Go, you chicken fat, go away!

The daydawn is breaking, the world is awak'ning.  Y huyen las sombras de obscuridad.

I got up before 4am this morning and started running at 5:19am.  It was dark.  I didn't bring a light with me.  Except my phone, which I didn't use.  As I approached the Floodway path, I could see a cyclist coming up to Adobe from the south on the Floodway path.  He/she had to stop to squeeze through the fence opening.  He/she probably saw me turn on to the Floodway path heading north, so he/she decided not to follow me.   This is where it was real dark.  There was no moon or stars, just a little bit of light from the neighborhood.  Then I got to a place where someone had a very bright light in their backyard.  But that didn't help.  It made it worse as it blinded me.  I couldn't even tell if I was going to stay on the path or not.  Luckily I did.

I got to Brown and headed over to the RWCD road when I saw someone leaving going through the fence of the RWCD road.  He had a light and a dog and seemed to be moving swiftly.  It took me about a second, but I realized it was Jesse Lee from the ward.  You know, the former relief society president's husband.  I said, "Hi Jesse!"  He said, "Hey Burt."  Glad he recognized me in the dark.  Half way between Brown and Adobe I saw a woman on the west side of the RWCD Canal.  She also had a light and a dog.  I wondered if it was Jesse's wife, but I didn't ask.  Then when I got to Adobe there was another woman waiting for me to go through the fence so she could walk her dog.  She also had a light.  Apparently I didn't get the memo.  That was the last person I saw until I came up to Jeff.  It was still dark out, but dawn was upon us.  I couldn't see him right away, but then I noticed him standing up next to the tree.  I said, "Good morning, Jeff."  He said, "It's early.  What time is it?"  I said, "It's really early!", as I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time.  "It's 5:42!", I yelled as I ran by.

My pace was slower than yesterday which is to be expected when running in the dark.  My legs are a little sore from yesterday and Saturday, but they're good.

I had to go to a meeting today in Florence which is about an hour away.  I contemplated not going running, but I figured I had time.  I felt pretty good today.  I saw more runners than I usually see.  One was running on the RWCD road while I was running on the Floodway path.  He was going slightly faster than me.  He turned and went west when he reached Brown.  I saw another runner that was running west on Brown and turned north on the RWCD road.  She looked like she was going fast.  When I crossed Adobe I could see another runner in front of me maybe a quarter mile.  When he got to University he turned west.  But then he got on the west RWCD Canal road and headed north.  So I waved at him.  When I got to Jeff he said, "You're really picking up the pace today, huh?"  I said, "I'm trying!"  I did feel like I was running somewhat faster than normal, and I was, but not that much.  Oh well.

I got up early, but didn't go running 'til it was light out.  I did 3 loops today.  As I approached Adobe I saw Gordon and his owner crossing the street at the stop sign.  He finally turned his head, the owner that is, and saw me, so I waved at him.  Then I got on the Floodway path and turned north.  I saw the Porter ladies again.  I felt like I was running faster, but not really that much faster than yesterday.  I headed back south down the RWCD east road.  Not much was going on except that I noticed my breathing was under control and I felt good.  Half way between Adobe and University I heard footsteps behind me.  What the heck?  I turned and saw this tall blonde lady about to pass me.  She looked at me and said, "It's such a beautiful morning out.  I love it."  She had headphones on and couldn't hear a word I said back to her.  But I told her I agreed.  When she got to University she circled around a mesquite tree and headed back north.  We waved at each other and I crossed University and continued south.  I was still feeling good, but not like I was doing any better than yesterday even though I was running an extra mile than yesterday.  I saw Jeff standing at the edge of the Floodway looking out over it.  He seemed sad so I didn't say anything to him.  Then I saw Sis. Reed and her dog.  I told her good morning, and I finished up.  I was surprised when I looked at my Strava and saw that my pace was 20 seconds faster per mile than yesterday.  I think that's a good sign.

I've been doing real good at not missing days for at least a month now, except for Sundays.  I mostly run on a relatively flat surface except on Saturdays when we run Usery.  But I just signed up for a team to run the Arizona Trail Ragnar race in a month's time.  So I'm going to have to do some more hill training.  Also, I guess I'm currently in the middle of a Ragnar event.  The Triple Peak Challenge.  I'll blog about that Saturday.

Yesterday my brother-in-law had one of his court dates.  It's a real awkward situation because it's my wife's sister's ex-husband and we're supporting him instead of her.  I don't want to get into the "why's" here on the blog, but it was a long morning.  At least things finally got accomplished.  Afteward I had a headache.  I don't know if it was a stress headache from the last five years of seeing my BIL go through this or what, but I didn't get a lot of my work done yesterday like I wanted to.

I woke up early this morning and got dressed.  My wife told me that she had to babysit for someone in our ward.  I took Herbie out back and stretched out.  When I came upstairs to feed Herbie I saw my wife wearing regular clothes.  I'm so used to seeing her in her workout clothes that I asked her what she's doing.  Then I remembered she had to babysit.  And then I remembered that I needed to run Hilltop today because of the Ragnar Three Peaks challenge.  I had thought that I would have to take my daughters to school and do it then.  But my wife reminded me that it was still early and I could do it now, but she also asked me when the boys were going out on their survey this morning.  That's when I forgot that I didn't even set it up for them.  So I ran downstairs and got everything ready.  The point is, I've been very forgetful since yesterday.

I still had time to go before we had to get kids off to school and whatnot, so I drove over to Hilltop.  I started out real slow.  There were probably 20 other people hiking up and down it.  The first ascent up wasn't too bad, but I was wheezing a lot.  I stopped to catch my breath and take a couple of pictures and then headed back down.  Going back down was slow, too, because I didn't want to slip.  I went back up one more time and this time there was a lot of walking.  Then I ran back down again and drove home.  The total elevation gain as recorded by Strava was 612 feet.

I sent a text out yesterday to see who was running today.  Everyone was coming.  But I woke up at 3:45am to a text from Maggie saying she wouldn't be able to make it.  I went to the bathroom, then went and laid back down.  Then I went to the bathroom again.  Mike was supposed to pick us up at 5:00am, and I got a text at 4:53am saying he was here.  I texted him back and said I had just gotten off the toilet.  I threw my running clothes on and urged my wife to hurry up since she was lagging behind, too.  Then Mike texted again saying he needed to use our bathroom.  So I put Herbie outside and told him to come in.  This gave Vickie time to get ready.  But she also let Herbie back in before Mike went outside.  So Herbie started barking at Mike.  Then he stopped and went and sniffed his leg.  Then he started barking again.  Stupid dog.

By this time it was 5:04am and we went to pick up Glen.  We drove out to Usery, stretched out, and were on our way.  I left before everyone else, but Glen and Mike were right behind me.  Mike's tummy was giving him issues and he was worried that he'd have to turn around before getting to the top, but he made it fine.  Vickie also was having issues, but she held it in.  Mike and Glen both caught me at the stop sign as there were a few cars that I waited for because I don't trust anyone.  It was dark out so I was wearing my reflective vest, LED, and headlamp.  There were a lot of cyclists coming down, which was a bit annoying because I always step over into the dirt/gravel, and that's hard to do in the dark.  It wasn't until Bulldog that it was light enough for me to take my headlamp off, but I was only 0.8 miles to the top, so I left in on 'til then.  I saw Mike coming down first.  Glen is the fastest, but he always runs further.  Right as I got to the top I saw a bike slowing cresting over the hill.  It was a former Ragnar teammate of mine from 2008, Jay MacKinlay.  We stopped and talked briefly and I headed back down.  It's always fun to see people you know.  I saw Vickie near Bulldog again.  I think she was going slower than last week, but she's still putting in the work.  Now it's time for General Conference.  Good luck St. George marathoners.
 

Less than 20 miles to go on these shoes.

I finally took a day off.  Well, I always take Sundays off, but that doesn't count.  I am so busy with work.  I pretty much didn't work Conference weekend, so I have to catch up.  That's all I'm ever doing is catching up. 

There are all these pretty bushes that are in bloom right now with little purple flowers.  They smell like a rotting carcass whenever I run by them, but they really are pretty.  So I decided to take a picture of one which was off the path a little way.  Right when I got off the path I saw this lady.  She probably thought I was going over to tinkle.

I ran to the top of the RWCD Canal today.  That's nearly the same distance as our Saturday morning runs.  It felt like it was slow, but turned out to be a decent pace for me lately.  That's a good sign.  I feel exhausted now, so I hope I can have a productive day.

Today was kind of a weird day.  My legs are more sore than they have been in quite some time.  I guess that means I'm getting out of my comfort zone.  I normally have cub scouts today in the afternoon, so I was texting the parents of my scouts to see who would be able to make it today.  There's only two boys left.  Well, three, but one is real sickly and hasn't been able to come yet.  Another turns 9 this month and he earned his Wolf ages ago.  The other is the son of our former Bishop who reminded me that our current Bishop asked that there be no activities during Fall Break.  Well, both sets of parents were texting me back early in on my run and since my legs were sore, I stopped to read and respond to them.  While I was texting Bishop back I realized that standing across the other side of the Floodway was a man dressed in all red.  I was literally pointing right at him so that he might have thought I was taking his picture or something.  I finished my texts and looked back over and couldn't see him.  I started running again and went to the other side.  I still couldn't see him anywhere and I started imagining that he had crossed over the Floodway to find out why I was taking pictures of him.  I finally saw him about 200 feet south of where he was when I originally saw him.  There was a bike laying down where I had seen him.  I kept running 'til I got to him and saw that he was carrying a medium sized stone in his hand.  Did he want to bash me over the head?  He looked dirty, like maybe a vagabond.  We told each other good morning.  I kept going towards Adobe and I saw this older couple walking up the road.  I contemplated telling them to be on guard, but I didn't.  Instead I stopped at Adobe and watched to make sure they passed him safely. 

That was the half way point and my legs were feeling better so I kept going.  I ran down to University, left the RWCD road and went back to the Floodway path.  It's been a few days since I've been around here and I hadn't seen Jeff since the last time.  I could see his stuff from the RWCD road so I knew he was there.  When I got close I saw what looked like a clump of clothes.  But that's weird because he only has one outfit.  Then I realized it was him lying down with his jacket over his head.  I stopped to see if there was any movement.  I couldn't see any, but he's a sound sleeper.  Still, I guess he could have been dead.  I thought about calling for him, but didn't want to wake him.  So I started running again, but shortly thereafter I stopped again because there were all these tents set up behind some bushes on the other side of the path.  There was a bicycle and some other stuff.  I couldn't see anyone, but my imagination once again started to create a scenario that the red outfit guy and his crew set up camp here, murdered Jeff, and pulled his coat over his head.

I took my wife and we went and hiked Hilltop.  She summitted once and I did it twice.  My legs are still sore, but as long as I'm getting stronger, it's all good.

My muscles were real sore this morning.  I contemplated doing 3 loops today, but because of how my legs were feeling I was leaning more towards just 2.  Plus, I want to be fresh for tomorrow.  I figured I would decide while I was running whether or not to go 3.

It was dark out.  I saw a lady up ahead of me on Adobe walking her dogs.  I hoped she would continue straight, but she turned up the Floodway path.  I made sure to let her know I was coming when I got close so as to not spook her.  I was hoping my legs would loosen up and they finally did after a half mile.  When I got to Brown and went over to the Canal road, I saw a boy walking with a skateboard.  I told him good morning.  Then I could see a light coming up the way.  It was another lady walking a dog.  So many people out in the dark this morning.  Then I could see two more figures down the path.  I told them good morning.  They said good morning back to me as we passed and that's when I noticed it was the Ray's.  I said, "Oh hey, Ray's."  When I got to Adobe I still thought about doing 3 loops, but a quarter of a mile later, my knee started hurting a tad so I decided two would be fine.  I came back up the Floodway path and saw Jeff sleeping under his jacket again.  It's kinda getting cold now, so I hope he gets a thicker jacket.  It was starting to get light out.  Right before I got to Adobe I saw the same lady and her dog again, but she had taken off her headlamp.  When I got on Adobe I saw the Ray's again and wished them a great day.

So, our landlord wants to put the house on the market.  He offered to sell it to us, but my wife hates it.  Seems as though we'll be moving again shortly.  I'll miss my neighbors and friends and ward and Jeff and my running paths.  I hate moving.  We do it so often.  It would be nice to actually be able to settle down somewhere.  Hopefully this is the time.

Glen was out of town.  Maggie got back into town late.  Vickie was sick.  So it was just me and Mike this morning.  On the way there we almost hit a big fat skunk.  I started out with Mike right behind me.  He caught me at about 0.4 miles.  I only saw 4 cyclists on the way up.  They were all headed downhill.  I got to the top and saw that someone had decorated a small saguaro cactus in Halloween decorations.  I took a picture and headed back down.  This is when all the cyclists came out.  They must not be coming out as early anymore due to the colder weather.  I mean, why not wait until there's daylight if it's gonna be a beautiful day?  On the way down I saw two ladies standing on either side of the road.  I knew what that meant.  Horses.  There were probably 10 wild horses, one of them a baby.  I took a couple more pictures and finished up.  Over the last 6 weeks I've gotten faster and faster on this route.  I was 8 seconds per mile faster than last week.  Last week I was 6 seconds per mile faster than the week prior.  The week prior I was 10 seconds faster, which was 12 seconds faster, which was 24 seconds faster than the week previous.  The bottom of my right foot hurts now, but hopefully it will get better by Monday.
 

I just wanted to do a small run today because of how my foot felt after Saturday's run.  Seemed ok today, so I'll go further tomorrow.  I ran past Gordon today.  His owner saw me coming and made sure to put him on his leash real quick.  I don't think he needed to do that for me.  He probably didn't realize it was me at the time.  Anyway, I got to Brown and started heading back south on the RWCD road when I heard him hollering for Gordon.  Apparently Gordon had bolted for the street.  But he came back.  I continued south and saw two coyotes up ahead.  When I got closer the saw me coming so they went over to the bushes.  I took some pictures of them.  One of them squatted down and took a poo.  Honestly.  Coyotes have no sense of shame.  I tried to get close to them, but they ran away.  I looked around to see if Gordon was coming back, but they must've turned east on Brown.  I watched them for a while until I saw another runner coming.  When they got there I pointed them out to him.  Then I ran home.

Finally I get to put these shoes to rest.  I should've stopped wearing them 300 miles ago.  Little old lady.  I ran two loops this morning in the dark.  I was running south down the RWCD road and I heard some music behind me.  I glanced back and saw someone.  But it was dark, so I couldn't tell if it was one person, two persons, a person on their bike, or what.  Whoever it was, it seemed like they would pass me soon.  After running a little bit without being passed, I looked back again.  Now I could make out that it was one person and a dog.  I kept running and they finally passed me.  The man said, "Good morning, Burt."  It was Jesse Lee.  I said good morning back and later sent him and his wife a text message that he was a creeper for running in the dark without a light.  I'm trying to recruit them to join my Ragnar team.  What better way than by calling them creepers?  I kept running and Jesse put some some distance between us.  Then I could see another form up ahead.  Had Jesse reached the fence and turned around?  Nope, it's a man on a bike.  And he's headed right towards me.  I was pretty much hugging the edge of the Canal, and he wouldn't move over.  So I completely stopped and practically tippytoed the top of the canal bank so he could ride past.  Douche.  I kept going and I could see another shadowy figure.  Without arms.  It was a guy walking with his hands in his pocket.  I got to Adobe and could see Jesse running down to his neighborhood.  He lives on the other side of the Canal from me.  They are the soc's and we are the greasers.  I ran the next loop without seeing any more figures.  Other than Jeff snoozing away.

I'm feeling pretty good.  I wanted to do a long run, but I didn't get outside until late.  It actually wasn't that late, but I thought it was because I'd been up for over an hour.  So I did 3 loops.  It was just starting to get light out, but still dark when I started.  I came into the Floodway and a dog barked at me.  The owner said, "He won't bite.  He sees you running and wants to run with you."  I've seen this lady and her dog before.  I believe that's the exact same thing she said to me last time.  I got to Brown and went over to the RWCD road to head south.  Somewhere between Brown and Adobe I came across another runner whom I'd never seen before.  I ran down to Main Street, went back over to the Floodway path and headed back north.  My pace was pretty good.  Well, pretty good for me lately.  When I crossed University, I saw Gordon and I patted his head.  Then I saw Jeff snoozing with his jacket over his head.  The End.

2 climbs up Hilltop again.  My wife is part of a bunko group of 12 ladies.  So once a year bunko is held at my house.  Last night was that once a year.  I ended up eating my dinner in my room.  Naturally I fell asleep early.  My 4 year old grandson was also in bed with me with a fever.  Around 1:45am I woke up.  I couldn't get back to sleep for another two, two and a half hours.  I finally got out of bed around 7:45am which is the time we wake Emily up.  So, no running before getting her on the bus.  My wife and I left at 9am and it was a little warm.  I think I could have done more than just 2 climbs if we'd gone earlier and it was still cool out.

There were a lot of people there as usual.  Vickie didn't want to climb up because she is still not feeling well.  I haven't been able to run all the way up without stopping to catch my breath yet.  Maybe next week.  On the way down after the first climb almost at the bottom I saw this girl on the road ahead of me taking selfies.  I passed her up and stopped at the gate to catch my breath again.  She asked me how many times I was going to go up.  I said, "I think just twice."  She said, "Don't say 'just' twice.  That's great.  Keep up the hard work."  She smelled just like my wife's best friend, but I thought it would be inappropriate to tell her that.

I sent the text message out yesterday to see who was coming.  Mike said he couldn't come.  His dog died this week.  I don't know if that's why he didn't come or not.  Maybe.  Glen said he would need to be back by 7am, and it would be cutting it a little close, so he would let us know.  I said we could start at 4:30am if he wanted.  Maggie finally responded around 6:30am and said she would as long as my wife was coming.  I told her that my wife was feeling better and would be.  She was worried about the pizza she was going to eat and how it might make her feel sick.  I told her we were having Taco Bell for dinner, so we'd all suffer together.  Glen texted back after I had gone to bed to say he wouldn't make it.  So it was just me and the ladies.

The last three nights I've woken up real early.  I woke up around 3am this morning.  But that turned out to be a good thing because it gave me plenty of porcelain time, and I needed it after Taco Bell.  We told Maggie we would pick her up at 4:45am, but we got there 5 minutes late.  We drove out to Usery and I was trying to figure out how many miles I could get in because Maggie also needed to be back by 7am.  I figured 6 miles would be about right.

Maggie and Vickie got the head start today.  I was having trouble getting my LED blinky light to turn on.  I had almost given up, but then it came on.  I caught up to them shortly after the stop sign.  There was a whole slew of cyclists that were coming down right when I passed them and some cars.  It was like a traffic jam.  Luckily there's an extra patch of asphalt right there.  I was feeling rather good this morning despite the Taco Bell.  It was for the first time in a long time a bit cold.  I warmed up pretty quick, so it didn't bother me, but my wife complained that she was freezing the whole time.  She and Maggie stayed together and just walked today.  Maggie is going through a hard financial crunch right now, and she was unloading on Vickie.  I know it's got to be hard for her.

It was dark and hard to see my regular landmarks, but I was pretty sure I knew exactly where I was.  But I questioned myself because I was running faster.  I was like, "Am I really at 1.7 miles?"  I pulled out my Strava and it said 1.7 miles.  I think working out my climbing muscles doing Hilltop is really helping.  I felt strong all the way up.  I knew 3 miles would be shortly after Bulldog so I pulled Strava out and saw that I was at 3.0 miles.  I ran a little bit further just in case I stopped before reaching our Jeep or something.  Then I crossed the street, texted Vickie to let her know that I was turning around, and took a drink.  My water bottle was still over half way frozen.  Usually it thaws faster, but with the cooler temps it didn't.  It's still not melted all the way and it's 9:30am right now.  I headed back down and it felt like I was moving faster than my usual Saturday morning runs.  I was in fact.  My pace was 26 seconds faster per mile than last week.  It wasn't too long and I could see a couple of shadowy figures ahead of me.  I knew it must be Vickie and Maggie.  I hoped I could sneak up on them without them hearing me.  I caught up to them at 4.4 miles, but they heard me right before I got to them.  I still yelled "boo!" and good gamed my wife.  I was going to keep running, but she reminded me that she had the keys.  So I grabbed them from her and headed down for the final 1.7 miles.  There were other runners out today.  I think I saw 5 others.  Which is a lot.  I got down to the Jeep and was disappointed that I didn't see any wild horses today.  But I did see a coyote in the parking lot.  I did my best to call it over to me, but it wouldn't come.  Then I drove up the hill and picked up Vickie and Maggie.  We got her home by 6:55am.
 

I wanted to do a 6 mile run today, but it was getting kinda late by the time I got out the door.  I decided to run up the Floodway to Greenfield Rd. then back down the RWCD Canal to Main St. and home.  Turned out to be 4.65 miles.  I had a good pace despite the dessert I ate last night.  I could feel it, but I think I'm definitely getting faster.  After doing the loop from Brown to Greenfield and back to Brown, I could see a lady walking with two little dogs.  She all of the sudden turned around and headed back towards Brown.  I thought that was an odd place to turn around.  Did she forget something?  Did she have diarrhea like I did this morning?  I said good morning to her and then spotted a coyote up ahead on the Canal road.  I said, "Is that a coyote?" (knowing full well that it was.)  I just wanted to make conversation.  She said yes.  Turns out the two coyotes I saw last week are still hanging around.  I wonder if they have babies around there somewhere.  They seemed like they were being protective.  Or maybe they were just hungry.  I stopped for a while and took pictures and video.  Then I finished my run.

I got out the door a little earlier today, so I was ready to run a little longer.  My right hamstring is a bit tight. 

So, I take my dog on a walk every day around 5:30PM - 6PM.  Last night I was hoping we'd find the coyotes again that I saw on my run in the morning.  We usually go south down the middle of the Floodway.  We went north and Herbie was very excited to be exploring something new.  As we were going a lady and a kid told us that there was a coyote just up ahead of us.  I thanked her and it wasn't long before we saw it.  Of course Herbie wanted to chase it, but knowing that there are two of them, I wasn't about to let go of the leash.  We just watched it for a while, and when it disappeared in the bushes, we cut through the brush on to the east Canal road.  There we saw it again.  I took three videos of it.  One when we were down in the bottom of the Floodway and two on the Canal road.  In the second video (all of the videos are posted on Facebook) we decided to get a little closer and chased it back in the bushes again.  Then we headed back south toward home and saw it one more time.  Only now, it was agitated and started yipping at us.  My guess is that they've got a litter of pups right close to there and they're being protective.  It's a real cool video.

Anyway, this morning I wanted to see if I could see them again so I ran past there.  I didn't see them.  I continued north all the way up to McDowell.  It's about 2.8 miles to McDowell.  I turned back south and a half mile later I saw my Strava buddy Michael.  I said, "Good morning, Michael!"  He said, "Hey, good morning!  Lookin' good, Burt!"  It was cool.  Then a quarter mile later I saw a coyote.  This coyote was about a mile north of the ones I saw yesterday.  I would assume it wasn't one of the same ones.  It ran over into the orange grove.  When I got close I turned the volume all the way up on my phone and played the video of the coyote yipping from last night.  I was trying to draw it out.  But it was too smart.

Not exactly sure on the mileage because Strava glitched.  It's done this twice now, both on top of Hilltop.  Maybe because I took a picture?  Anyway, today is Friday.  I forgot to blog yesterday.  And my hamstring was kinda sore all day Tuesday, so I decided to take Wednesday off, even thought it felt fine Wednesday.

I decided to try three climbs today on Hilltop.  It was quite the workout.  It's a nice steep-ish climb, and it's perfect for Ragnar trail training.  Next week is the race. 

My legs are sore from yesterday's hill work.  I was just going to do one loop, but decided to go two.  I saw three other runners out including my Strava friend Matt.
 

Today we had me, Vickie, Mike, Glen, and Bryan show up to run Usery.  Maggie was sick, so she texted that she couldn't make it.  Bryan drove himself and didn't get there until right after we started running.  It was about 46º according to Mike's truck.  Everybody was freezing.  Except for me.  I stay nice and warm underneath this layer of insulation.  My fat.  My fat is my layer of insulation.  Anyway, it was around 5:30am when we started running, so it was still dark out.  Vickie was the first to leave.  Then I left.  Then Mike.  Then Glen.  Glen said he saw Bryan pull in as he was leaving.  Mike passed me right before I passed Vickie.  I pinched her behind.  Glen caught me after 3/4 of a mile.  He ended up running about 9.1 miles.  Around the 1.5 mile mark, a couple of cyclists came cruising down.  When thye got to me one of them yelled, "Crazy people!"  But he said it in a kind voice.  I heard him yell it again a few seconds later.  I figured he was yelling at my wife.  Then I heard him yell it again.  I didn't put two and two together until a little bit later when I heard Bryan's footsteps behind me.  I told him it was good to see him, and I gave him a fist bump.

I wasn't feeling great today.  I didn't sleep well, and I woke up with a sore throat.  It was one of those days where the goal is just to run the distance.  I have been steadily getting faster each week, but I slowed down considerably today.  Mike, on the other hand, was feeling great, and he ran almost 2 minutes per mile faster than me today.  He was about 6 tenths of a mile ahead of me when we passed each other, me going up, and him going down.  Not long after that I saw Bryan.  Bryan never caught Mike, and they only saw each other briefly when they finished.  I got to the top and couldn't see Glen.  It was starting to get light out, but I kept my headlamp on for a little more.  Maybe three quarters of a mile.  Right before I saw my wife.  She wasn't feeling great either, but she did real good.  Glen finally caught up to me with one mile to go.  Right after he passed me, a cyclist waved at me with his hand high in the air.  It was Jay again.  I tried to give him a high five, but I was too late.  I got down to the bottom and was disappointed to not have seen any horses.  But Vickie saw a coyote.  We then drove to pick her up.  She ended up getting 5.88 miles. So, pretty good.

Seems like every time I do Hilltop my Strava glitches.  It's weird.  Anyway, I had a sore throat yesterday, so I didn't run.  I still feel a little sick today, but if I'm going to be able to run this weekend, I need to get a few more runs in.  I have been going to Hilltop on Thursdays, but I didn't want to do it the day before the race, so I did it today.  I brought my inhaler with me and ended up taking two puffs of it while running, both on the first ascent.  I ran as far as I could until I had to catch my breath.  Both times I stopped three times on the way up probably about the same place each time.  Hilltop is pretty steep.  Much steeper I think than even the yellow loop of the McDowell Trail race.  Even though I haven't been able to run all the way up to the top without stopping, I still feel confident.  We'll see how it goes.

My sore throat is pretty much gone, but now my lungs are starting to gunk up.  I hoped that if I tried to run faster today, it would help clear some of it out.  Also, I am hoping that some speed work will do good for my race this weekend.  I'm going to skip out on a spooky run tomorrow so that I'm fresh for Friday.  I actually felt decent while running faster than I have in a long while. 

It was quite cold for me this morning.  My phone said it was 51º.  I almost thought about going back inside and putting on a warmer outfit than the shorts and T-shirt I was wearing.  But I did not think about it.  :)  I know that I warm up pretty quick once I start running, but I wondered if I actually would today.  I did.  I was looking for coyotes, but I didn't see any.  When I was heading south down the RWCD road, I saw someone walking toward me.  Then I was like, "Hey, I know her."  It was my wife.  We kissed.  Then I got to Adobe and thought I saw a coyote, but it was a dog.  When I got to University I saw a lady walking her dog.  I was going to step off the sidewalk and run in the street, but she did it first.  As I was running by her dog wanted to play with me so she kneed it in the face.  Then I headed north on the Floodway path and saw a homeless guy sleeping in a sleeping bag.  It's the same guy I see from time to time.  Then I saw two more homeless people laying/sitting up against the wall.  I'm pretty sure it was a guy and a lady, but the lady had her head covered with a coat.  Then I saw Jeff in his usual spot.  He had his head covered with his jacket and was sleeping.  I hope.