Go, you chicken fat, go away!

So last Tuesday was the Pine Wood Derby.  I had to help set up the track just like last year.  This year I decided it would be a good idea to bring some knee pads.  Well, after  a few hours of being on my knees even though I had knee pads, my right knee started to hurt.  I was kind of limping the next day.  So I took some time off.  Today was my first run back and the knee behaved. 
 

Two loops on the RWCD/Floodway paths this morning.  I saw a lot of runners today.  Well, I saw 3.  But that's a lot, right?  I also saw Greg and Gene from RWCD.  Greg is the construction inspector.  We've been friends for years.  He bought me breakfast once while I was out running.  Gene was one of my trainers when I worked there.  We talked for about 10 minutes.
 

Today was the Father and Son's Outing (or whatever we call it now.  I can't keep up with all the changes anymore.)  I haven't gone to one of these for years, but I decided my grandson was old enough, so I went with my son, grandson, and son-in-law.  I woke up around 5:30am after a restless uncomfortable night's sleep.  I thought that I had forgottem my gallon size Ziploc bag to put my sweaty clothes in, so I almost decided not to run.  (I had forgotten it, but I had an extra in my bag from my previous Ragnar.)  Anyway, I got changed and headed out.  We were near the rear of the camp and I headed that way.  Not 100 yards later the road ended.  I didn't want to run back through camp, so I headed out into the wilderness to blaze my own trail.  I was going down a hill, so I mostly walked this part.  With one of my steps I came down on a protruding branch that scratched the heck out of my ankle.  I thought, "Wow.  That burns."  Then I looked down and saw blood dripping.  It wasn't terrible, so I kept going.  I finally made my way out to the main forest road and started to jog.  I figured I would go at least a mile and a half, then turn around.  There were a lot of ups and downs on the road.  They were pretty steep, too.  It was a good work out.  I saw a trailhead that had a monument to the Dude Fire.  I took a picture of it and turned around to run back.  I got back and stopped my Strava near the front of the campsite where they were cooking breakfast.  After breakfast we packed up and went to look for a cave that one of my son's friends wanted to go explore.  We drove over to the rugged jeep trail and decided to hike it.  My grandson is 4, so there was a lot of carrying him.  We walked about 2 miles before the road ended and never found the cave.  Then we walked back.  I probably did a mile and a half with my grandson on my shoulders.

I was pretty sore yesterday from camping, so I didn't run.  I got out this morning and was surprised to see rain drops falling from the sky.  It was just a light rain that soon turned into a light drizzle.  It felt good to run in, and there was a small rainbow.  My legs were like lead, but I know that a nice run will loosen them up.

I've been running sore all week.  But I'm running.  Well, jogging.  Today was nice and overcast again.  There was a light drizzle, but hardly noticeable with the amount of sweat pouring out of my body.
 

I know there's a reason why I haven't been running lately.  I don't think it has anything to do with getting attacked by a bird.  But that did happen while I was walking Herbie.  After 4 days of close swoops, I finally let my guard down when I saw a young bird that had fallen out of the tree.  I was dumb enough to let Herbie sniff it when all of the sudden, blam!  A bird dive bombed me in the back of the head!  I ran off as what seemed like a dozen birds were starting to swarm around me.  Anyway, I think I've just been too busy at work.  So today's run felt blah.

I was feeling a little better than yesterday.  I decided to do two loops.  I saw a lady on the other side of the street entering the Floodway.  The thought crossed my mind that she would probably think I'm a weirdo because I was on the other side of the street but would be following her in.  But I did it anyway.  She had stopped to do something on her phone so I passed her and said good morning.  I ran north for a while and she followed me.  I saw this old lady and told her good morning.  Then I spotted my wife way up on Brown Road.  She turned on the Floodway path and was coming towards me.  I stole a quick kiss and now I know the lady must've thought I was a weirdo.  I did my normal two loops where I run north up to Brown, turn south to University, then turn north back to Adobe and home.  When I had turned north again I saw the old lady again.  I told her to have a good day and she told me in her stern grandmotherly voice, "Good job.  You're doing great."

So according to my Strava, of the 41 runs on this route, this was my slowest.  I'm very much out of shape.  Not horrible, but definitely not good.  I was running south along the Canal path and I saw a lady that looked like my wife.  But I thought it couldn't be here because it's so far away from where I had seen her on my last run.  Plus it was getting late, and she'd need to be closer to home to wake kids up for school.  So I convinced myself it wasn't her.  But the closer she got, I realized it was her.  I was able to steal another kiss.  Or maybe 5 kisses.

Long run Saturday.  Well, short run for everyone else.  Long run for me.  It was a beautiful morning.  There were a lot of people out.  I saw one lady about a quarter mile ahead of me.  I almost caught her right before I turned around because she started walking, but she started running again and she continued across McDowell, while I turned back home.  I had to go pee pee and contemplated hopping over into the orange groves.  But then I thought, "you know, it's only a quarter a mile to the park where there is a nice public restroom."  So I added some more running to the route and was able to get over 6 miles because of it.  When I got home I went straight to the backyard and hopped in the pool for a bit.

I felt suprisingly well this morning.  That's a good sign.  It was another beautiful morning.  I saw a guy out walking his dog that I said good morning to, and when I made my loop and saw him again, I told him to have a good day.  He said, "Good timing."  I don't know what that meant, but I told him thank you.  I did not see my wife today, but she was my sole Flyby on Strava.

I fell asleep on the couch watching wrestling last night.  $100 to whoever can guess my all time favorite professional wrestler.  So I woke up and went to bed, but didn't fall asleep again for a while and got up at 7:06am; 6 minutes later than we usually get Emily up.  I decided to just do one loop today.  When I got home I cleaned the pool because the Wolves are going to work on the Spirit of the Water Adventure today.  I put the wrong head on the vacuum; the one with the broken wheels.  Four of the eight wheels were missing and another broke off while I was vacuuming, so instead of rolling along, it sucks to the bottom.  It was very hard to push it, and my arms are going to be sore for a few days.

I got about half a mile in to my run and decided my knee was hurting too much to continue.  So I turned around and started walking back.  I saw some girls running on Adobe, and I didn't want them to see me walking, so I started running again.

No running today, but as of 1am this morning, I am a two time grandpa.

I wish I had documented which knee was hurting last run, because I'm 90% sure it was the other knee today that made me quit and turn around :(

I ran as slow as I could today.  The knee, for the most part, behaved.