Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I had every intention of running today, but it wasn't until 11:30pm that I decided I'd better get out the door.  I didn't have time to change, so I just wore the street clothes I was wearing.  I put on my headlamp to practice for Ragnar next week.  I don't like to run on the Sabbath.  I had about 22 minutes before midnight so I decided to run for 10 minutes and then turn around.  Not running on Sundays is a personal choice for me.  It's one of my ways of expressing my devotion to God.  I know some people choose to run on Sundays because they are grateful for their health, bodies, the beauty of the earth, etc.  And that's fine.  One of our greatest gifts from God is our free agency and our right to govern ourselves.  God is merciful and though keeping the Sabbath Day holy can vary in activity from person to person, He does require our complete devotion to which we must put forth the faith and effort to find out what that is.

I was a little faster than normal today.  I hope that's a good sign.  I'll be running with the Frozen Burrito Legion this Friday and Saturday at the Ragnar Trail McDowell Mountain relay.  I should do a hill run tomorrow.

I have done zero hill training in preparation for the trail Ragnar I'm doing this weekend.  So I wanted to run Usery Pass yesterday, and I just got too busy.  Finally went today at 11am.  It was warm.  I hadn't eaten breakfast yet.  I brought two water bottles with me.  One with ice water to drink after I was done, and one with a tablet of Nuun, fruit punch.  I felt strong on the first mile uphill.  Then I really struggled on the second mile.  So I turned around.  Felt like a waste to drive 27 miles round trip only to run 4 miles, but oh well.  Going downhill felt great.  In truth, running up Usery in no wise simulates the frequent up and down hills I'll be running at Ragnar.  But better than nothing, I guess.

Ragnar #19. 

I was runner #4 on the team.  My first leg was the green loop, 3.1 miles.  It was hot out at 1:30pm.  I took it nice and slow and felt good.  So good even that I was able to run up the final hill which I wasn't able to do at all last year.  All three loops have that last dreaded hill.  So that was a win.  My buddy Mike was our last runner, runner #8.  He had to do the yellow loop, 4 miles.  A little after mile 2 he rolled his ankle and broke his 5th metatarsal.  He finished up, but he was done.  We decided to continue on and see who was up for covering his last two loops.  My next leg was the red leg at about 10pm.  It was 8.4 miles.  I was stretching before my teammate came in for the handoff and I set my water bottle down.  I totally left it there and forgot it until I was about 100 yards in.  I decided it was nice and cool and I wouldn't need it.  FAIL!  I actually was feeling real good again.  There is a monster hill that I charged right up.  But right before mile 5 everything started to unravel.  I think I was getting dehydrated.  They had a water station, but I had no cup.  So I put my mouth under the jug and drank like an animal.  I hoped it refresh me enough to do the last 3.4 miles.  But I was still cramping up and feeling like I was going to puke.  I just wanted to lie down and take a nap.  There was a lot of walking over the next 2.5 miles.  When I saw the 1 mile to go marker I was able to run for a bit longer.  I couldn't run up the hill this time, but at least I finished.  Yago was our first runner, so he decided to run Mike's next leg and then continue on and do his leg.  Next was our team captain Fredi.  She got to the top of the mountain on the red loop and her knee stopped working.  She had to be rescued.  It took a couple of hours.  After that we decided to call it quits.  We still got our medals, but we'll get a DNF.  It was fun, but I feel bad for my injured teammates.  Been there, done that.  I also apologize for my snoring in the tent.  That tends to happen when I'm not sleeping in my own bed.

Ragnar recovery run.  Saw one of the gates open for the RWCD canal, which is a no no.  I was about to text the boss when a zanjero pulled up.  I went and told him about the gate and told him I would lock it for him.  Turns out it wasn't an RWCD employee that left it open.  At that location they are interlocked with SRP and Flood Control.  Not sure whose lock it was, but I locked it.

I only meant to go 5 miles.  I saw a zanjero at Lateral 3.  Since it's Wednesday that means he would be finishing his 7-day shift in just a few hours.  Then my brother-in-law would be taking over.  I asked him what time my BIL should get there because he typically works the night shift, but this week he is covering for someone on vacation.  Even zanjeros get vacations.  I continued running up to Lateral 1 and then turned and ran back home.  On the way back I saw the crew from the Main Pumping Plant.  Their job is to maintain the pumps at the MPP and the wells that are all through the District.  They were working on the well at 2 - 1/4 and the MC.  I talked to Jason from the other side of the canal since he was the only one I knew.  But he's not a zanjero, so SlowJoe won't have any interest in this part of my entry.

Now that I'm 40 and old, it seems people don't give me a second thought about saying good morning to them.  In fact, they probably expect it from me.
 

This was a fun one.  Our team consisted of me, my daughter, my wife's sister Missy, my wife's sister's friend Daylene, my wife's sister's husband's cousin, and my wife's sister's husband's cousin's son.  We had an 8am to 8:30am start time.  We went in the second wave of that allotted time.  A ton of people did this race.  They needed two days to accommodate everyone.  So there will be more people running it tomorrow.

The first ridiculous obstacle was the World's Largest Moon Bounce.  Next was the Drop, just a big bouncy slide.  Next was the Jump Balls.  You've seen Wipeout?  Similar to that, but not as big.  I fell off the first one and just bounced on the rest.  Missy had a fairly nice wipeout.  Next was the Foam of Fury, basically a foamy slip and slide.  Next, the Sweeper.  This was a balance beam with a sweeper arm that tries to knock you off.  There were two balance beams on each side of the sweeper arm.  One way made you running against the sweeper, the other, running with it.  We chose to go against it.  So, I just crawled underneath it.  I regret not standing there and letting it knock me over.  Next was the Tarzan Swing.  They told us to grab high on the rope.  Good advice, but I was too fat. 

Now we were half way through the obstacles.  My daughter was getting tired, but I urged her on.  The next obstacle was the Gorilla Bars.  Probably 30-feet worth of monkey bars.  My daughter went across by swinging her feet up into the bars in front of her and crawling upside down.  I was able to make it all the way across by going one at a time.  When I got down I noticed I had ripped some skin up from the palm of my hand.  It's like when you have blisters from doing yard work and then you rip the blisters open from doing more yard work a couple of days later.  But my thought was, "You're such a pansy.  You haven't done any physical labor in ages.  How did this happen to you?"  Next was the Tight Rope Traverse.  You have one tight rope to walk across and one about shoulder height to balance yourself.  It was easy at first, but the further I went, the more wobbly it got.  Next was Cool Runnings.  This was my favorite one.  You had to carry an intertube up a giant inflatable water slide.  Since there were six of us, we decided to race each other down.  I raced Missy's cousin-in-law.  I had a slight lead on him until I started bouncing into the wall.  I think we tied.  Next was Get it Up and Over.  This was an 8-foot wall to scale.  There were two boards that stick out about an inch and a half near the bottom to step you up, but the last 5 feet you have to do yourself.  I stepped on one of the braces holding it up to get my fat tummy over.  Next was the Wrecking Ball.  This was right by the finish line, so my wife was there to take pictures and videos.  They hand you a life vest before you go on.  There are rotatating balance beams you have to run across over 4 feet of water while two large red wrecking balls are swinging around in a circle.  I didn't see anyone make it all the way across without falling off the beam and landing in the water.  My wife said she saw a few make it.  I made it about two thirds of the way before the beam got to spinny and I just decidide to let it take me.  The final obstacle/finish line was the World's Largest Inflatable Water Slide.  We decided to race each other again.  This time I raced my daughter.  We were pretty much going down at the same rate, but I slid further than her at the bottom.  Must have something to do with physics.  Anyway, that was it.  We all had a great time. 

This morning's run was cold.  My phone said it was 39º, but it's been known to be wrong.  It might have been a little warmer, but that's still too cold for me.  I didn't like it.  However, it only took a half a mile before I remembered that my two extra layers of fat keep me warm once I've been running a few minutes.  So, that's good.  And this was the first time in forever that the entire run didn't feel like a plod.

Every day I'm feeling a little faster less slow.

Yesterday was the Adventure Run.  I was the only person out of 400 people to dress up.  It might have been a cruel joke on me.  Anyway, I did run about a half a mile.  I was wearing a sock that was too low and my shoe rubbed a blister on to the back of my heel.  I wasn't sure if it would hinder my running this morning, but I put some Vaseline® on it and a Bandaid®.  It did all right.

I just wanted a nice easy run this morning because I plan on going to my kid's elementary school tomorrow and put a hurt on all the little kids at the Turkey Trot.  I took Ginger with me.  We were going to run 2.5 miles, but closing in on mile 2 she started to limp.  I stopped her and checked her paws for thorns.  I saw she was bleeding.  So I carried her home.

Today was the Turkey Trot at my kid's school.  They had each grade going at different times.  I have one daughter in 6th grade, and they started at 8am.  Each kid was supposed to carry an index card with them so that each time they completed a lap, they got a letter added to it.  The goal was for them to spell TURKEY TROT.  But when they started my daughter's class didn't have their cards, so I waited with her until she got hers.  By that time some of the kids had already completed one lap.  I was going to run with her for a lap or two, but she stopped running after about 100 feet.  Yes, feet.  So I kept going.  Some times there would be kids passing me.  There were so many that I couldn't tell if they were legitametly passing me or if they were just sprinting and stopping.  I was able to do 7 laps before they called out to stop.  TURKEY T.  By my GPS it was 1.48 miles.  And I did a partial lap for warm up.  I have another daughter in 4th grade, and she was supposed to go right after the 6th graders, but she stayed home sick.  Emily is in 2nd grade so I came back at 12:30pm to run with her.  We didn't run that much, but we went around twice.  Another sweet little girl stayed with us.  She told me that she always helps with Emily.

My shoes are stinky.  But I won't retire them until I have at least 800 miles on them!  That's a promise I make to you. 

As I was stretching out before I ran I felt some tightness in my soleus.  I figured it wasn't anything to worry about because I haven't been running very many miles lately.  But a third of a mile in, it hurt to the point where I had to stop and stretch it out.  I didn't want to turn around because yesterday was Thanksgiving and I had plenty of calories to burn.  So I kept going, but slowed way down.  I'm sure I altered my stride which is now causing more aches and pains elsewhere.  Oh well.  I'll get over it.