Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I was a little worried when I stepped out the door at 2pm to go running that it would be super hot.  It was 91º the other day.  But it has been cooling down.  I was pleasantly surprised when my thermometer read 70º.  I brought a water bottle with me and I was taking a small swig every half mile for the first half of the run, then every quarter mile for the second half.  I bypassed the magic water fountain.  Gastrically.  Everything felt pretty good.  As usual, I was running slow.  When you run slow, you have so much time to think about funny things to post on your blog.  You also have so much time to forget the funny things you thought of to post on your blog.

This is just a guess, but I think I ran at least a mile and a half total at work.

It was nice to run under a 9 min. pace.  I even got down to 6:17 for the last 100 yards or so.

This was the same race that I was the bunny in last year.  Different course.  They didn't ask me to be the bunny this year.  I'm offended.  I would have said no anyway because I'm not in good shape, but still.  

I was happy when the race started and nobody went out very fast except the three foot tall kids.  One guy wearing the same Ragnar shirt I was wearing went out to the lead.  I just kind of hung back with some of the young men in the ward, one of them being my daughter's love interest.  You know, the Blaxican. 

There was a group of four of them.  After three quarters of a mile three of them broke apart from the pack to catch the leader.  I ran with the other guy for a while.  Then I got to thinking that I better not let them get too far ahead.  So I picked up the pace just enough to catch the guy the was leading but had now been passed by the young men. 

When we got to Country Side Park I started thinking there was no way the course was going to be a full 3.1 miles.  I was right.  It was only 2.7.  But I wasn't worried about that.  I figured I would try to make a move when I got to the last straight away if I had anything left.  I didn't.  There was a water station at the park.  Everyone except me stopped to get a drink.  So I took the lead for about 30 seconds.  That's when one of the young men, Keller, decided it was time to stop messing around.  He and this 10 year old kid passed me. 

The 10 year old was doing great, but died shortly after passing me.  Runaphorically speaking.  Keller put in some pretty good surges, and I just kept my same pace.  I saw him stop to walk a couple of times, so I thought I might have a chance.  Unfortunately with only a 2.7 mile long course and as young and spry as he is, I couldn't catch him.  I wanted to start a kick with a quarter mile to go, but I couldn't.  I just cruised in.  Then I turned around and saw that the love interest had almost caught back up to me.  Glad I beat him.  He needs to know who rules the roost.

After the race they had the Easter Egg Hunt.  I had fun keeping Emily away from the eggs until the hunt began.  Happy Easter everyone!

I was going to run 5.4 miles today.  Then my wife came in and said, "It's like 90° outside!"  So after I put Emily on the bus at 12:30pm, I just ran 3 miles.  My legs are still sore from Saturday.  What the heck?  I took it nice and easy.  I should have a tough group run tomorrow up Usery Pass.  Anyone want to join us?

This morning I went on a group run with my Ragnar team.  I got up at 4am.  Luckily Emily peed her bed the night before last, and we hadn't changed her bedding, so she got to sleep with us, and kept me up most of the night, so it was easy to wake up.  That was a long sentence.  Too long.

We went up and down Usery Pass.  You can guess who chose the route.   I couldn't find my headlamp.  I don't think I ever got it back from my son when he went camping.  But Alyssa didn't bring a reflective vest, so we partnered up.  After a mile she told me I could take off if I wanted because she didn't want to hold me back.  I told her she wasn't.  At mile 2 she started to fall off a bit.  I could tell because her light wasn't quite as bright as it had been.  But then she caught back up.  I kept encouraging her, and she did awesome.

We got to the top and she was upset when I told her we had only gone about an 11:20 pace.  I told her we would make it up on the downhill.  We walked across the street then took off downhill.  We picked up the pace considerably.  Alyssa stayed right on my heels.  All in all, it was a great run, and I feel pretty good.

Splits - 10:46, 11:59, 11:10, 9:36, 8:11, 7:56, 7:50, 2:58

Pretty nice outside at 2pm.  Not quite 80°.  I had to run this one by myself since only Facebook jokers wanted to run with me today.  Bad timing on the run.  I came back into the neighborhood to see that the elementary school was getting out.  I got to the cross walk just as my daughters did.  They wouldn't make eye contact with me.  When we got away from the rest of the kids I asked them, "Are you guys embarrassed of me because I'm sweating so much?"  In unison they said, "Yes."

I had plans to go running with JulieC this morning, but she dogged me.  Not JulieC the blogger.  A different JulieC.  So I just run 4.44 miles around the neighborhood.  After resting yesterday, I was really feeling pretty good all day.  Until this morning when I ran.  I guess after working a 12 hour shift and not eating for 8 hours prior doesn't put you in ideal conditions for running.  It kinda hurt.  I don't think I'll run that 5k tomorrow.

Today's run felt much better.  Sleep is the key.  I took a Gu before my run.  Still don't think they do anything.  Backtracked a little to get a drink from the magic water fountain.  Saw my partner at work.  He works the 12 hours in the division that I do while I'm at home for my 12 hours.  When I got to half a mile to go, I pulled my Garmin out of my pocket and my pocket was hanging out.  With a quarter mile to go I saw my wife and her sister going on their walk.  I slowed down to say hi and my pervert sister-in-law grabbed my pocket.  The joke was on her as she got a handful of pocket sweat.

I didn't have time to run very far today.  But I did run a little this morning when I was at work.  I'll just count the miles from the afternoon run.  It was just before 4pm and the middle school was getting out.  I passed a couple of girls in the cross walk and one of them said, "Do you like running?"  I said, "I love running.  I'm going to marry it."  I'm pretty sure I freaked them out.  They must've been related to Lily.  Then I passed this nerdy looking kid who was talking to his friend.  Everyone has been taking the AIMS tests here this week and last.  He said, "There was this one problem on the math that I wasn't sure about.  I don't know if you had the same test as I did..."  That's all I heard, but I thought, "That nerdy kid is pretty cool in my book."

Pace - 8:44

Temp - 90°.

 After the Las Vegas Ragnar in October, teammate Shannon Downs started making plans for the So Cal Ragnar because that's where her parents live.  6 of us from the Vegas team were on the So Cal team.  It was supposed to be 7, but Thatcher dropped out at the last minute.  We had to find someone quick, and I almost got Marathon Dreamer to do it, but Shannon being team captain, overruled me and got her friend Joshua.  The one guy I did recruit to the team was Brian Sickles (B-Sick).  He was one of 5 troubled teens that lived with us for a few months growing up when my dad was a bishop.  (I only say that because I'm hoping some day he'll read this.)  Shannon, Joshua, and Brian were in my van.  The other two members of our van were Nate and Alyssa who rode with me from AZ.  We had such a fun time!

My first run was the hardest run I've ever done in my life.  You would think my marathons would be considered my hardest runs, but no.  (Wait, is hardest runs an oxymoron?)  It started out at Yorba Regional Park, about 15 miles away from Disneyland.  It was a scorcher of a day.  103°.  And  I was scheduled to run at 1:30pm, right in the middle of it.  It was not about running at all.  It was about survival.  I filled my bottle up with Gatorade and applied two layers of sunscreen.   At first it wasn't too bad.  There was decent shade cast by the fragrant pine trees.  There were happy little ducks and squirrels everywhere.  There was a great view of the Santa Ana River.  But once the pine trees ended, it was like Glen Frey said, "the heat is on!"  I took it nice and slow (seems to be a system that works well for me lately). 

View Larger Map

I got passed by three guys wearing prison uniforms.  Their team was providing water and Gatorade for them all along the way.  At one point they stopped to hydrate with their team, and I passed them up.  After a while they passed me again.  I took two Shot Blocks every two miles.  The first water station was at 2.5 miles.  I was still doing all right at that point, but the heat was getting to me.  Not just the heat.  The hills.  I had trained in the heat.  I had trained in the hills.  But not the two together.  At mile 4 I had to stop and start walking.  Holy crud!  I wasn't even half way done!  I kept on going and made it to the next water station at mile 5.  They suggested I put ice cubes in my hat.  Ice cubes in my hat?  Thank you, yes!  I had to walk again.  This time a little further than last time.  Mile 6 was a tough one.  I'm sure I walked about a quarter mile.  It's just that I didn't want to die.  I knew there was another water station at mile 7.5.  We had driven by there earlier and saw a man with breasts the size of  volleyballs.  As I trudged my way to this freak of nature I began to question what the heck I was doing.  I'm not a great runner.  Sasha thinks I can run a marathon under three hours, but he's wrong!  Maybe this should be my last Ragnar.  Anyway, I made it to the water station, and luckily there was a new set of volunteers.  One of them offered to dump water on my shoulders.  It was wonderful.  I knew there was one last hill, and then all downhill.  I tried to see if I could run up it.  Nope.  So I did the best I could.  Then a lady named Jean caught up to me.  She had an English accent.  And we helped each other get to the top.  There we saw a couple of ambulances.  One of the prison inmates got heat stroke.  They said he was delirious and he almost ran out in front of a truck.  At that point I was glad I played it smart and took it easy for the entire 8.8 miles.  I finished strong, and my team said I looked great.  Little did they know.

My next leg was 3.7 miles with 700 feet of elevation rise.  I was looking forward to this because it is identical to Usery Pass.  I wanted to redeem myself.  And redeem myself I did.  My pace was a minute/mile faster than I projected.  I felt great!

View Larger Map

There was a fog that had settled in at my start point.  After 1.5 miles I must have climbed enough to where I was out of it and I the first thing I saw was a shooting star.  Very cool.  There was a guy that I named "Night the Light" that passed me.  He was fatter than I was, but was running great.  I caught up to him later, and we ran together for a while talking about how much of a suck fest our first leg was.  We got to a stop light where there were no cars except for a van.  I said, "Let's go for it!", as we jayran through the intersection.  He put on a good surge to finish, which I couldn't match, but I didn't care.  I felt so good, and was ready to tackle my last leg.

I was worried about the heat again, but Mother Nature provided overcast and fog all day long.  Some of the people in my van were disappointed because it wasn't as pretty as it normally is, but I couldn't have been happier.  Now I felt confident I could run my last 7.1 miles without too much problem.  I didn't even take any water with me.
View Larger Map

Wait, did somebody say high humidity?  As if I need help sweating!  Holy buckets of sweat, Batman!  When I was done I went back to the van and took my shirt off.  This girl from another van was walking by.  I told her, "This may be the grossest thing you've ever seen," and I proceeded to wring the sweat out of my shirt in front of her.  She gagged a little.  Anyway, back to the run.  The first 1.75 miles was pretty flat.  Then I knew a steep downhill was coming up.  A guy with a purple bandana was following me.  We passed one guy that was taking short choppy steps.  He may have been on to something because we were hammering it and just killing our feet.  Purple yelled out, "My feet are on fire!"  My Garmin registered me getting down to a 5:13 mile through this part.  After that I hit some more uphills.  I was able to power through them just like on my night run.  This is when the course became a veritable obstacle course!  First I came to this bridge followed by four flights of steps.  Four!  Then I had to weave in and out of the masses of people at the beach.  Then there was the zigzagging around the boardwalk.  Then more stairs!  But you know what?  This was the prettiest scenery I've ever had in a Ragnar.  I saw the waves of the ocean, surfers, cliffs, rocks with sea hundreds of sea gulls, the smell of their poop.  It was an awesome leg.  With a mile to go a guy passed me that looked familiar.  I couldn't remember his name so I yelled out, "Mesa!"  He kinda barely glanced back but kept going.  Then I caught him at a stop light.  It was Br. Chandler that lives a couple of blocks away from me and is in my sister-in-law's ward.  We shook sweaty hands and ran together for a while.  The last little bit was a pretty steep uphill, so I said goodbye to him.  I couldn't finish on a sprint like I would have liked to have done, but I got there and was happy.

I think everyone else had a good time even though Nate had never ran 11 miles in his life, but busted it out strongly with none of us to cheer him as he finished, and I scared my teammates as I jumped the van through the open doors of a box cart  on a high speed cargo train so we wouldn't be late to the exchange between Joshua and Brian, and Alyssa had to wear the moist wrist band every time after me, and Shannon had to manage a team riddled with jack Mormons.  I got to spend some time with some of the guys on the team from California after the race.  They're all pretty cool.  Who knows.  Maybe we'll see some of them on the blog soon.  11 Ragnars.  That won't be my last.

At least a mile at work.