Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Season 9 of the Walking Dead is now available on Netflix.  What better way to spend a Sunday than by holing myself up in my room and binge watching?  I can't think of any.  I actually only watched one episode.  My grandson was in the room with me so we were probably watching that weird rabbit cartoon.  But I got this alert on my phone that there was a severe storm alert for the Maricopa area.  I looked outside and the wind was blowing and clouds were moving in.  I went outside because the temperature had dropped and it felt nice.  We hardly got any rain, though. 

This morning the temperature was actually 81º despite me leaving to run at 7:16am.  So that was nice.  I saw mostly dog walkers out.  As I was heading south on the Canal road I could see the hobo standing up looking over the Floodway.  I wondered if he was taking a tinkle.  I wonder where he usually takes his tinkles and poops.  I'm guessing he must go somewhere or by this point I would be able to smell it.  When I was heading back north on the Floodway path I saw another dog walker.  I also saw a tree that had been blown over in the storm.  I had to take a picture of it, and I had to tell the lady walking her dog that I was going to take a picture of it so that she wouldn't think I was a creeper for stopping right when we passed each other.  Then I ran past the hobo and yelled, "Did you see that tree that blew over down there?" He grumpily said, "Yes."  I think all he hears is, "I live in a house, and you don't!"  I'm the worst.  But I'm trying.
 

My feet are still a little sore from Saturday, but today's run felt like one of those runs where you could have gone faster.  Like parts of my legs wanted to run faster, but my sore feet did not. 

As I was running south on the Canal road, I saw a lady walking ahead of me.  I knew she was too far ahead for me to catch, but when she got to University, I lost sight of her.  Turns out she went over to the Floodway path, and I just didn't see her for some reason.  I finally caught up to her right after we passed the hobo, and I was so afraid that she was going to think I was the hobo chasing her.

I woke up at 5am this morning.  Well, I'm sure I was awake before that, but I got out of bed at 5am.  It was a little dark out, but the sun was on its way.  My phone said it was 87º out, but I think it cooled down.  There weren't very many people out.  I saw two ladies walking their dogs while I was heading south on the Canal road and they were heading north on the Floodway path.  There is a dip in the path where the green belt spills into the Floodway.  I saw one of the ladies run up the dip.  I crossed University and saw another runner.  We said good morning to each other.  Then right before I reached University again I saw another runner.  He looked familiar.  Turns out it was Matt Bell, a guy I've friended on Strava.  I sent him a message on Strava saying, "Nice seeing you this morning," even though I didn't recognize him at the time.  After I crossed the dip section I saw the two ladies again.  I was then able to recognize them as Sis. Porter and her daughter.  They were probably like, "Gross.  Br. McCumber is so sweaty."  Then I turned on Adobe and saw my wife.  She was just starting her walk.  She's been dealing with tummy issues the last week or so.  I gave her a quick kiss and headed home.

My wife has been complaining of stomach cramps for the last couple of weeks.  I got them last night.  As soon as they hit, I went and laid down.  They weren't that bad this morning, but I had two bouts with the toilet and finally started my run (my run-run, not the other kind) at 6:26am.  It was 85º.  I had this funny idea to try and run fast today.  So I picked up the pace.  I realized that it hurts to run fast.  I'm not used to it anymore.  And I certainly couldn't sustain a faster pace for much more than a quarter mile.  So that's what I did.  Run as fast as reasonably could, slowed down, then sped up.  I quit after a mile and a half.

I just wanted to do a nice and easy run this morning to recover from yesterday's "speed work."  Also, I'll probably run Usery Pass tomorrow, and I want to be ready for that.  Even though I was purposely trying to go slower, I actually was running about the same pace as usual.

I had a restless night sleep.  But I got much more sleep than my wife who got less than 3.  We're headed up to Kingman today so I can bless my niece.  But we still had time to run Usery.  It was me, Vickie, Mike, and Glen today.  Nice to have the band back together again.  For Mike, it was his first time running since basically Ragnar.  Still he ran faster than me.  I didn't really push it today.  I wanted to make it to the top, and I did.  Mike passed me first.  Glen had given us a head start.  When he finally caught up to me his headlamp was so bright that it made my shadow look enormous.  The traffic wasn't quite as bad as last week.  Probaby because we started an hour earlier and it wasn't a holiday weekend.  A few cyclists passed me going uphill as I was going up, but no one passed my going down as I was going up until I hit the 1 mile to go mark to the top.  Then there were about three more after that.  I crossed the road at the top and texted my wife.  Strava shows that she still went up a little ways after I texted her.  Maybe she didn't receive the text right away or maybe she wanted to ge a little extra.  It didn't seem like Glen and Mike were too far ahead of me.  In fact, I was surprised at how close to Glen Mike was.  It made me wonder if Glen kept going a little ways after reaching the top before turning around.  I didn't ask.  My shoe was coming untied, but I didn't want to stop until I got to the top.  About a tenth of a mile from the top there is a place where cars pull off the side of the road.  I saw some people in the dark around the truck so I ran up to them to ask if I could use their tailgate to tie my shoe.  It was two 12-ish year old boys holding shot guns, a dog, and their dad.  They were happy to let me.  I was happy to not get shot.  The way down was almost worse than going up because we had a headwind on the way up that helped cool us down.  Ooh, I almost forgot.  We got a few sprinkles on the way up.  Just bareley.  Made me wonder if it was bugs or something.  But Glen and Vickie confirmed that it was rain.  Mike didn't feel it.  Anyway, on the way down I could see Vickie at about the 2.25 mile to go mark.  I didn't catch up to her until 1.5 to go.  I briefly stopped to take a selfie with her.  Then I ran about another half mile and texted Mike to say that he could come pick us up if he wanted.  But he didn't reply back until I was basically at the stop sign.  So I just finished up, and I knew Vickie wasn't too far behind so we waited.  She was so close to 6 that she ended up running a little extra 'til she reached it.  I'm proud of her.

This weekend we took a short trip up to my home town of Kingman, AZ.  My sister wanted me to bless her baby, which I was happy to do.  She's no longer active in the church, and her husband is not a member, so you know, no pressure.  But I think it went all right.  I got to see some old friends.  I even saw inactive blogger Kerry Herbine.  When I first met him on the blog, he wasn't a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Now he is, and that makes me happy. 

Although it was nice to get out of town and see family, I ate more junk food than I should have.  I gained about 6 lbs. this weekend.  Blah.  That may be why I didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning.  But I did.  I started running, and felt more blah.  Wasn't sure if I would just do one loop today, but I decided I could do two.  When I got to University to head  north on the Floodway path, I saw a young, maybe late 20's, Latina who was getting her headphones and stuff ready to start running.  Her friend was about 200 feet up the path.  There was also the old lady I passed last week.  And finally, there was the biscuit buyer.  I caught up to the second Latina and was closing in on the old lady, but then I caught up to the biscuit buyer, with the sausage biscuit in the brown paper bag.  I decided to stop and ask him what the hobo's name is.  Jeff.  We talked for a couple of minutes.  Maybe only one.  The first Latina ran by me.  Then I wished him farewell and ran by the hobo, but I didn't say anything to him.  I passed the old lady up, then I almost got to the second Latina, but she started running.  She only ran for a little bit, so I was able to pass her.  I wondered if I would pass the first Latina, but she was running about the same pace I was, so I never caught her.  I turned at Adobe and saw Sis. Spencer running pushing her two-kid stroller.  I didn't check the temperature, but if felt cooler than it has been lately.  My last half mile was a lot faster than my first two miles.  Did I catch my breath after talking to biscuit buyer?  Was I subconsciously trying to catch the Latina?  I guess I'll never know.
 

Herbie was barking at something this morning at 5am.  It woke me up out of a dream.  Previously when Herbie barked at something and we didn't go check, we later found out that someone had gotten into our van and rummaged through stuff.  So I got up and went outside unarmed like an idiot.  I was so tired and it was taking a while for my eyes to adjust to the street lights.  I didn't see anything.  Finally I saw a couple walking down the street.  Later on I wondered if it was the Schumaker's.  Not sure if that's what Herbie was barking at or not, but I was up, so I may as well go running.

It was warm and humid out.  83º.  I could see a bright light on the RWCD road.  I figured it must be a cyclist.  It was.  Man that light was bright.  The sun was rising, and it was pretty out.  I saw my wife when I crossed the street south on the RWCD road at Adobe.  She gave me a kiss and asked how far I was going.  She's still having stomach issues, but she walked 3.96 miles.  When I got to Jeff he said, "You're out earlier this morning."  I said, "Yeah, my dog woke me up."  Then I told him to have a good day.  He seemed to be in a better mood today than usual.
 

So yesterday on my morning run I noticed that the Flood Control had wiped out all the creosote bushes that line the sloped banks of the Floodway in between Main and University.  I thought about the time when I counted the number of lizards I heard scurrying through them.  Now those lizards will have no shade.  Then, in the evening, when I was walking Herbie, I saw that they had cleared out all the creosotes from University to Main.  I was a little sad.  There was this cute little cactus that got wiped out.  I would've like to have taken that home and transplanted it.  Also, the coyote now has no place to hide.  And Jeff.  Jeff will now lose some of his privacy and possible shade.  So Herbie and I walked over to Jeff and I said, "They took all your bushes away."  He was back to sounding sad again.

This morning I saw they were ready to remove the bushes north of Adobe.  I didn't get very far in to my run when I got a phone call from my son.  They were already out at the site for their survey.  Truthfully, I had forgotten that they were going.  So I stopped and he told me they couldn't get radio connection again and one of the GPS heads kept dying.  So I told them I would meet them out there.  This meant I had to cut my run short, and I just did one loop.  But I tried to pick up the pace.  I pretty much pushed it as hard as I could and I can't even break a 10 min. pace anymore.  Well, I did last week when I just did one loop, but I couldn't today.  Just means I have to keep losing weight.
 

The power just flickered at my house and now I get to re-write my blog entry.  [Insert mad face emoji]

So yesterday I saw some posts from my friends up in Utah about how cool it's getting and that there is snow on the mountain tops.  This morning a friend up in Kingman posted that it was 60º.  So I looked at my phone and whaaattt??  77º???  It's finally under 83º.  It still felt warm, but I am noticing a difference.

Running south on the RWCD road I saw my two old Latina friends.  Why do I call them my friends?  Because today when I ran past them I said, "Hola amigas!", and one of them said, "Hola amigo" back to me. 

Now that I can see the other side of the Floodway because they've wiped out all the bushes, I noticed that I couldn't spot Jeff where he is usually at.  I figured I'd find him when I looped around.  But he was no where to be found.  Some of his stuff was there.  The tree goes vertical for about four feet, then bends west toward the Floodway.  Seems like all the trees on either side of the Floodway bend towards the Floodway.  His sweater was draped over the trunk.  His bag of water bottles was there.  That's pretty much all he has.  But no Jeff.  This was the very first time I've gone by there and he wasn't there since he took up residency about three months ago!

I finished up and my wife finished up right behind me.  She did 4.2 miles because she just turned 42 today.

Less than 100 miles to go on my shoes.  Will they last?

We went to IHOP last night for my wife's birthday.  She likes to take the entire family out for her birthday.  I saw one of my best friend's son there.  That was fun.  I haven't seen him in years.  Anyway, I ate too much.  I wasn't feeling great this morning, but that's all the more reason to run.  I ran real slow.  Typical for a Friday.  The Flood Control still hasn't cleared the creosotes on the west bank of the Floodway north of Adobe.  I'm sure they'll get to it soon.  I just did two loops today.  I saw my Strava friend Matt Bell.  I looked across the Floodway and Jeff was gone again.  But then I spotted him walking towards his hang out/home.  I passed a lady walking her two kids to school.  She was smoking a cigarette while holding her daughter's hand.  I felt sorry for the daughter who must be reaping the benefits of the second hand smoke.  But it's not my place to judge.  Then I passed Jeff and he had a cigarette in his mouth ready to strike up.  I said good morning and finished up.

Early morning run with Mike, Vickie, and Maggie.  I didn't sleep very sound last night.  I woke up at 1:30am and checked the time.  Oh good.  Still have over two hours before the alarm goes off.  But I kept waking up several times in between then.  The alarm went off at 3:45 am, meaning I had half an hour before Mike got here to pick us up.  Half an hour is barely enough time to get ready.  But it worked out today just fine.  After we jumped in Mike's truck we swung back around to pick up Maggie.  She only had one of her kids with her this weekend, and he's old enough to take care of himself.  We have different conversations when there are females in the vehicle.

After a quick stretch out, we were on our way.  The moon was full and lit up the desert enough for it to look real pretty.  Traffic wasn't bad, but I was surprised at the number of cars going uphill.  Mostly the cars are going downhill on their way to the lake.  Mike had past me up pretty early.  He finished a mile ahead of me again.  I would look back occasionally to see if my wife was still within my sight.  A lot of the time she would be.  She was moving pretty well.  She wanted to run up to the top and then turn back around and have us pick her up, which she was able to do.  I saw some runners heading downhill on the other side of the street when I neared the top.  It was still pretty dark out when I turned around, but my headlamp was squeezing my head too tight, so I took it off and held it for a while.  I took a sip from my water bottle at mile 3, 3.7 at the top, 4.7, 5.7, 6.5, 7.0, 7.25, and finished it off at 7.45.  I had also brought a bottle of PowerAid and I drank the whole thing in Mike's truck.  Maggie had turned around after a little over two miles, so she and Mike were waiting for me.  Then we went and picked up Vickie.  She had gotten to 6.15 miles.  She's doing great.
 

Usually I just enter in whatever number Strava tells me I got, but my Strava didn't record today.  I tried taking a picture of a partial rainbow this morning before I ran, and I must've not hit start or something because it said 0.0 miles and 0 minutes and 0 seconds.  Boo!  So I'll just put the mileage in from the last time I ran this route. 

As I was heading south on the Canal road a zanjero pulled up the same time I reached Lateral 3.5 (Adobe.)  I didn't recognize him so I kept going.  Now that all the bushes have been removed I could see all the way over to the other side of the Floodway.  From a distance I could see some people over near where Jeff is usually at.  My first thought is that it was the police.  As I got closer I could see that it was more hobos.  Or vagrants.  Or homeless people.  Whatever is the PC way of saying it.  I've gotten in enough trouble on this blog for my lack of sensitivity.  They had a bunch of stuff.  I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but there is another hobo that I see from time to time.  He's got himself a bike, a tent, a sleeping bag.  He's pretty hooked up.  I thought it might be him.  But when I finally got across from them where I could see better, I realized that Jeff was under one tree and the other two were under then next tree about 50 feet to the south.  I ran all the way down to Main St. (Lateral 4.5) and headed back up the Floodway path.  As I got to University, the other homeless couple had finished packing up and were leaving the path.  It was a man and a lady.  They were talking and the lady was standing right in the fence opening that I needed to go through.  She seemed like she had no intention of moving.  So I said, "Coming through!"  She moved a little bit and I threaded the needle between her and the fence.  They were talking about something.  Maybe about where they would go next.  It reminded me of the time I was in high school and my friend and I went down in this ravine and there was a homeless couple living under the bridge.  The man told his wife that he would be home soon.  Then he looked at us and got embarrassed because he didn't know we were there.

Well back to Jeff.  So I continued running and I saw biscuit buyer up the path.  Jeff was going out to meet him to get his daily sausage biscuit.  I got there right after the hand off so I stopped.  I asked him if he had new neighbors moving in.  He just kind of grunted.  I then looked at biscuit buyer and told him that the couple he had passed had camped out under the other tree.  I said I could see them from the other side and I thought it was the police coming to haul Jeff away.  Biscuit buyer said I'm sure Jeff wouldn't mind that.  I asked Jeff if he had talked to them at all.  He mumbled, "No."  He was not in a good mood today.  So I decided that I should get going.  Biscuit buyer told me that I need to motivate him to start running.  I said, "I'll tell you what.  This is the only thing keeping me from being 300 lbs."  Then I told them I'd see them tomorrow.  It was yet again, another awkward conversation.

It took me a while to get out the door this morning.  It was a little after 7am when I started.  But that's ok because Emily is staying home again today.  She's still a little sick.  My legs felt sore today.  I was moving slow.  Also, I didn't tie my shorts tight enough and they felt like they might fall off.  I decided to stop and tie them once I got behind the first tree on the Floodway path, but a guy was following me.  So I had to run farther to lose him.  But then there was another guy walking a dog.  So I had to run a little farther.  Luckily they never fell down, and I finally tied them up.  Also lucky the lady running on the other side of the Floodway didn't look over and see me.

I woke up shortly before 5am.  It was dark out.  I got dressed and went outside.  I could see a couple walking down the street.  I knew it was the Schumakers'.  I hollered good morning at them while I stretched out.  I ran my usual RWCD/Floodway 3 loop route.  Even though it was dark, there was just enough light to see without needing a headlamp.  I could see a few other runners out.  As I approached Brown Rd. I saw a lady walking two dogs.  Not sure where she was before.  Perhaps she was on the trail the whole time and I couldn't see her because it was dark or perhaps she was in the bottom of the Floodway.  Anyway, she heard me coming and moved over.  She was wearing a jersey with the name Susan on the back.  So naturally I said, "Good morning, Susan."  She said back to me good morning with an inflection in her voice that meant, "I don't recognize you yet, but you obviously know me, so I'm going to say good morning back to you and hope that it dawns on me soon who you are."  I felt like such a jerk because I just kept running.

It started getting light out as I was headed back north.  That's when I noticed my underwear was rubbing me raw.  It stung so bad in the shower.  I saw Sis. Porter and her daughter again walking their dogs.  Then I saw my wife heading east on Adobe.  It looked like I was a little bit ahead of her.  But then she turned south on the Canal Road.  I waved at her and saw her stop.  I was wondering why she had stopped.  So I stopped.  Then I got a text from her that she was going to run a mile.  She ran it in 12:03.  That's her best time yet!

I forgot to blog today.  (Today is Friday.)  I remember turning on to the Floodway path shortly after the Porter ladies ran by.  I was following them and thought I would be able to catch them, but wasn't sure how long it would take.  They're slow.  I'm slow.  So, you know...

Eventually Sis. Porter stopped to check her dog's paw.  Her daughter kept going a little way with her dog.  Then Sis. Porter started running again and her daughter stopped so she could catch up.  That's about when I caught up.  Then the two dogs got their leashes tangled and Sis. Porter seemed annoyed about it.  That's all I can remember.

I just did one loop today.  My left ankle is pretty sore today.  Tendons I think.  I saw the Porter ladies again.
 

This morning at 3:14am I was awoken by Herbie barking.  I looked at the time and immediately thought it was 4:14am and that Herbie must be barking at Mike and we were late.  But nope, we still had half an hour before we needed to be up.  I went upstairs to find Herbie.  He was actually in the room above me which is my daughters' room.  He was barking out the back window, so no idea what he was barking at.  Maybe a coyote jumped the fence?  Well, I still wanted that extra half hour of sleep.  But then at 3:22am Mike sent a response to the group text that he wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to make it.  I responded, "Ok."  Then I responded, "Everyone else, I'll pick you up an hour later."  Everyone else was my wife, Maggie, and Glen.  Then Maggie replied that her youngest was up and wasn't feeling well, so she wouldn't be able to sneak out.  It ended up being just me, Vickie, and Glen.  And we were a few minutes late because of the Jalapeno Bucks we ate for lunch yesterday.

We got to the sheriff's station and stretched out.  I was the first to leave with my wife right behind me.  Glen gave us a head start.  He caught me at the half mile mark.  Since we were out an hour later we didn't bring any of our lights with us, but Vickie and Glen wore reflective vests.  I just wore my orange outfit.  But since we were out an hour later, there were tons and tons of cyclists today.  Glen left me in the dust and I'm not sure how far he went.  I stopped once to take a picture of a tarantula on the side of the road.  I finally saw Glen when I got to the top.  He reached the crest a few steps before I did, but I had to wait for some motorcycles and cyclists before I could cross.  So he was a good 50 feet ahead of me again.  And at this point we were being attacked by gnats.

I had sent that picture of the tarantula to the group text.  My wife saw it and took her own picture and sent it out.  That means she wasn't too far behind me.  When I passed by her going down she was only about 9 tenths of a mile behind me.  She's getting better and better.  Glen was out of sight again.  And now is when just an entire horde of cyclists started riding up.  I spent more time on the side of the road than on the shoulder.  Of course that's not true, but with my left ankle still sore from yesterday, it felt like it.  I finally made it to the bottom.  It was nice and cool today and I still had plenty of water left.  I was going to run to our jeep, but I saw a bunch of horses in the Salt River Tubing parking lot across the street.  So I ran to them to take a couple of pictures.  Then I called Vickie to see if she wanted to finish so she could see the horses or if she wanted us to come get her.  She opted to have us come get her.  She was able to do 6.25 miles, her furthest run ever.

Yesterday I saw that there would be an 80% chance of rain this morning.  It did indeed rain.  We could hear it starting around 6am.  I still wanted to run so I got dressed.  It started coming down harder.  Then I looked in the laundry room and saw that water was coming in the door.  This does happen from time to time when it rains just right.  But now that our pig has destroyed the rain gutter downspout, I'm sure it will happen more often.  So I went around the house and started scooping buckets of water out and tossing them in the yard.  The rain kept coming and I was getting drenched.  After a while I was noticing that it was filling up faster than I could scoop.  My wife came by and I asked her to get the tarp.  My son brought it out and of course as soon as we got it hung up, it stopped raining.  I then decided to clean out the pool because that's a mess, too.

Finally I decided I could go running.  But my shirt was so soaked that I took it off as soon as I hit the Floodway.  I figured nobody would see me, and I was mostly right.  I didn't worry about puddles because my shoes and socks were beyond drenched by that point.  The Floodway was half full and I stopped a couple of times to take pictures.  There were a lot of ducks in it and I was worried that they lay their eggs in the bottom and now they would be lost.  When I got back around to Adobe, I saw another runner wearing what looked like a green cotton T-shirt.  He turned north on the the other side of the Canal.  I don't even think he saw me.  I continued south crossing Adobe.  I could hear the frogs again.  I stopped a couple of more times just to watch the water flowing by and try to look for frogs.  Jeff wasn't there.  Hopefully he found shelter somewhere.  As I was approaching Adobe again, I saw green shirt again.  This time we were on the same side of the Floodway so I said good morning to him.  He probably thought I was a weirdo for not wearing a shirt.  I think he's a weirdo for wearing a cotton shirt.  I put my shirt back on before I got out of the Floodway and into the neighborhood.  I got home and noticed my pace was faster than usual.  This tends to happen I've noticed when I run in the rain.
 

I had to purchase a new radio for our survey equipment yesterday.  That was a quick two grand.  [Insert crying face emoji].  It works well.  We even used it immediately after picking it up.  It was late in the afternoon before we headed home and my wife was taking one of my daughters to a job interview, so she told us to buy our own dinner.  I was going to stop at Jalepeno Bucks again.  But they were closed.  So we went somewhere worse.  Filiberto's.  I tossed and turned all night last night.  I've got to stop doing that. 

I felt terrible as I started running.  I decided to just to one loop.  But once I got close to Adobe I decided I could easily do another loop.  My pace was a lot slower than yesterday, but that's okay.  I saw Jeff.  He asked me what time it was and seemed to be in a good mood today.  Not sure if it's going to rain more today, but it is cloudy.
 

I had sore muscles in places where I don't usually have sore muscles.  I ran slow again today, but it was a little faster than yesterday.  Jeff stopped me today to see if I had seen Dave.  Dave must be biscuit buyer.  Then he apologized for making me stop.
 

Well, our new radio still wasn't transmitting.  That's kind of frustrating.  Could just be site specific.  I hope it is.  It worked fine the first day we got it.  Anyway, I had to go out with the boys this morning to do our survey by hand.  I had to make sure I got up early.  I was feeling better today, so I decided to do 3 loops.  I saw the Porter girls.  They seemed to be getting in better and better shape.  I saw a couple more runners pass by me on the Canal road.  And I saw Jeff, but we didn't speak today.  When I got home and looked in the mirror I could see red dots around my left nip.  I thought, "Did I bleed on such a short route?"  I mean, I did sweat a lot.  Then I looked at my right nip and could see a stream of blood going down my shirt.  It wasn't much, but I thought it would sting when I took my shower.  Lo and behold it was fine.  That is until the water hit my right armpit.  Then holy Hannah, it stung!  I guess my shirt tore the heck out of my under arm.  I'm going to have to get rid of it.
 

I guess I forgot to blog again.  (It's Saturday.)  Let's see what do I remember about this run?  Lots of sweat.  Definitely lots of sweat.  Jeff asked me what time it was and said it couldn't possibly be past 6am, could it?  It was 6:45am.

Well, I have to say this is the most miles I've gotten in a month in a while.  Just a guess.  I might go back and look when the last time I got this much.  I'm not sure if my shoes will last another 50 miles, but I'm optimistic.

This morning it was me, Vickie, Mike and Glen.  No Maggie.  She was sick.  It didn't seem like there was as many cyclists this morning as last week.  I had stretched out before Mike came to pick us up, so I only needed to stretch a little before I started.  I got another head start on everyone.  The first cyclist came cruising down the hill and turned around and headed back up.  I could hear him saying to Glen and Mike that they were the real men.  Glen caught me at the half mile point.  Mike caught me right around 0.9 miles.  Mike ran 14 secons per mile slower than he did last week.  I ran 10 seconds per mile faster.  When Glen passed me it was like I was standing still.  And he runs so effortlessly.  It's amazing.  I was able to keep Mike in my sights for most of the time.  Mike is really tall.  Like 6'5" or 6'6". He looked real stiff this morning and I thought he looked real goofy.  But then I thought, "He just passed me.  I must look even goofier."  Before I got to the top I saw another runner running down.  He was not part of our group.  Then I saw Mike coming down.  That means Glen had continued on.  When I got to the top I could see him coming back.  Last week we both got to the top at the same time.  This week I was a little ahead of him.  I stopped to take a quick drink out of my frozen water bottle that was mostly thawed out by this time, but still had a chunk of ice in the middle.  Oh my gosh, cold water during a run is soooo good.  Then I plodded downhill.  I don't know if it was my plodding or Glen's stealthiness, but I didn't hear him when he caught up to me and it startled me a little.  I asked how far he went.  He said down to the shooting range.  I asked if that's how far he went last week.  He said yes.  So I guess I'm getting faster and he's staying the same?  Anyway, I saw my wife right after she passed Bulldog.  That means I was a mile ahead of her.  Her goal was to average a 15:30 pace going uphill.  She average 15:36.  My water bottle stayed mostly cold on the way down, and I would take a couple of swigs every mile.  I finished it right before the stop sign.  I called Vickie to see if she wanted us to wait for her to finish or pick her up.  She said she was at 5.5 miles and wanted 6, so we should wait 10 minutes and then come get her.  So naturally I waited 5 minutes and we went and picked her up.  She got 6.2 miles.  Another fun run, but man I was sweaty.

After Saturday's run, which was my fastest time since we started running it again, I noticed that my legs felt surprisingly good.  So I thought I might as well try and run a little extra this morning than what I usually do.  I decided to run north up the Floodway path and continue north past Brown Rd.  A little less than a quarter of a mile (probably an eight of a mile) past Brown is where the Floodway path merges into the RWCD east road.  When I got there for some reason I thought I should take a look behind me and see if anyone was coming up the RWCD road.  Sure enough there was another runner coming behind me.  He quickly caught up to me and said, "Have a good one."  He looked a few years older than me, but he was moving fast.  I felt like I was moving slow, but my pace was one second per mile faster than Saturday's pace.  Anyway, when the runner got to Greenfield and crossed the street, he started walking and I could tell he was pretty tired.

Right before I got to McKellips I saw another runner coming towards me.  I thought maybe it was my Strava friend, Matt.  But it was some kid.  I saw a man walking his dog way up the road, but I never caught him.  He turned around at the catwalk and I continued on and touched the fence.  I couldn't catch him before he turned at the 1-1/2 canal gate either.  Again, I thought I must really be going slow.  Right before I got to Brown Road again I saw Gordon.  I petted him for the first time today.