Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I must have been feeling chipper this morning (not the Steve Buscemi kind of chipper.)  I noticed in my first mile that I was running a bit faster than I have been the last few times I've gone out to run.  So I picked it up in the second mile.  I heard this woman chewing out her husband from the other side of the road.  I'm glad I don't put up with that kind of nonsense from my old lady.

It's cool.  I don't think my wife reads my blog anymore.

Time - 25:53

Splits - 9:03, 7:45, 9:05

Temp - 90°

I put a blast out on Facebook to go run Usery Pass this morning.  I got one person to go with me, Alyssa, RAD's new BFF.  She was up late and running a little behind this morning, so I waited for her.  But once we started running she told me not to wait for her.

I knew we'd see a lot of bikers this morning since we didn't start until 6:45am.  Most of them were pretty friendly.  The ones coming downhill were mostly in the zone.  I'd wave at them and occasionally get the slightest head nod.  If they were really friendly they would lift a few fingers off the handlebars.  The friendliest downhiller actually removed his entire hand off the grips and had a grin from ear to ear.  

Some of the riders on the other side of the road going uphill would make short talk with me.  The first one said, "I love this breeze we're getting."  I told him it would be great to have it at my back on the way down.  Another guy said I had a pretty good clip going.  I told him I'd run it faster before.  And yet another when I was close to the top told me there's no way he could run up that hill.  I told him he could.

Well, I was feeling pretty good when I got to the top.  I crossed the road and stretched for a second.  Then I headed back down.  It was then that I realized how HOT it was!  No more breeze to cool me down.  One lady who had stopped at the top on her bike offered me a drink out of her squeeze bottle which I respectfully declined.  I probably should have taken her up on the offer.  But I had some Shot Blocks.  Uh.  Yeah.  Anyway, I decided not to push the pace on the downhill like I like to do.  I still felt good and was waving to all the cyclists.  One guy had stopped 1.2 miles from the top.  I told him he had only 1.2 miles to go and I literally heard his heart break.  Not literally.  But I have never heard anyone sound so disappointed.  I felt sad for him, yet it amused me.

It wasn't until the last mile when the heat really started to take a toll on me.  It wasn't a big deal.  I just needed to take it easy.  I don't think I could have gone much further.  I finished in just under a buck 11.  Then I waited for Alyssa.  I'm not sure how much further she was behind me.  Maybe 10 minutes?  But the heat was eating her up, too.  But we both made it!

Splits - 10:06, 10:33, 10:45, 9:53, 8:50, 8:41, 9:09, 2:52

Temp - 95°

I was doing so good.  Then I got busy.  But it's nice to have side work.  Can't complain about that.  Today I ran at 1pm.  It was 104°!  I took sips off my water bottle every quarter mile.  I noticed at mile 2 that the water was quite warm.  Still wet though.  There were lots of big fish in the canal.  My average pace was 9:02.  The End.

National Running Day took on a whole new suffix yesterday.  I do not feel good at all.

Good start to the week.  Running.  Not blogging.  Because I'm typing this on Tuesday.  Anyway, it was about 2pm, somewhere around there.  Temperature was 105°.  Average pace 8:59.  It's getting hotter, and I'm getting faster.  I didn't carry any water with me this time.  So I stopped at the MWF.  That water was really warm.  I had to run it for a while before the magic came out.

Today is my anniversary.  Here in the Valley it gets hot in the summer.  So all these fancy resorts in Scottsdale don't get a lot of business, because who in their right mind wants to come visit AZ in the summer?  Luckily then for us locals, we can get smoking deals.  My wife and I stayed for two nights at the Millenium Resort.  I packed three pairs of running clothes.  Sadly, I never went running.  I did swim a few laps in the pool.  I also did some HIIT for my cardio.  Mostly in quick two minute bursts.

I ran at 4pm this afternoon.  It was 110°.  I didn't bring my Garmin.  But I did bring some ice water.  I skipped the MWF, due to some recent unpleasant comments from some of you.

Today my wife's best friend's husband from high school was killed while jogging by a hit and run (probably drunk) driver.  See the link for the story.  My wife told me that she doesn't want me to run anymore.  As sad as it is, I will still continue to run.  I think there's more of a chance of getting killed in a car by a drunk driver than by running.  Be careful out there people.

My wife wanted to go running with me this morning.  She's lost over 60 lbs since her surgery.  She was very nervous to run around the block.  It's a little over half a mile.  (0.57 to be exact.)  So when I got home from work this morning we put on our running clothes and went out.  She made it the whole way without stopping.  I'm very proud of her.

After we went around the block, I went out on my own.  I did my usual 3 mile loop.  When I was running up along the canal I saw from a distance what I assumed was a duck in the water.  As I got closer I realized it was a black dog.  I whistled for it.  It paddled to me, but when I got to the edge, it got scared and swam away.  I kept calling for it, and it would continue to come back and swim away.  I was getting scared that it was going to get tired and drown.  There were some steps on my side, but they were way far away.  I was hoping it would follow me, but it wouldn't.  So I positioned myself on the opposite side of the canal where there were some steps.  I called for the dog.  It swam to me then turned around right at the steps.  Whew!  It climbed out.  I couldn't see a dog collar on it so I ran all the way up to the street and started back down the other side of the canal to make sure it was ok.  As I approached, it took off and ran away.  Oh well.  At least I got it out of the canal, right?

Temp - 98°

**************************************UPDATE**************************************

I got to meet a very cool, albeit inactive, blogger today.  Guess who it was....?

KP!

Last night was crazy busy at work.  I was literally running everywhere.  But I won't count those as miles.  Not the way I want to end a shift.  Oh well, it's over.  I really wanted to run this morning, so I did.  I slogged through my 3 mile loop.  In the last half mile a pitbull, by the name of Precious, came running up to me.  I almost freaked out, but then I remembered I'm a dog whisperer.

These 20 miles were my backpacking miles over the course of the 4 days that I spent at Havasupai.  It really is a beautiful place.  Aqua green water.  Breathtaking falls.  Lots of people with Ragnar shirts.  The only part I didn't like was when I almost drowned and the painful blisters on the balls of my feet.  Oh how they hurt.  I don't think I'll be running anytime soon.  Maybe I'll post pictures later.

**************************************LATER**************************************