Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Feeling stronger every day.  Still a lot of people out.  No cars.  Just people.  My wife wanted to find a place where she could go do stairs.  So she drove out to the kids' high school.  When I finished running I called her.  I told her that I had twisted my ankle again.  I pretended to cry and told her it her so bad.  She said she would come get me.  Then I called her an April Fool.

Well, today didn't feel great.  Too much chocolate milk last night?  Probably.  Anyway, I've just been doing one loop on my RWCD/Floodway route.  Still lot's of people out.  I saw one couple walking their dog on Adobe.  I wasn't sure if they were going to continue straight or turn on to the Floodway path.  They turned.  No biggie, I would just have to slow down a little and follow them in.  But they stopped right before the gate and things got awkward.  I had to squeeze between them and the gate, getting within the 6 foot radius.  Hope they didn't have the 'rona.  Then I saw another couple that was trying to maintain a 30 foot radius.  They swooped all the way to the edge of the Floodway.  Maybe it's just me.  I saw a girl running pretty quickly on the other side of the Floodway.  I think she was doing fartleks or something.  She stopped at the fence and turned around.  She passed me, but then she stopped as another family with a dog was coming towards her and the dog run up to her.  It was probably her family.  I keep seeing this Asian guy walking two beautiful dogs.  Not sure what kind they are, but they look like German Sheppards, only they're white.  Or cream.  Maybe some day I'll ask what their names are.  But the most interesting thing I saw this morning was this tattooed hippie looking guy running and wearing flip flops.  I'm not judging him for being tattooed or for being a hippie.  But I am judging him for wearing flip flops while running!  That does not seem safe!

I felt good enough to do two loops today.  I've been seeing pictures of snow up in Utah.  It's hot down here in the Phoenix Metropolitan area!  Maybe that's why it didn't seem like there was as much people out today.  Also, I didn't get out the door until after 8am.  My wife left about a minute before me.  I could see her running west on Adobe when I turned to go up the Floodway path.  I figured I might catch her near University.  She was running too fast.  I saw her and texted her, but she didn't see my text 'til later.  When we were home I asked if she saw my text and she said no.  She read it and said she didn't seem me even though she looked.  So I pulled up Strava and showed her on Flyby's where I had seen her.  That's when I realized I was being followed by another runner and I had no idea.  I hope I didn't do anything embarassing.
 

I was about to head out the door when my daughter reminded me to look for the two turtles she had seen in the Floodway the last couple of days.  I ran to the place where she said she had seen them.  Up near Brown Rd, there is some standing water in the bottom of the Floodway right at the outlet of a culvert pipe.  I stopped and looked, but didn't see any turtles.  I did see a dollar bill down on the bottom underneath about a foot of water.  I would have to step in the muck and mud to get it, so I just let it be.  I texted my daughter to say that I didn't see the turtles.  She texted back and said - keep looking.  She then said - I see.  I'm really far away.  So I waited for her, but she never came.  I texted and said - where the heck are you, slowpoke!?  She said she had seen my from Adobe (almost a half mile away), but she kept walking down Adobe.  So I waited for nothing.  I tell that story because my Strava was on autopause.  However it said my overall distance was 2.86 miles.  And my pace was 40 seconds faster than yesterday.  Well, if you back track out the pace based off the known mileage of 2.54 miles for this route, the pace seems more comparable to yesterday's.

When I turned on to Adobe, I saw a girl walking her dog through the park.  She got to the sidewalk and I could see she was wearing a shirt that said STAFF on the back.  It looked like one of my old shirts.  But there are probably a million shirts that say STAFF on the back.  I caught up to her right before the turn into the Floodway.  She apologized because her dog wanted to play with me, and the shirt was from some event that I had never heard of.  She followed me in to the Floodway and I realized my shorts were sagging down on the left side, the side with my phone in my pocket.  After pulling them up a couple of times, I had to stop to retie my drawstring.  That's embarrassing.  I ran up to the "turtle pond" again and looked for turtles.  Again, no turtles.  Just a couple of ducks.  I wasn't there long and I looked and saw the girl was almost caught up to me.  I'm so slow!  So I took back off and ran to the other side of the Floodway.  I saw this couple walking towards me.  I had seen them Saturday, too.  The guy looked like he was wearing a surgical mask, but it was really just a huge white moustache.  Today I told him that I thought he was wearing a face mask.  He probably gets that all the time.  I ran down to University, went back to the other side of the Floodway and headed back up again.  I saw the girl walking her dog still.  Even though she was on the other side of the Floodway, she probably thought I was a stalker.

2 loops again.  I saw a family leaving the Floodway path when I got there.  It was the Porter family.  I have seen Rich many times while running and usually he swoops around and runs with me.  I see his wife and their daughter often walking their dogs.  But I've never seen the entire family together.  It's nice to see families out doing things together.  Rich and I talked for about 5 minutes, and then I took off again.  I saw a lot of the regulars.  I stopped again at the pond to look for turtles.  Nothing.  The dollar bill is gone, too.  But later my daughter sent me a picture of the turtle.  When I turned south on the RWCD road, I could see a lady walking her dog and her daughter on a bike up ahead.  I finally caught up to them at Adobe.  I said good morning and we crossed the road.  They went over to the other side of the Floodway so that I saw them again when I ran back up.  I don't think the mother realized it was me, or maybe she did, but her daughter had gotten out in front and had just pedalled her way up the greenbelt dip and stopped, and the mom must've gotten worried that a man was running towards her.  She called her back.  Then the daughter got out in front again going the other way and before I got to the mom she called her again because she realized I was going to pass her.  So I told her to have a good one.  I wish women didn't have to be worried about men, but I get it.

I was about to go out the door and my grandson yelled at me, "Grandpa!  I wanna go with you!"  Well, it's hard to turn that down.  I made him touch his toes first.  Then he made me stretch my arms out.  Of course grandma was taking pictures and a video as we started.  It wasn't long before we were walking.  I'd say we walked about 70% of it, and ran the other 30%.  But that's not bad.  Everytime we would pass someone Atticus would say, "Look at this stick I found!  Or, "This rock is humongous!"  We went three quarters of a mile to the turtle pond.  Once again, I haven't seen any turtles.  But we threw rocks in the pond for a while, and I taught him how to place your hand in an ant hole without getting bit.  He would've played all day if I'd let him.  But I'm a mean grandpa, and I had work to do.  So we finally made it home and he asked if he could go running with me every day.

Such a beautiful morning in Mesa, AZ!  It's mostly cloudy and the temperature is wonderful.  There was a lot of people out, but I'm surprised I didn't see more.  I ran about a mile when I had to stop because the top of my right foot was hurting.  I thought I might have to call it quits, but I stretched out and was able to run the rest of the way.  I hope I can get back to running longer distances on Saturday mornings again soon.
 

I'm sure I ate too much Easter candy.  I didn't feel great today.

I was feeling rather blah today.  And I have a lot of work to do.  So I just did one loop.  Kissed my wife on the way home.
 

I was feeling a little better today, so I decided to do 3 loops.  It was slow, but I trudged it out.  I saw a lot of people again.  One guy was riding a road bike on the RWCD dirt road.  Crazy.  I saw the face mask moustache man and his wife.  Twice.  I was on my last loop when I looked over and saw a lady on the RWCD road running.  She passed me up.  I was mad.  But then I remembered that I'm slow.  Then she started walking.  Then I passed her up.  I was happy.

Almost half way done with this pair of shoes.  I didn't go running 'til 9am.  Still it was beautiful out.  Lots of walkers.  A few runners.  A few cyclists.  I feel like garbage.  Garbage in.  Garbage out.

I got up and out the door a little earlier than normal.  Still a lot of people out.  I saw an old guy running towards me on Adobe.  I'm sure he was much faster than me.  I turned north on to the Floodway path and saw a group of runners coming my way.  As they got closer I could tell that it was a mother, a daughter, and a son.  Then I recognized them as this fairly new family in the ward, the Bishop's.  I said, "Hi Bishop's!"  It'll get a great 4 to 5 years if their dad ever gets called to be the bishop. When I was heading south on the RWCD road, I saw a couple walking toward me.  It was Bruce and Carol Schumacher.  For that brief stint I had as a primary teacher, Bruce was my companion teacher.  He always brought salt water taffy for the kids.  His son and his family moved in with them about a year ago.  Maybe more.  Their son, Blake, is the ward Sunday school president.  Bruce was his secretary, but he was recently released.  The new Sunday school secretary is......me!  Of course, since the Church went into lockdown mode, I haven't done anything.  Anyway, I said, "Good morning, guys!"  Carol said, "Good morning, Burt!"  I said, "It's so good to see you guys."  And that was that. 

I thought about doing 3 loops today, but I went on a 3 mile hike yesterday with my wife and my dog.  I'm a little sore, and I could feel it while I was running, so I decided to just do two loops.  I'm enjoying the weather, but fear that it's going to warm up soon.  Actually, that might be a good thing.  The heat is supposed to help with viruses.

I was feeling better today.  I decided to do 3 loops.  Saw some of the regular faces.  Very few people are wearing masks, but some are.  That's good.  I haven't shaved since the lockdown started.  That's my mask.

What was on my mind today while I was running?  Well, this morning one of my friends posted something on my wall again of Facebook.  He was a former client of mine that friended me.  Recently he's been saying a lot of anti-Trump stuff.  Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but he lives here in AZ where most people are conservative and Trump supporters.  This includes me.  Of course I don't like everything he does, nor everything he has done.  But I have never seen a President try and fulfill his campaign promises to the extent that Trump has.  It's not even close.  So I called my friend out on it once.  I said, "Look.  We're not all bad people.  I really like it better when you don't post anti-Trump stuff, but that's all you post about lately."  Something like that.  So, his response was to start posting stuff on my wall.  He really can't stand our President.  I get it.  I couldn't stand Obama.  But I keep my mouth shut most of the time.  I think Trump has done more good that he has bad, but if you don't like him, all you see is the bad.  If you do like him, all you see is the good.  I'd like to think I see both.  They say Trump has divided the country.  I say it's the media.  But that may be Trump's fault.  When Trump called CNN fake news, they literally declared war on him.  So every time they report on him, it's that he's a racist, homophobe, xenophobe, etc.  It's shameful, but he kind of asked for it.  Anyway, that's what was going through my mind.  Made the time go by faster which is what I need when I'm so slow nowadays.

I was feeling real sore today.  Don't know why.  I took yesterday off.  I saw Bruce and Carole again.  I asked if they were hanging in there.  They said they were.

Yesterday was my daughter Julianna's 21st birthday.  After lunch we all loaded up in the van to go see my daughter Mary, her husband, and my grandson.  We just stood outside her door making small talk while my grandson was inside sleeping.  So we didn't even get to see him.  I had Herbie with us, too.  After a while I walked over to the van to get ready to go.  But I didn't have they keys.  My wife did.  The rest of my family joined me, but my wife lagged behind.  There was a lady that had pulled up next to us a parking space over.  When she finally got out of her vehicle she had totally covered her mouth with a handkerchief.  She was taking this COVID thing seriously.  Either that or she has it. 

So this morning I wanted to go on a longer run, but I still am not feeling like I'm anywhere close to being in shape.  Everything is a struggle.  Everything is work.  I love when I can go out and just enjoy a nice long run, but I can't do that right now.  I decided to run up the RWCD Canal far as far as what felt good.  I ran up to Brown Rd. and I saw a runner coming towards me.  I realized it was Gary Prahl.  I've been following him on Strava.  I see him as a Flyby quite often.  He bought one of the new houses that were built in the old orange grove on the corner of Greenfield and Brown.  I've sent him a message before, but he's never responded.  It wasn't until recently that I actually started to "follow" him.  I thought, "This guy must think I'm a weirdo."  But oh well.  I've always had a fascination for getting to know my fellow runners.  That's why I like the blog so much.  Anyway, as we passed each other I saw a smile crack upon his face, and he said, "Burt?"  I was like, "Yep.  Nice to see you."  Ha!  He likes me!

I continued north and made it to McKellips.  I could see old man Hatch driving his stage coach.  He passed a lady walking her dog, and the dog started barking at the horses.  When I got to her, I said, "Just like my dog!  Thinks he can take on horses."  To my great surprise and delight, she stopped to talk to me.  It was just a quick conversation, but it's nice that some people will stop and talk, maintaining their six feet of separation, while others bury their faces in handkerchiefs and run away.

I ran to the half way point between McKellips and McDowell (a little over half a mile), and turned around.  After crossing McKellips I was running and I looked down and saw a $5 bill folded up.  Was it riddled in COVID?  I'll take my chances!  So, the title of this run became - "It pays to run the extra mile."
 

My legs were so sore from the get go today.  I probably looked like I was shuffling when I first started.  I did settle in to my regular slow pace, which if a little faster than a shuffle.  Anyway, there were more people out today than I've ever seen.  That's nice.  It also means people must be going stir crazy.  Cabin fever.  I saw the Ashcroft's on a family walk, and I saw the Knudsen's.  They were both on the other side of the Floodway from me, but the Knudsen's saw me, and I waved at them.  Also, Jeff is back.  The hobo.  I haven't seen him in ages, but I saw him Thursday and again today.  He's moved over to right behind the chain link fence at University.

Well today felt a little better.  That's hopeful.  Lot's of people out again.  Everyone social distancing.  I saw Jeff.  He asked if I brought my wallet with me.

I wasn't feeling as good as yesterday.  But I wasn't feeling terrible.  So that's something.  As I was approaching the Floodway on Adobe I heard some voices behind me.  I didn't see anyone before, so I knew it must've been cyclists.  Sure enough two guys on bikes passed me up.  One of them said, "Hey Burt."  It was Gary.  See?  He may not ever respond to my comments, and he hasn't followed me back, but he does like me!

I did 3 loops today.  It was a struggle.  My wife was leaving just as I got home.  I jumped in the pool and Herbie took off with one of my shoes.