards for a little bit. I asked a girl if I was going the wrong way. She said, "No. This is the right way." So I turned around and ran with her for a ways as she tried to keep up. Once she started to fall back I told her she was doing great. Then I left her in a cloud of leporidous dust. All in all I probably only added on an extra two tenths of a mile. The second mile was 7:36. This was the mile that I passed most of the Paschal runners.
At the beginning of mile three is when I caught Bishop. I told him I may have taken a wrong turn, and he agreed I must have because he started over a minute after everyone else. Turns out the wrong turn worked against my favor, so I was actually burning some serious asphalt. With a mile to go we run right by the turn off to the finish line. I asked Br. Haws how many people were ahead of me. Three. Perfect. The goal was to not beat everybody. Now I was so far ahead of everyone else and had three runners pretty far ahead of me. When I turned at the school I saw two of them ahead. I wasn't sure if I could catch them but I picked up the pace a little. The third mile was 7:23. I pushed a little harder to see if I could make some ground on them. One of them had taken off. The other was just cruising in. I knew I was going to catch her. I didn't want to, so I started Lyle Robideauxing, "Choo choo! The Easter Bunny is coming for you!!" Once she heard me, she kicked it in and I let her earn her certificate. The last 0.46 miles was at a 7:03 pace.
So once they took my four minutes off it turns out I had the fastest time. Alas, no prizes for the bunny :( But, it was fun. The best part was all the sweat I wrung out of the bunny ears. And it was a rental!
Nice easy run. Not much to say except that there was a lot of sweat involved. However, when I took my chonies off, I noticed that there were two dry spots right where my cheeks go. It was so cute that I almost took a picture.
Whenever I run this loop I go right by the alternative high school with the troubled teens that are out smoking and doing whatever it is little gang babies do. When Julie and I ran the loop I took her up the canal to bypass these hoodlums. Nevertheless, I have to believe that there is still hope for them. That's why I make sure to tell them good morning every time I run by. Some day they'll look back and say, "I don't know who it was, but this guy used to say good morning to me all the time. He gave me hope when no one else would."
This morning I saw a little black and white bunny hopping around in someone's yard. You know how I feel about bunnies. I knew it had to be a pet, but it seemed odd that it would be hopping around the front yard with the gate wide open. So I went to investigate. I decided to up and knock on the door. Then I saw a orange and white bunny hiding in the bushes. Maybe they're trained to stay in the front yard? But even if the gate wasn't open, the could squeeze right through the wrought iron, right? Well, I chickened out on knocking and turned around and left.
I did a little research on ducks this morning. I had to. But the research I did not coincide with my field observations. I wanted to know if ducks are monogamous. Remember the ducks I've been seeing over the last couple of weeks? Sometimes I see them in my front yard. Other times they've been in the canal with their babies. Well, my on-line research says that some species are monogamous, but mallards are not. I'm pretty sure my ducks are mallards. Mallards pair off with their mates, but the males usually leave the female after the eggs hatch. From what I saw this morning, it made me wonder if Wikipedia is indeed the source of all truth and knowledge in this world.
As I was running up Lindsay approaching where the canal crosses, I saw the daddy duck next to the sidewalk. I thought that was odd. Usually he's in the canal or in my front yard begging for bread crumbs. So I hugged the street side of the walk so as to not scare it away. Then I noticed why it was standing there not moving. It was right next to the mommy duck, who was dead. It was so sad. I stopped to look. Daddy duck was quietly quacking. I'm not sure if he was saying, "Stay away" or "Help." But I was sad. Sad, sad.
We've got some very attractive females on this blog. Pretty much all of them. So I thought, what if I were to combine some of them? It would double their beauty!
Three miles in the mean streets of North Las Vegas. Actually, they weren't that mean. But they were windy and a bit on the cold side. There was a blonde haired woman that I caught up to. As soon as I did she crossed the road. It made me feel awesome.
