Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I ate Filiberto's for dinner last night, and I did not sleep well.  But I've missed too many consecutive days of running, so I had to get out.  I ran nice and easy.  It seemed like it took forever.

I've been running the same route over and over.  At least today I saw my friend Rich Porter and he did his patented swing around and ran with me for the last one mile plus. 

I started running and I got to Adobe, and all of the sudden my knee started to hurt.  I thought I might have to stop.  But there was a car behind me and I didn't want them to see me stop.  So I kept going.  Then I got to the Floodway and I was about to stop.  But there were two old men about to cross the street and I didn't want them to see me stop.  So I kept going.  After a while my knee stopped hurting.  The coolest part of the run was when to ducks flew over my head.

I wanted a longer run today, but I've stuck just doing my 2.5 miles for the last couple of weeks.  My heart told me I could do it, but would my body?  I was doing my stretch routine when I saw three people running down the street.  It was my neighbors and members of my ward, the Ray's and their 10 year old daughter.  I finished stretching shortly after they were gone and I was able to see that they had turned south down the RWCD path.  I went north up the Floodway path, which merges into the RWCD path right before the 1 mile mark.  I saw some of the regulars that I see when I venture this far north.  I saw this lady that always wears this bright neon yellow tank top.  It reminds me of the 80's.  And I love it.  I saw the guy that runs with his arms down.  I bet he had a stroke.  From now on I'll call him Stroker's Ace.  That's probably offensive.  I also saw the Well's Fargo stagecoach guy.  But I don't think it was him.  Maybe a brother or a son?  The run was nice.  The weather was beautiful.  I felt decent, but I'm glad I turned around when I got to McDowell.  5.7 was just about right.

It's starting to warm up.  The high today is supposed to be 93º.  It was nice out when I ran, but you can definitely feel the difference.  I felt slow and sluggish this morning.  A little sore from Saturday and I probably ate too much this weekend.
 

I started running and I only felt like doing one loop.  Lots of friendly people out today.

I'm still sore, but I felt better today.  It was kind of windy today, and in the shade where I was stretching out, it was kind of cold.  I ran two loops today.  My breathing was a bit labored, but I felt good.  Like I could push through it.  I saw some runners, too.

I've noticed a lot more birds out lately.  I guess because it's Spring.  Or maybe they're always out and I don't notice.  Anyway, I got out earlier than usual this morning.  There was not a single soul out on the paths.  I had them all to myself.  And the birds.  And the giant bird that swooped about 15 feet from my head.  It probably thought I was a cute little prairie dog.

Today is the Boston Marathon, in case you didn't know.  I ran in honor of those crazy runners.  I went further than my usual because I didn't run Saturday.  Thursday night, Herbie and I chased that coyote again.  My legs were sore.

I got Emily on the bus and was just about ready to run when I got a work call.  I usually don't answer, but I did.  Then it was at least another hour before I was ready to go again.  Now it was warm, and I'm really sore from yesterday's run.  And probably the two sodas I drank.  Blah.  Anyway, I only felt like doing one loop, so that's all I did.

I had to drive my high schooler to school today, so I decided to get a little crazy and run Usery.  Of course, I had no intention of running the entire thing, but I figured I could go at least two miles up and two miles down. It was a bit of a struggle going up.  It's warming up, and I was wheezing the first half mile.  There were a lot of flies, butterflies, and grasshoppers out.  There were a lot of cars, too, and cyclists.  Everyone was so friendly today.  I actually ran a mile in under a 10 minute pace today on the way down.  Ha!

So it's Good Friday.  The kids don't have school.  I should've gotten out earlier, but I was just taking it easy this morning.  I got dressed and stretched out in my room.  I went outside and scrolled through my Strava feed for a while.  I saw this truck parked over by the mailbox.  It was running.  I stretched out a little more and started my run.  I ran past the truck and this old guy was sitting in it.  I wanted to do my RWCD/Floodway 3 loops.  I ran up to Brown Road and then turned back south on the RWCD path.  My legs were feeling heavy due to yesterday's incline.  Shortly after passing Adobe, I saw someone running towards me.  I quickly recognized him as Rich.  He always turns around and runs with me, which is cool.  I asked how far he was going.  He said he was just going to do 3 miles.  I told him I was going to do 3.7 miles and that I would run down to Main Street and turn back north on the Floodway path.  We talked while we ran.  Sometimes we didn't talk.  Then with about a mile to go, my phone rang.  It was the 2nd time it rang while I was running, but I didn't answer the first call.  I decided to answer this one.  It was one of my clients who had dropped off plans for me to revise a couple of days ago and now wanted to come pick them back up.  I told him I was out jogging, but that I only had about a mile to go.  A half a mile later my phone rang again.  It was another client.  I suddenly realized I had set an appointment with him for today at 9am and it was 9:05am.  I apologized and told him that I had forgot and that I was out jogging and that I had about a half mile to go and I would be there in 5 minutes.  (Run off sentence much?)  I then cut through the green belt.  Rich followed me until I got to the other side and bid him adieu.  I ran home, but it was warm so I just stayed at my pace.  Then I saw that truck again and realized that the old man in the truck was my client and he was there the whole time!  I felt so embarrassed.