Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Same as two days ago.  We've had overcast the last few days, and it's been glorious!

I wanted to run either Usery Pass this morning or the BoSa Donut challenge sponsored by Cadence Running.  We were supposed to get our $5 in by Thursday.  It's a 15 mile drive to Cadence and I just didn't have time.  But I saw a few people post on the Facebook page that they didn't have time to pay their entry fee, and the store owner told them to come anyway, so I decided to try my luck, also since I need to enter races wearing my Ragnar gear as part of my ambassador commitment.  I got there and was able to pay for my race without a problem.  I saw three former Ragnar teammates of mine.  They started right at 9am.  We ran 1.55 miles to the Bosa Donut parking lot.  There we were supposed to eat 6 donuts and then run back.  I thought I'd see some runners coming back because I wasn't running very fast and some of them were.  I planned on making puking noises at them like Chunk in the Goonies.  But I got there and everyone was still eating.  Actually two ladies had just started back, but they had their remaining donuts in gallon sized Ziplocs.  I gave my ticket to Dan, the owner of Cadence, and asked which plate of donuts weighed the least.  He pointed to a random plate.  I don't think he really knew.  My first donut was pretty good.  Maybe I could do this.  During the 3rd I started to have my doubts.  I got half way through the 4th and thought, that's enough for me.  But I thought it would be easier to carry 2 donuts back than 2.42319.  So I finished the 0.42319 and started to run back.  Surprisingly I didn't see any puke the whole way back.  There was a couple walking down the street and I told them I still had two donuts left if they wanted them.  They politely declined.  I was able to jog all the way back without incident. 

Well, it was my birthday yesterday, and I ate everything that was put in front of me.  I think I'm still feeling the effects from Saturday's run, too.  I just ran a nice easy two laps today.  Except there was some construction going on at the Floodway, so I stayed on the Canal road until I got to University.  Then I went up the Floodway and cut through the green belt.

I went to do my 3.7 mile loop, but I noticed there was still construction going on at the Floodway.  I was going to turn north on the Floodway to avoid the workers, but I noticed they had just put a fresh coat of tar on the pavement.  That stuff dries pretty quick, but I didn't want to disturb it quite yet.  So I just ran over to the Canal like yesterday.  As I got close to Brown Road I could see an older couple running towards me.  The woman crossed the street first and said hello to me.  I ran to the other side of the Canal and headed back.  Then I noticed that the woman was running right next to me, but on the other side of the Canal.  We stayed at the same pace for a quarter mile until she either sped up or I slowed down.  I think she sped up.  She got to Adobe about 50 feet ahead of me.  The man caught up and got there about 5 feet ahead of me.  They both stopped briefly to catch their breath.  I continued south, but crossed over to the same side of the Canal as them because the west side is blocked off by a gate.  This allowed me to get in front of them again.  I ran for another quarter mile wondering if they were behind me because I couldn't hear them.  Then I passed a man pushing a baby in a stroller and walking two dogs.  I said good morning to him.  Then I heard the woman say good morning to him, so I knew she wasn't far behind me.  It wasn't long before she caught up and we had a little converstation that went like this,

Her: "You are a steady runner."

Me: "Thanks.  You guys are, too.  Are you training for anything?"

Her: "Yes, we're doing a 5k Saturday and a half marathon Sunday.  What about you?"

Me: "Ummmm...Ragnar."

Her: "Then you need to be steady."

Me: "Yeah."  By that time she was too far ahead to continue the conversation.  She again beat me to University by 50 feet or so and the man never caught up to me.  As I passed by her she told me good luck and to have a great day.  I continued running down to Main St.  This is where the Canal runs in to the intersection of Main and Higley Rd.  I usually cross the Floodway and head back up on the other side.  Then I saw that they had already coated the pavement down to here.  I'm not exactly sure what they're doing by my house, but it could be more than just re-surfacing.  Anyway, I headed back out toward Higley and ran along the road all the way home.  I'm feeling better every day.

Sometimes when I take a few days off I feel renewed and ready to go, even if it's brief.  Today I didn't.  Well, my breathing was pretty good, but my legs felt sore.  That may have been due to the cold weather.  Anyway, I approached the Floodway and I saw what looked like my old buddy Brad's truck on the west Canal road.  I didn't want to seem presumptuous so I turned on the east Canal road and tried to see if I could make out who was behind the tinted windows.  I couldn't tell, but it didn't look like Brad.  So I ran past, but then I came back and the guy rolled down his window.  I said, "I thought you were Brad.  That looks like his truck."  He said he thought it was Brad's truck before it was his.  I asked what his name was.  He said Josh.  I asked if he had taken my place when I left.  He said he didn't think so.  I asked what his responsibility was at the District.  He said he works with the wells.  I said, "Oh.  With Jason?"  He said, "No, I think I took Jason's place."  I said, "I didn't know Jason had left.  So, then with Andy?"  He said, "Yes."  Thinking any further conversation with him (from the othe side of the Canal) would just be more awkward than it was I told him it was nice to meet him and for him to have a nice day.  I continued on my way up to Brown Road and now finally over to the Floodway where I got to run on the newly resurfaced pavement.  The previous surface was very gravelly, but it staid together and was a decent running surface.  Now it's luxurious.  About halfway down I came upon three silver-haired ladies that were walking side by side by side.  I said good morning when I got in earshot range of them to which they sweetly replied good morning to me in unison.  Then I said in dramatic fashion, "Isn't this great now?"  They all simultaneously heartily agreed with me and then they giggled like school girls as I passed by them.  I took this picture on the run.  You might be able to see them in it.

I saw the same three ladies that I saw yesterday.   They weren't as giggly today.  Then I saw the couple that was running last week.  I'm starting to get regulars.  Then I saw this guy that was getting ready to fish in the RWCD Canal.  I said, "Hey friend.  You're not supposed to fish in this canal."  He said something that I did not understand as I was running, so I stopped turned around, puffed my chest out and said, "What did you say?"  Just kidding.  I just asked him to repeat himself.  He said that he spoke with the zanjeros and they told him he could fish as much as he'd like.  I asked him if he spoke with the SRP zanjeros or the RWCD zanjeros.  He said SRP.  I told him this isn't an SRP canal.  This is RWCD and they stock their own fish in the canal.  I told him there was a sign on the fence and as I ran off I said, "Just saying.  If they catch you out here, they'll run you off."  I felt real bad because he looked like a sweet old man.  Then I felt even worse because I didn't tell him that the SRP canal was 2 miles down the road.  Then I felt triple bad because it dawned at me that it's highly likely that he was Santa Claus and I didn't recognize him out of costume.  I guess I won't be getting and presents this year.

I did this run today because I know I won't have time tomorrow.  The plan was to take my high school aged daughter to school and go from there.  But then I was told she wasn't going 'til later, but I could take my junior high aged daughter.  But she doesn't leave until 35 minutes after my other daughter.  Seeing my disappointment, my wife told me to just go now and she would take my junior high aged daughter with my college aged daughter's car.  So I drove out to Usery Pass and decided to see how far I can run.  Optimistically I wanted to run to the top and back down.  About 2.3 miles up I started to wear out, but I told myself that I hadn't driven this far to run less than 5 miles.  Also, I knew that it's not as steep after 2.5 miles, so I pressed on and decided to turn around at 3 miles.  Just yesterday I happened upon a previous blog entry of mine from 8 years ago when I ran this route.  I was amazed at how fast I used to be.  While running today I tried to see if I could pick up the speed, but I'm no where near what I used to be.  I don't know if I'll even come close to that again, but I'll continue onwards.

My wife, bless her heart, has been trying to do everything this Christmas season.  She hardly sleeps.  Well, it all caught up with her as she's now a little under the weather.  I woke up early and knowing she wouldn't be going on her walk, decided to do my run while it was still dark out.  It was only 6:30am, so there were people out.  But I haven't run in the dark for a while, so I brought my headlamp.  Not that it did me any good to be able to see better, but at least it would let people see me coming.  My Runkeeper goes off every 5 minutes.  It tells me the distance I've gone and my overall pace.  Right before the first 5 minute alert I could see that I was coming up on an old man with a rather large dog.  The alert went off and I thought he heard it because the dog started walking next to him making me think he'd pulled it in with the leash.  However, the dog was not on a leash and I'm pretty sure I spooked the guy as I said good morning.  The dog started running toward me and even ran next to me for a little bit.  I told it to stay. 
Coming back down the Canal Road I saw a zanjero truck pull up to the radial gate on Adobe.  There's a gage they have to check several times a day to make sure the canal levels are on point.  Then he crossed Adobe and parked in front of the well.  It was still darkish, so I hollered at him and asked if he was Mosiah.  He said his name was Jared.  Just then another runner approached me and asked me what the name of the road was.  I said it was Adobe.  He said, "Adobe?"  I said, "Yes."  He asked, "So that up there is Brown Road?"  "Yes, it is."  "And Lindsay is that way?"  I said, "Yes, it's two and a half miles that way."  He said, "I should have gone to the other canal."  I laughed, "Yes, you should have," as if I have any idea what was going through his mind.
 

Woke up this morning to an email that said, "Do you have that job done yet?"  I realized it wasn't even on my schedule.  But I missed my run yesterday and I didn't want to miss it today.  I started  out with the idea of running three loops.  On my first loop I passed this old lady that was all bundled up for winter.  She looked at me in my shorts and T-shirt and said, "You're making me cold!"  (That's usually what old ladies say to me.  I've never had one say - you're making me hot.)  I told her I have an extra layer of insulation as I patted my fat tummy.  She laughed and said, "Good attitude."  As I was making my way back down the Canal, I decided to call it quits so that I can rush this job.  Better call it quits for today on the blog, too.

I got another early run in before sun up.  It was 6:30am again.  But there was nobody else out!  It was eerily creepy.  Last time there were tons of people out.  I literally didn't see anyone until 2.5 miles when there was finally an old man walking his dog.  A quarter mile later I saw another lady across the Floodway.  Then I finally started seeing a lot of people right before I made it to Adobe as there were kids and parents walking to school.  I guess it's getting too cold for everyone.

I wanted to run Usery today, but it's too close to Christmas and I'm sure there's 1000 things to do.  So I just ran up the Canal to Junior.  There is a pump in the RWCD canal just downstream of the Main Pumping Plant that feeds lateral one half.  It is affectionately named Junior.  I saw a man in a long sleeve white shirt not quite a quarter mile ahead of me.  I could tell he was running so I didn't think I'd be able to catch him.  When I got to the one mile mark I saw another man with fluorescent yellow shirt.  He turned onto the Canal road.  He looked like he was running pretty good so I knew I wouldn't catch him.  I also noticed long sleeve white shirt man was running with a dog and I had made some ground on him.  At Greenfield Road he had crossed over to the other side of the Canal.  After a while of watching fluorescent yellow pull away I noticed long sleeved white was gone.  I turned my head and saw that he had ducked into an orange grove presumably to take a pee pee.  As I watched fluorescent yellow cross McKellips I saw a zanjero truck pull up.  It was Jeff.  Jeff had just started working at RWCD a few months before I left.  We talked for a little bit.  By the time we were done I think fluorescent yellow was at least a half mile ahead of me.  I could still see him when I crossed McDowell Road.  I thought maybe he'd turn around soon since the Canal starts about a quarter mile north of Junior which is a half mile north of McDowell.  But he never came back so I figured he'd gone out to Val Vista.  I turned around at Junior, but did not touch the fence for fear of being electrocuted.  About a quarter mile before McDowell I ran into long sleeved white shirt and his dog.  Ginger had about a three mile threshold when I used to run with her.  But they were taking it pretty easy so I'm sure they were all right.  One nice thing about this run was that I started off a little fast, but I started to slow down.  Usually when that happens I get progressively slower and slower and slower.  But I reached a pace where I evened out and maintained it for the whole way back.  Have a Merry Christmas everyone.

I was running today and I noticed how I wasn't even breathing hard like I normally do.  "That's a good sign," I thought to myself.  But about a quarter mile later my shins started to tighten up.  I thought I'd be able to run through it but the more I ran the worse it hurt.  I stopped and tried stretching out.  That helped momentarily, but I finally had to call it quits because, man, did they hurt!