Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I didn't really have a plan for today.  I thought I would just start running and decide how far to go.  I saw Gordon again.  Then I saw another guy walking his dog.  When I got to the Canal I crossed paths with two runners.  One is the old man I see all the time.  He looks so slow, but he's probably faster than me.  Then right before I got to University I saw an old man walking with his fishing gear.  I told him that he's not supposed to fish in this canal.  He asked why.  I told him because they stock their own fish here.  He said SRP has never had a problem with him before.  I told him that this isn't an SRP canal.  It's RWCD.  He said that he just catches and releases and they never have a problem with him.  I said that I don't think they like that.  I was trying to be nice, but he was getting snippy with me.  I don't blame him.  It's they typical conversation I have with people that are fishing where there are clear signs that say NO FISHING.  Anyway, I kept going and saw the guy walking his dog again.  I also saw the hobo again.  This time I told him what time it was before he could ask me.  Right before I got to Adobe I ran into my wife again.  I asked where she was going because I didn't want her going by the hobo even though he's probably harmless.  She was just going down a little ways so she could get 5 miles in.  Then when I got to Adobe I saw a zanjero and totally tattled on the fisherman.  It felt like a douche move, but he shouldn't have been snippy with me.

I took too many days off.  But I'm kind of dieting again.  Well, I'm trying to eat less.  Anyway, I stretched out and felt pretty tight.  I started running and as soon as I got to Adobe I saw my wife.  Knowing she hadn't been gone very long and seeing her walking in the direction back home, I asked her what's up.  She said she was going back to get the girls so they could walk together.  I showed a public display of affection and continued on my way.  I saw a handful of other runners out.  One was approaching Adobe from the south as I was approaching from the north.  There is a 4 foot wide opening in the chain link fence.  Right next to the opening is a vertical pole, then another opening, but this opening has a horizontal pole about a foot above the ground so you can step or jump over it.  We both reached the fence at the same time and he decided to jump over the pole.  At the same time I think he put his hand out for me to give him five, but I didn't realize it in time.

It was kind of warm this morning.  I was feeling better than last week.  I think I've managed to drop a couple of pounds even though I ate a donut yesterday.  So I went an extra loop.  According to Strava I missed seeing my wife and a couple of my daughters when they were walking on the Floodway path while I was on the Canal road. 

I scheduled a survey for my boys to do this morning, but I didn't do the paperwork.  I got up real early to do it.  Also, I think it was Emily that woke me up when I heard her door open.  Not sure why she was up so early.  Well, when I sat down at my computer I saw an email.  Someone needs a drainage letter from me, which means another mini survey.  It's not too far from my house, pretty close to my old house.  I decided that we would do that survey first and I would just run home while the boys continued on to the other survey about an hour and a half away.  We finished up and I took off at 7:28am.  It was warming up, but not too bad.  I ran about 100 yards down the street and forgot to tell them something about the other survey, so I turned around and told them.  Then I headed out to the main street.  I ran right out in front of a truck on the side street.  Ooopsy.  Then I turned west and headed home.  It's slightly downhill, and maybe that accounted for my pace that was about 45 seconds faster per mile than yesterday's.  At about the half way point I could hear my phone ringing in my pocket over the noise of the traffic.  It was a Colorado number.  I have a client that lives in Wyoming but has a Colorado number, so I thought it might be him.  It wasn't.  Turns out it was a new client.  I told them to send me an email and I would get back with them.  About a quarter a mile away from home I got another call.  This one was from my main client, so I had to answer it, too.  He had a question, but I told him I was still out jogging and would have to call him back.  So, even with the two stops I was surprised that my pace was so much faster.  Perhaps it was the downhill or perhaps it's that I've been trying not to eat that much junk food lately.

Today's high is supposed to be 110º.  It was a little warmer today than yesterday, and my pace was a lot slower.  As I exited the Floodway path to go back home I saw this older black gentlemen that I see all the time, usually from the other side of the road.  As I passed him he said to me, "Looking good.  Looking good."

I've fallen behind on blogging.  Today is Saturday and the time is 4:36pm.  I'm really slacking.  I don't remember too much about this run other than I took a picture of a large falcon sitting in a tree.

It was warm this morning.  Like 91º.  So I went slow.  But good news!  The old man that I see that I thought probably runs faster than me, he doesn't.  I passed him this morning.  He's very kind.

Yesterday was the first day of girl's camp.  This is Emily's first time going.  So mommy is going with her.  I felt it more important to see them off rather than go running.  Plus the boys had to do a survey this morning.  They ended up surveying the wrong property.  lol.  I went this morning.  My phone said it was 90º and 95º when I stopped. 
 

I've been having this pain in my foot for, I don't know, maybe the last month?  Once I was outside by the pool slightly limping and my wife asked what was wrong.  I thought it was just a bunion or something so I told her nothing.  Well, early last week I decided to actually look at my foot.  I see this brown dot surrounded by pus.  I'm like, "Oh wow.  I have a splinter.  I guess there was something wrong."  Well, my wife was at girl's camp, and I wasn't brave enough to dig it out myself.  I figured I had been running on it this whole time so I did do another run last week.  But then I took a bunch of days off.  She finally got it out yesterday.  She poked and tweezed and prodded and squeezed.  She was getting bits and pieces of it out.  Or something out.  Then she finally squeezed and out pops this shard of glass!  So I've been running around for the last month with a shard of glass in my foot!

Anyway, it's a bit tender this morning.  But I was able to run fine.  I was super slow even though it was somewhat nice out.  I saw slow man and the hobo today.  My wife walked with two of my daughters, but I never saw them even though they were Flyby's on Strava.

My wife and I are taking a little trip up to Utah.  So if any of you Utah bloggers want to get on My Bloggers I've Met in Real Life list, now's the time.
 

My wife and I took a vacation up to Utah.  We visited Temple Square in Salt Lake City, mostly stayed in Park City, and spent half a day in Midway.  It was fun.  We tried to do a lot of outdoorsy type stuff.  On this day we hiked on a very busy pedestrian trail.  It was pretty scenery and some artsy murals in the underpasses and one tree with lots of retired shoes hanging on it.  We hiked up two miles together.  Then we turned around and ran down.  I got a little head start on my wife and I'm a little faster, so I waited at a bench for her at the trail head.   She texted me that she had a half mile to go, so I ran up to meet her.  She was only about a tenth of a mile away.  Then we ran back to the condo we rented together.
 

Today we went on a hike on the Abandoned Bonanza Trail Mine.  It started out kind of steep.  We got to the top and saw the old creepy abandoned mine.  Actually, it was pretty cool, but it was musty.  I saw a marmot.  That was really cool, too.

Today my wife and I rented mountain bikes and just rode around a little.  We went on the same trail as Wednesday, but we went the other direction.  That direction is downhill.  But it's a gradual downhill, and the climb uphill was not bad if you're in the right gear.  My wife was struggling because she never rides bikes anymore and it was hurting her pelvic bone.  Anyway, she told me to go on without her so I rode back up the trail to where we turned around Wednesday and then headed back towards her.  It started raining pretty good, but if felt nice.  By the time we got back to the bike shop it had stopped.  I got a little over 10 miles in, which is a short bike ride, but it was fun.

I thought I would feel pretty good today after all the outdoor activities we did on our trip.  But I felt awful today.  I'm really going to stick to my diet this time.

I felt a little better today.  But I was wheezing slightly for the first three quarters of a mile.  And my lower back is aching.  But I got out the door before 6am.  It was still 87º out and humid.

This morning was an interesting run.  We got some summer monsoon last night.  There was water in the Floodway.  When I got to it, I heard a clear sharp noise.  I honestly thought it was my wife calling my name.  I hope she doesn't read this.  I stopped and looked around but couldn't see anyone.  I heard it again, but since I was stopped I was able to distinguish that it sounded more like a duck.  Now, I don't speak duck, but it sounded like it was saying, "Somebody help my babies!"  Since I have saved baby ducks before, I knew I was the man for the job.  It sounded like it was coming from the Floodway as I kept hearing the quack over and over.  Like every 7 seconds.  I couldn't see it.  I wondered if it was coming from the culverts.  I didn't want to get my shoes/feet wet, but I decided I had to.  I couldn't let the baby ducks die.  When I got in the water, I couldn't hear it anymore.  I waded away looking in each culvert box.  Nothing.  Maybe I scared it and it flew out the other side.  I decided to enter one of the boxes.  It's about 7' tall and maybe 6' wide.  There's an 18" pipe that discharges through the sidewall.  I turned my flashlight and looked in.  Just cobwebs.  Well, maybe it wasn't a mother duck in distress.  Maybe it was a daddy duck in heat.  I decided to get out of there before I became the object of some lecherous duck's affection.

After about a mile it started to sprinkle.  It sprinkled the rest of the way.  I stopped to take a picture of the Canal.  That was the second time I stopped.  I think I stopped about 5 times.  Actually it was 7 times.  I just counted.  The third and fifth time was trying to cross University.  Lots of traffic.  After crossing University and heading towards Main St. I heard the duck sound again.  So I stopped and creeped up to the edge of the Floodway.  I couldn't see any ducks.  I could hear at least three quack noises, but no ducks.  I should be able to see ducks!  They're fairly large creatures!  Then it started to remind me of the noise I heard the time I did the Rangnar Chase the Moon.  I posted it on Facebook and somebody told me it was frogs.  I recorded it again, and now I'm convinced that it was frogs.  So I guess my wife sounds like a frog.

Anyway I continued running, stopped to cross University again and stopped shortly after that because I actually did see some ducks.  I wanted to take a picture, but my phone and finger was too wet, so it wouldn't unlock.  I started running again and was looking for the hobo.  I thought I could see a tent set up from a distance.  The closer I got, I could see something laying on the side of the Floodway path.  Was it the hobo?  Why wasn't he in the tent?  Was it really a tent?  Nope, it was something haning in a tree.  And it was the hobo laying down underneath another tree on the pavement.  Was he dead?  How did he survive the night without a tent.  No.  He's moving.  I got to him and he asked if I knew what time it was.  7th stop.  I pulled my phone out and told him it was 7:15am; meaning it was exactly 25 hours since I told him what time it was yesterday.  I then asked him where his tent was.   He said, "Oh, I don't have one."  I said, "I thought you did."  He said, "No.  What're you gonna do?"  I said, "How was it last night?  Did it rain all night?"  He said, "Yeah.  I was about as wet as you are."  I was soaked.  He looked real dejected.  We told each other to have a nice day and I finished up my run.