Go, you chicken fat, go away!

It was snowing today.  It seemed like snow.  The yellow leaves were falling off the Palo Verdes as I ran under them.  At least I think they are Palo Verdes.  I'll have to ask AZDesertMonsoon.  He'll know.  He's pretty awesome like that.

*AM run*

Time - 47:25 (avg. pace 8:27) Nice and easy so I wouldn't be too tired for the ride to work.

Splits -

1 mile - 8:32

2 mile - 8:32

3 mile - 8:15 (this is usually my slowest mile, but I hurried to get through the construction zone.)

4 mile - 8:26

5 mile - 8:37

0.62 miles - 5:05 (pace 8:14)

*AM bike ride*

Distance - 17.5 miles

Time - 1:07:28

Avg. speed - 15.6 mph Max. speed - 20.9 mph

*PM bike ride*

Distance - 17.5 miles

Time - 1:08:51

Avg. speed - 15.3 mph Max. speed - 23.2 mph

This wasn't the smartest run I've ever done.  I know I have some significant hills in my 10k race next Saturday so I wanted to get some hill work in today.  It ended up being mountain work.  Steep rocky mountains.

I mapped out a course on GoogleEarth that I thought looked pretty good.  My wife drove me up to the start.  The first thing I saw was a private property sign - no access to park.  But we went anyway.  I had to step over a barbed wire fence to get to the trail.  It wasn't much of a trail since I didn't start exactly where I wanted to.  And it didn't take long before I was huffing and puffing trying to climb the mountain.  There was a 266 foot climb in the first half mile.  I didn't have the leg power or the wind to run up, so I walked some.  Then it dropped back down to about the elevation I started at by the time I got to the first mile.  It took 12:45.

The next mile was a 500 foot climb, and I was battling daylight.  This was a very tough mile with lots of walking, but no stopping.  I kept thinking about all the things that could go wrong.  There could be snakes.  It might get dark.  I have nothing to drink.  I could turn an ankle.  I'm dumb.  This mile took 16:05.

The next mile was the beginning of the downhill.  It was almost as bad as the uphill because it was so steep and rocky.  I couldn't run for fear of not being able to stop and not being able to get a sure step.  This mile took 10:34.

The fourth mile was pretty decent.  The hill was less steep and more sure.  I ran this one in 8:21.  I was thinking I'm glad Britta didn't convince me to bring my music.  I need all my senses.

The last bit was all on the main road.  When I say main road, I mean paved.  I saw my wife down the road, and then she turned and drove away.  I didn't think she'd go very far, but she did.  So then this pit bull came out and was daring me to make a wrong move.  I yelled at it to git.  Thankfully it listened.  I called my wife and told her to turn around and come get me.  The last 0.84 miles was in 7:21.

Bottom line; not sure if this is the kind of hill training I needed for the race next week, but it was certainly an adventure.  I leave you with a picture I took at the top of the mountain and the sun almost down.  What a moron I am.

More pictures from yesterday's run.

Looking south at the 2071 elev. mark.  To the SE (not pictured) is Johnson Ranch.

Looking north at the 2071 elev. mark at south Queen Creek.  I believe the mountain straight ahead is the Superstition.

Looking NW towards Chandler and Gilbert at the 2135 elev. mark.

I wanted to run at an 8:15 pace this morning, but I ended up going at an 8 pace.  I was kind of a punk this morning.  I was stopped at a stop light waiting for the light to turn green.  Some lady tried to turn right as it changed, and I faked like I was going to run out in front of her causing her to slam on the brakes and let me go.  I suppose I could've stared her down and gave her a mean look, but I'm not that much of a jerk, :)

Time - 44:55 (avg. pace 7:59)

Splits -

1 mile - 7:56

2 mile - 8:03

3 mile - 8:01

4 mile - 7:55

5 mile - 8:06

0.63 miles - 4:55 (7:50 avg.)

I really should do a better job at dragging myself out of bed in the mornings.

Time - 23:05 (avg. pace 7:42)

Splits -

1 mile - 7:56

2 mile - 7:59 (against the wind and slight uphill.  felt faster than the first.)

3 mile - 7:10

Time - 48:15 (avg. pace 8:34)

Splits -

1 mile - 8:29 (I saw a dead field mouse in the middle of the sidewalk.  I wondered if someone hit it with a bike or if it had been poisoned and that was where it dragged itself with its last ounce of strength.)

2 mile - 8:30

3 mile - 8:30 (construction zone)

4 mile - 8:45

5 mile - 8:41 (Su Li sighting)

0.63 miles - 5:20 (8:28 pace)

Temp - 72

Easy last run to stay loose for the 10k this weekend.

Time - 17:03 (avg. pace 8:20)

Splits -

1 mile - 8:21

2 mile - 8:21

0.05 miles - 0:21 (7:50 pace)

Temp -73

A few months ago my mom texted me and told me she was going to walk in the Route 66 Race for Hospice.  This is a 3 mile walk/5k run/10k run.  Proceeds from this event go into a fund to help build a hospice home in my hometown of Kingman, AZ.  I told her I would like to do the 10k.  We were going to take a family trip up to Kingman, but my my wife's mom came down here, so the rest of my family stayed home, and I went solo.  My mom ended up not being able to do her walk because earlier this week a glass shelf from her bathroom fell on the top of her foot and bruised it up real good.  My brother walked it in her stead.

 I had a couple of goals going into this race.  One was to hit a 7:30 average.  I knew that would be tough due to the big hill, but I thought if I attacked it, I would be able to make it up on the dowhill after we turn around.  The other goal was to beat this old man that lives in Kingman.  I don't know why he's so stinkin' fast.  Honestly, if you look at him, he looks like a bum.  He has stringy hair and an earth-worn face.  But he starts going and he keeeeeps going.  I talked to him before the race.  He doesn't say a lot.  I guess he lets his feet do the talking.  Anyway, I didn't meet either of the two goals.

 1 mile - 7:30 - I lined up behind Dan Kuch again.  I lined up behind him at the Havasu Half Marathon which he won.  He easily won today with a time of 35:10.  I wished I would've talked to him more before the race.  I could've asked him how long he's lived in Lake Havasu and what he thought of Rhett.  They counted us down and he was off.  A couple of guys weren't far behind, but as it turned out, they were running the 5k.  After about a quarter mile my mouth became incredibly dry.  It was wierd.  I talked to the winner of the 5k and he said the same thing happened to him.  I wanted to get a drink at the first aid station, but there was only one lady passing out water, and we were still bunched together, so I missed it.

2 mile - 8:25 - This is where we start going up El Travatore Hill.  I slowed way off pace, but I was running right next to the old man.  I felt like I could pass him, but thought I should play it safe, run with him 'til the turn around, then bury him.  That didn't quite happen as he gapped me by a few steps, and when two other guys passed me I started running with them, and the gap got bigger and bigger.

 3 mile - 8:23 - During this mile we turned onto Hualapai Mtn. Road.  This body builder dude passed me.  I ran behind him for a while and passed him back.  Then he was running right behind me letting me cut the wind for him.  Muscle-bound-jerk!  After a little bit he passed me again.  I decided to do the same thing to him.  Couldn't tell if it made a difference so I decided to pass him.  I was remembering the advice Paul gave to someone about passing people and burying them.  This time when I passed muscle man I made a surge and dropped him for good.  After the race he said, "I just couldn't keep up with you!"  I said, "I know.  I'm Lloyd Dobler. aka Burt McCumber."  I really didn't say that.

4 mile - 7:36 - Hit the turn around point and was feeling good.  Not good as in I could sprint all the way to the finish, but good as in I could hold the strong pace I was at.  I was drinking water at each aid station and that was helping with the dry throat problem.  I knew I was in 9th place, and hoped to reel in the old man who was in 5th.  First I would start with the chick that chicked me.  (She was actually the second to do so.)  Then I would go after the guy that kept walking. Then I would go after the no shirt heart monitor guy.

5 mile - 7:46 - I totally expected this to be my fastest mile.  The vast majority of this mile was down El Travotore.  I was hoping for a sub 6.  I felt like I was really moving, but it ended up not being as good as I'd hoped...by a long shot.  Hmmmm... Still hadn't made any distance up on the four guys in front of me, but the old man sure had put some major distance between us.

6 mile - 7:32 - Still hadn't made any distance up on anyone.  I started getting annoyed that walker man was still way ahead of me and that he probably was going to catch the chick.  Now I started having thoughts about just cruising on in.  I didn't think anyone behind me would catch me, and I should still get a PR.  But I still pushed on.

0.2 miles - 1:20 (6:40 pace) - Once again I was to worried about posing for the camera to remember to stop my Garmin.  It took me about 10 seconds to after they ripped the bottom of my bib off and handed me a water.  It was cool to have my mom and sister there to cheer me to the finish.

So now I start to wonder if I medaled.  Okay, 9th overall, two runners in front of me were female, one was the old man.  I know Dan Kuch and I are the same age.  Were there two more runners ahead of me in my AD?  Maybe.  They started reading off the AD winners for males for the 5k.  I quickly realized that I would be in the 26 to 35 year old category...and I'm 35!  How can I compete against these young bucks?  Well I waited until they announced the winners of the 10k for males.  "Third place in the 26 to 35 year old age division with a time of 48:29 - Burt McCumber." Yippee!  Er, I mean, that's right.  That's how I compete with young bucks!

It was a fun day.  After the race my brother and I went and loaded up a refrigerator from my mother-in-law's.  Then I went back to my mom's, showered, and packed up my stuff.  She took me to Mr. D's for lunch where I had, yep, you guessed it, a most delicious root beer float.  Then I picked up the last puppy from my brother's house to surprise my family with.  The End.

 Pictures from yesterday' race

Here's the starting line.  Very small chute.  But very colorful.  (How sad is it that this poor man has no idea I have a burning desire to destroy him.)

 Fancy cars in the Mr. D's parking lot.

We named her Sugar.

Time - 40:46 (8:20 avg. pace)

Splits -

1 mile - 8:07 (I saw Su Li and talked to her today in passing.  I said, "We have the same pants on today."  We were both wearing blue sweats with 2 white stripes running down the legs.  She laughed and said, "Yes.  Good morning."  Now I'm beginning to think she's the one I ran into when she stepped in front of me a few months ago.

2 mile - 8:10 (I saw a water bottle on the ground, but left if for fear that it could be a road side bomb.  Then I saw a bottle of strawberry milk, then what looked to be a bottle of Arizona Tea Watermelon flavor.

3 mile - 8:34

4 mile - 8:33

0.89 miles - 7:23 (8:17 avg.)

Temp - 75

When I picked up the refrigerator from my mother-in-law's house Saturday, I had to hop her back fence.  I'm not as young, spry, or agile as I used to be.  My brother stuck his knee out for me to jump off of, but I knew something bad would happen.  My first leg made it over fine, but my second leg got hung up on the fence.  I thought I pulled a hammy, but I walked it off.  Where I really did damage was behind my left knee.  It's pretty bruised, but I couldn't see the bruise until today.  I definitely felt it on the run this morning, but it wasn't too bad.

50 situps.

Planks - 5 seconds each leg.  LOL.

50 situps.

Planks - twice 10 seconds each leg (getting better)

Speed work (by which I mean I'm working on obtaining speed, not maintaining speed.)

3 X 1/2 mile intervals with 1/4 mile jogging in between

1st 1/2 mile - 2:59

2nd 1/2 mile - 3:29

3rd 1/2 mile - 3:28

50 situps.

couple o' planks

I've been looking to do a duathlon for a while now.  They are few and far between.  If they're not on Sunday, they're off road.  I finally found one not too far away.  I signed up for it and we decided to sign up my three oldest kids to do the kids' triathlon.  Chino Valley is hosting another triathlon/duathlon in June.  It consists of a one mile run, 15 mile bike ride, and 3 mile run.  That is the distance I thought I signed up for.  Instead, the race I did was a 1/2 mile run, 7 mile bike ride, and 1 mile run.  I don't know how I got the two races mixed up, but I would have rather done the longer distance because I feel that would give me a better chance to compete.  The race I did was more or less a sprint.  But the other race is on a Sunday, and we had already reserved a room at a motel, so I decided to go for it.

I picked up the packets the week before on my way home from Kingman.  The guy told me that only about 10 people signed up to do the duathlon, so I should have a good chance at medalling.  I said, "As long as I don't blow a tire...wait, it's only a 7 mile ride.  I'll pick my bike up and run if I needed to."

I got my 40 hours in at work by Thursday, so I was able to take Friday off from work.  I spent all day getting packed and ready to go.  We got on the road at 5pm.  My four year old daughter had a bladder infection, so we knew we were in for an adventure.  It wasn't too long before she, "I haf to go the bafroom."  My wife decided to place her in a diaper, and let her do her business at her leisure.  She didn't like the idea.  She was afraid that a) it would go all over the place, b) she would get a diaper rash, and c) it would stink.  But my wife finally convinced her that it was okay.  Problem solved, right?  Wrong.  Now she had to poop.  There was no way she was going to poop in the diaper.  And she had to go right as we exited the 101 to the 17.  That's not a good place to be at 6pm on a Friday evening.  It took us more than 20 minutes to get off at the next exit.  Meanwhile, Abby was getting this crazed look in her eyes and screaming like - you better get me to a bathroom NOW!!  We drove down the road and didn't see any gas stations or fast food joints so I pulled into this deli in a strip mall.  My wife took her in.  The owner was understanding.  When they came out, they both had embarrassed looks on their faces.  It was just a Please follow Fast Running Blog policy regarding vulgar language

After the exhausting Please follow Fast Running Blog policy regarding vulgar language incident, she fell asleep and the rest of the trip was incident free.  We checked in at the hotel, had a pre-race meeting where I explained to my kids what to expect in the tri, and we went to Pizza Hut for dinner.  I got up at 4:40am, got ready, and got the rest of the family up.  We made it to the race in plenty of time.  We set up our transition area, got our timing chips, and got marked up.

The kids went first.  They went in order of the numbers they were given.  They started the kids off one every 20 seconds.  AJ was the first to finish not too far ahead of Mary not too far ahead of Julianna.  I think AJ had a wardrobe malfunction (I can't believe I used that expression because I hate Justin Timberlake) in the transistion area trying to get his shirt on which rolled up on him.  They all left on their bikes at about the same time.  AJ was using my road bike.  He came in at least 10 minutes before his sisters.  Mary came in on her Huffy next.  Then Julianna came in.  She was struggling and didn't want to do her run.  (She was crying and thought she was going to be last.)  I went with her and tried to encourage her.  I told her let's just jog for 20 seconds, then walk, then jog.  That worked a little.  We reached the drink station were they were SUPPOSED to turn around.  Unfortunately the man manning the station was sending all the kids to do the loop around the school.  That made them all do 1 mile instead of the 1/2 mile they were actually supposed to do.  He discovered his error shortly before we got there.  Oh well.  So they said Julianna could turn around there.  This gave her a little motivation because now she was ahead of some of them.  She finally made it and, everyone was so proud of her.  But if you ask her if she was proud of herself, she'll say no.

The duathletes started immediately after the kids' race at the same time the first mini-triathlete started.  (They weren't dwarves or midgets.  It's just that there was a maxi-triathlon, too.)  Wait a minute.  What happened to the 10 people that signed up?  There was only four of us; two men and two women.  They counted us down, but I was the only one paying attention.  I told them all (all three of them) to go.  We took off, and I (how do I say this nicely?) left them all in the dust.  I got to the drink station, where the man was still going on about sending the kids the wrong way, turned around and slapped the other runners five as I passed by them.  I found where my boy had parked my bike, threw on my helmet, and was off. 

I had my Garmin set to record my run, transition, bike, transition, and run, but I forgot to trigger it each time.  This was the first time I had attempted to use my Garmin like this.  So I was riding my bike and thought that the mileage shown on my Garmin was just my bike miles (which I knew I had been riding for at least a mile before I triggered it.)  So as I was approaching 2.5 miles, I thought I must be getting to the turn around point soon.  But no, this was my total mileage both bike and run.  I made a wrong turn and a guy told me I needed to continue on the main road.  I turned around and saw a couple of the minis hot on my tail.  I kept going further and further expecting to see a place to turn around, but nothing.  So I turned around and asked the guys if they were in the mini.  They said yes, so I followed them.  All in all I probably lost about a minute not knowing the course well enough.  Again, oh well.  I had a sizable lead on the other duathletes.  There were some pretty good hills to climb, too.  I decided to attack them because it was such a short distance overall. Then I made it back to the tranistion area, tires still full of air, and dismounted.

I like this picture because it shows off my massive muscles and sweet farmer's tan.  The last mile of the race was just me gutting it out after pushing it so hard on the bike.  I grabbed a water at the drink station, took a swig, and dumped the rest on my head.  I think it glided straight down my shirt into the pockets on the back of my shirt for my GU's.  It felt heavy.  I did my lap around the school and declined another drink as I passed the drink station again.

I came into the finish line and the race officials weren't paying attention, so I yelled at them that I was coming in!  I took them by surprise.  The announcer said over the intercom, "Finishing up is our first duathlete, Burt McCumber from Queen Creek.  Thank you for bring your whole family up."  (and my wife finally snapped the picture of me as I came in.)  It was fun.  I was very proud of my kids.  AJ took 4th in his age division, Mary also took 4th, and Julianna took 7th.

I took first overall, and I'm glad I didn't enter as a Clydesdale.  The other guy entered as a Clydesdale and would've ended up coming in second.  So, at least he got his first place, too.  

Well, we had a fun little mini-vacation.  Might be the only one we get this year.  I saw a friend that I've known since 4th grade, but haven't seen since high school.  I also met another on-line friend of mine from Athlinks.com.  After the race we went and watched Monsters vs. Aliens.  I saw a place that served chili dogs.  We were going to eat there for dinner, but they were closed.  So we went to Dairy Queen.  Now I'm home, and I gotta get ready for another 5k this Saturday.  Time to read all the reports on the Ogden Marathon!

This was my cool down from Saturday's race :)  (I almost ran as much miles today as I did all of last week.)   Today I saw three live lizards and one dead owl.  I was shooting for an 8:15 pace today.

Time - 1:02:41 (avg. pace 8:14)

Splits -

1 mile - 7:54

2 mile - 8:07

3 mile - 8:18

4 mile - 8:21

5 mile - 8:21

6 mile - 8:25

7 mile - 8:16

0.62 miles - 5:00 (8:05 pace)

And 50 situps

Sad sad day today.  I heard the dogs barking last night around 2am, so I went to see if Sugar wanted to come inside.  I opened the back door and Ginger came in, but I didn't see Sugar.  I looked around the house to see if she was already inside, and maybe I was just hearing things.  Couldn't find her.  I woke my wife up and told her I couldn't find Sugar.  She told me where the flashlight was.  I got dressed and went looking again for her in the backyard with the flashlight; couldn't find her anywhere.  Then I shined the flashlight out in the golf course.  I saw something out laying in the grass.  I hoped it was just a piece of cloth or a stuffed animal, but I think inside I knew what it was.  I went around the block on to the golf course and sure enough it was Sugar's lifeless body.  I think she squeezed through the wrought iron view fence.  My guess is she saw a coyote out there and went to go play.  She's never tried to go out before.  I scooped her up and put her in a box.  Vickie cried.  We broke the news to the kids in the morning as they wondered why they weren't going to school.  Mary and Julianna had a good cry.  Then we had a family prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for the time we had with her.  We asked who wanted to go out and help bury her.  AJ, Katelynn, Abby, and Ginger came along.  We drove out to the desert and dug a hole.  Katelynn and Abby had their little beach shovels.  Ginger sniffed around at the box.  We buried her and Katelynn and Abby sprinkled leaves and flowers they had picked from home on her grave.  AJ gathered up golf ball sized stones and wrote her name.  All the kids are staying home, their choice.  I never would have thought having a pet for only a week and a half and having to bury her would be that sad. Sad day.

Time - 41:23 (avg. pace 7:56)

Splits -

1 mile - 7:47

2 mile - 7:54

3 mile - 8:12

4 mile - 8:18

5 mile - 7:41

0.21 miles - 1:32 (7:07 avg.)

Temp - 83

I felt so good today.  I was going to average 8:15's again, but I was feeling really good.  Did I say that already?  I can't believe how fresh I felt on that last mile.  My goal for the 5k this Saturday is to average 7 min./miles.  That may be a stretch, but I'm going to go for it.  I hope the conditions Saturday are as good as they are today; overcast and 83.  Man, it's nice.

I pushed it a little hard this morning.  Sorry Sam.  If only I'd read your comment a little earlier.  So I'll have to take it really easy tomorrow.

Time - 22:15 (avg. pace 7:25)

Splits -

1 mile - 7:21

2 mile - 7:37

3 mile - 7:17

And 50 sit-ups.

Rest today.

These pictures are for Bonnie so she'll know how harmless the critters here in AZ are.

AJ next to a fuzzy little tarantula.

The cute little Palo Verde Beetle.  Yes, that is my hand.

A bullsnake we caught in front of our house.  I like how it curls around my old rootbeer and milkshake gut.

Nothing to be afraid of, Bonnie!

James W talked me in to doing this race.  It was fun because quite a few of the top road racers in Arizona were in attendance.  James and I carpooled.  As I was driving to his house from Queen Creek I saw that to the northeast, Apache Junction was getting rained on.  I caught the corner of it as I got closer.  To the northwest, south Phoenix was dry, but overcast.  This made for great running conditions.

On Riverton Paul's advice, I made sure to get a good warm-up in.  I tried to stay loose and keep my heart rate up, but it was difficult due to the way the race was run. They handicap the start by age and gender.  As the clock ticked down to the 7:30am start time, the first runners start out.  Then the clock starts up, and James and I were scheduled to start 13 minutes and 52 seconds later.  The cool thing about this is I was passing people the whole race.  The not-so-cool thing was that it got congested.

Mile 1 - 6:59.  My goal was to average 7 minute miles.  I was right on.  I felt good because I hit it with a lot of bobbing and weaving.

Mile 2 - 7:22.  This is where I lost the most time.  At the turn around there was major congestion.  I almost had to come to a complete halt.  I was trying to stay on the sidewalk that ran along the canal, but that was hard to do with the number of people running on it both ways.  There were times I had to run out into the gravel to pass people.  I think all the slowing down plays with your mind, too.

Mile 3 - 7:12.  There was still a lot of congestion, but it started to thin out.  I was beginning to feel the burn.  I wondered why I don't just try to run these races for fun.  I was running right by this tall guy with a blue mohawk.  That helped motivate me to push it.

0.1 miles - 43 sec.  Blue mohawk out kicked me.  I didn't get passed a lot the whole race.  That was encouraging.  178th out of 790 overall.  145th out of 444 males.  15th out of 53 in my age division.  Chicked by 33 chicks.  I had fun.  Under ideal conditions (nocongestion) I think I would have cracked 22 minutes.  Who woulda thought Oreo cookies could taste so good after a race?  Sorry there weren't a lot of funny stories to tell today or any pictures.  I guess I was all business.

A beautiful morning to get on the front page of the mileage board.  I know it won't last (especially when the Red Hot Pink Chicks blog their run today), but currently I'm sitting pretty in the #18 position.  73 degrees out.  Sleepy neighborhood.  And a nice liesurely stroll through the park.  Well, I only went through the park at mile 6 to get a drink.

Finish time -  7:30

Temp - 73

Time - 1:29:11 (avg. pace 8:53)

Time - 42:14 (avg. pace 8:23)

I've got no races on the horizon, so time to build base.

Time - 1:47:03 (avg. pace 9:22)

Temp - 91

Decided to give running home another go.  I've yet to do it all the way.  Maybe if I hadn't put so many miles in already (for me) this week, I could've done it.  I saw 27 bunnies.  I named 9 of the Howard, 9 of them Dean, and 9 of them Sam.  My splits got increasingly slower even though I tried to start out at a slow pace.  This I know; once I hit the half way point I start a gradual climb uphill and instead of being on the road, it's in the dirt.  This slows me down big time and sucks the animo (as they say in Spain) right out of me.  Still, I'm glad I got the 11 plus in.  And with a brand new pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 4's!!  The only shoe exclusively endorsed by Burt McCumber.  Look for it at all your sporting goods stores in the shoe aisle.

Time - 30:35 (avg. pace 8:44)

This is the first time since I joined the blog that I've got 30 miles in a week.  And I still have two days to go!  I'm sure I have before, but shortly after joining the blog, I sustained some freak injuries.  So blogging was kind of embarrassing for a while, but I stuck with it.  I don't want to up my mileage too quickly, but I am, so I'm taking it nice and slow.

I saw one lizard today and named it Eric Day.

I'm in Kingman. I wanted to go exploring out behind my mom's house to see what's on the other side of the hill. I also wanted to get in 10 miles. I got a little more, but probably would have been right on if I hadn't backtracked several times. I used to run out this way on a trail we called Slaughter House Canyon in high school. We stopped running it because some dirty men starting yelling obscenities at the girls on the CC team. But I don't think I was on the same path. It didn't look familiar and a couple times I had to blaze my own trail to get where I wanted to go. It was fun though. I saw more Eric Days then I could count. After a while I remembered how the KPD had to kill a bear that was trying to get into people's houses a couple of weeks ago. It was only a year old. I wondered if it had a brother and what the possibility of me running into it was with absolutely nobody knowing where I was. My overall average was 10:22. I'm surprised it was that fast with all the steep trails, rocks, and sand. This is the most miles I've run in a week since joining the blog.  My previous high was 26.8.  I feel pretty good, but I don't know how many I'll do next week.  Only time will tell.