Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I attempted this race last year, but only managed to eat 4 donuts.  I knew that I would need to bring some water with me to help bed the donuts down.  My wife offered to let me wear her fanny pack which I loaded with 3 bottles of water.  Just a few minutes before 9am they decided to take a picture of us all.

So the race started shortly after 9:01am.  The weather was beautiful, but I saw a lot of people wearing hoodies.  I had stretched out my leg pretty well and rolled it.  It didn't bother me very much during the run, but I could feel it.  The runners seemed to settle into packs and I was the last one to arrive at the Bosa Donut store from the faster pack.  That's where you're supposed to eat 6 donuts before heading back. 

The course was slightly different than last year, and I thought it might be closer to 3.0 miles instead of 3.1 miles.  But my Strava recorded 3.12.  On the way there this speedy kid just zoomed by everybody.  I thought, "He must've got a late start."  With about half way to go to get to the Donut shop, I was passed by this guy running with his wife and kid.  His wife was on a bicycle, and the kid was on a scooter. 

I ran up and grabbed a plate of donuts, confident with my strategy that I would be able to down them pretty quickly.  I didn't want to sit down, so I found a bush that I could set my plate on whilst I ate.  I opened up my first water bottle and started eating the first one.  It tasted great.  I would take a small swig of water each time I took a bite.  I ate my second one and kept an eye on the rest of the competition to see if anyone had left yet.  Still good.  I finished my third one, and this young teenager had finished all 6 of his and started to head back.  My hopes and dreams of winning were crushed.  Unless he were to puke on the way back!  I finished my fourth one and two more runners left including the speedy kid that had passed me before.  Also it seemed that other runners were heading back, but I couldn't tell if they had all finished their donuts or not.  I knew some of them had not.  Also, that fourth donut tasted like the bush as it must've been hanging off the plate a little.  The fifth donut went down, but I was starting to feel it.  That same feeling from last year when I knew I was reaching my limit.  I stuck to the strategy.  I got half way done with the last one and knew I could do it, but I knew it wasn't going to be a piece of cake.  I really had to chew.  It wasn't going down as easily.  I finally got the last bite in my mouth and headed over to the trash bin to throw my plate away. 

I then very cautiosly started running back.  There were a few stragglers still coming in and I, of course, made puking noises at them.  After a few burps and deep breaths, I felt like I could hold it down.  There was a couple that passed me shortly after I started again.  I wondered if they had eaten all of their donuts.  I'd be surprised if they did.  If they did, you know they were meant for each other.  If they can eat donuts at the same pace, there's nothing they can't do.  Anyway, they beat me to the finish line.  But the guy with the family that had passed on the way there was right behind me.  I thought for sure he would pass me again.  As I made my way south through the neighborhood, I found myself feeling pretty good, so I decided to up the pace.  I caught a few more runners, but I could see they were carrying donuts with them.  That man was still right behind me and catching up.  I made the final turn and with about a quarter mile to go I really started to kick it in.  Then I realized I might actually vomit at this pace, so I slowed down.  It had looked like I put some distance between the two of us and should be able to finish ahead of him.  But I wasn't going to take any chances, so I sped up again and finished strong.  If I were to guess, I'd say I came in 5th place, but it's hard to tell because they're just doing it for fun, and they don't count.  The speedy kid ended up catching the other kid, like I knew he would and won. 

I wasn't sure if they were going to do a raffle like they've done in the past, so I stuck around for a little bit.  I had drunk a bottle and a half of water while eating the donuts, so I finished the other half and decided to leave.  It was fun, and I'm proud of myself for having eaten all 6 donuts and not ralphing.  It may be my finest accomplishment in this life.

My leg doesn't feel like it's getting any better, so I decided to just run on it anyway.  It seems I can run fine, but I can feel it.

I got the flu or something last week.  I finally went on a run this morning.  I actually felt pretty good.

Nice morning.  Run was good.  My shoes are already falling apart.

I texted Mike and Glen yesterday to see if they were up for a run.  I guess it's been a few weeks since we've run together.  I suggested we don't go so early since it's cold out now.  Glen said he'd like to go in the afternoon.  Mike said for us to go without him.  I then told Glen just to meet me at my house and we'd run along the canal since I haven't run a lot in the last couple of weeks and prefered to run on a flat surface.

Glen got to my house at 4:30pm and we stretched out and headed out.  I felt like I was running faster than I should have for that first mile and knew that this was going to be a workout.  Glen was staying close to me even though he could have left me in the dust.  Good thing because I needed to let him know which side of the canal to run on whenever we crossed a road.  There are a lot of roads to cross so most of the time he would turn around at the road and run back to me.  He shared his water bottle with me since I forgot to bring one.

We were running north along the Canal.  The plan was to run to the top of the Canal.  There is a fence at the bottom of a hill that I touch and then turn around.  It's almost the same distance as our typical Usery Pass Saturday run, but there's only one tiny hill.  Glen was having fun spotting the fish in the Canal.  About a quarter mile from the turn around we saw this old couple out walking their two dogs.  One of them was secured on a leash and the other wasn't.  The one that wasn't barked at us, but kept its distance.  We reached the fence and Glen didn't realize it was the turn around point, so he went around and kept going.  I hollered at him that he can keep going if he wants, but I was turning around.  On the way back the couple had let both of their dogs loose, so the other one came running up to us.  The couple seemed worried that it might bite us, but it didn't.

I was starting to lose steam, but I still tried to push it.  It was starting to get dark.  I saw this beautiful owl swoop up into a tree.  Is swoop up a thing?  Or can you only swoop down?  Anyway, Glen had put some distance between us.  I could see that he had reached the two mile to go mark and it appeared that he had slown down.  In fact, it seemed like he was getting closer to me at an alarming rate.  He was running backward!  I thought he was going to offer me another drink, but he said that there was a coyote on the path and he thought it would be safer for us to run together.  How cute.  I never saw it.

We finished up the run.  He probably ran closer to 7.8 miles with all the back and forth he was doing.  He likes animals, so I showed him our pig.  He was surprised at how big it was and decided not to get too close.  Probably a wise decision.

It was dark out this morning.  And cold.  A bit cold.  But I still refuse to wear anything other than a T-shirt and shorts.  So, the shorts I was wearing were brand new.  I got them for my birthday.  They didn't fit well.  The problem was that they have this lining in them much like swim trunks.  The lining only allows you to pull them so far up your waist.  So I tried to tie them as tight as I could because I was afraid they would fall off.  As I was running north on the Floodway path I could feel them starting to slide.  I kept pulling them up.  When I got to the RWCD Canal road and was heading back south I decided to see if they'd really fall down or perhaps they were just riding a little low, but they wouldn't actually go beyond my hips.  I ran as far as I dared withouth touching them.  I kept looking back because two of the RWCD trucks was parked up at Brown Road with their headlights on.  I was hoping they were checking canal readings or putting a drop through and that it was someone I knew.  I would have a chance to see them once the finished at Brown and drove over to Adobe.  They always just drive through the neighborhood because it's faster to do that than to unlock the gate, drive through, lock the gate, drive down the dirt road to the next gate, unlock it, drive through, and lock it again.  I finally saw them leave when I was about half way in between the two streets.  After a while I determined that my shorts would indeed fall down if I didn't pick them back up, so I did.  I saw the RWCD trucks pull up to Adobe and wondered if I'd know who they were.  When I was almost to Adobe, I heard someone running behind me.  I turned around and it was a lady running with her dog.  Every time I turned around to look at the RWCD trucks I never saw her.  Must be because of the glare of the headlights.  She caught up to me and said, "Man, I've been chasing you the whole length of the canal!"  I said, "Oh great.  You probably saw my shorts fall down, too."  She laughed and said, "Nah.  You're all right."  Then she turned right on Adobe and I continued south down the Canal road.  I was too embarrassed to say hi to the zanjeros.  I just kept running.

Another 2 loops along the Floodway/RWCD Canal.  The highlight was seeing this old lady that I've seen many times that I always tell good morning.  She always says good morning back to me, so I know she has an accent.  So this morning I said, "Buenos dias."  She said buenos dias back to me :)

I texted Mike yesterday.  He said for me and Glen to go on without him today.  Glen wanted to run in the afternoon again.  I much prefer the morning.  But I don't really have a choice when Ragnar rolls around. 

Glen picked me up at 4pm.  It's about a half hour drive out to Usery Pass.  I had packed my LED blinky light and my headlamp.  We saw all these new paint markings that had been installed on the road and also the new warning scores carved out in the road.  WATCH    FOR    HORSES.  We saw a couple on the top of a hill.  I told Glen about the time I saw a dead one on the side of the road that someone had covered with a blanket.  We got to Usery right around 4:30pm.  I told Glen I was bringing my lights with me, but wasn't sure if I'd need them.  It seemed pretty light out with the sun still above the horizon. 

We briefly stretched out and we were off.  Glen immediately left me in his dust.  There was so much traffic.  I'm not in as good as shape as I was about a month ago.  I was kind of struggling.  It seemed like each half miles increment was taking forever.  After two miles I could see the sun was going behind the mountain.  Maybe I would need my lights after all.  After another quarter mile I could see the traffic slowing down.  Then I could see all these sheriff vehicles with their lights on.  I wondered what was going on?  An accident?  A dead horse?  A dead person?

I kept running past them all and looking to see what was going on.  I couldn't tell.  Most of them were on the other side of the road.  Maybe I would build up the courage to ask what was going on when I was running back down.  That would be another 2.5 miles as I was 1.25 miles away from the top.  After I passed them I saw three more horses, so I started to think it might be a dead horse from their pack. 

After that, I decided to pull my LED light out of my pocket and hook it to the back of my shirt.  The 2.5 mile point is where the slope is not as steep anymore and it felt easier for the rest of the way up.  I saw Glen coming back down.  He must've had at least a half mile lead on me.  I made it to the top and decided to put my headlamp on, but it wasn't terribly dark, so I set it on the lowest setting. 

I was making my way down the hill and my tummy wasn't feeling great.  I prefer running on an empty stomach in the mornings.  I made it back to the sheriff vehicles.  But I was to nervous to ask them what was going on.  What if it was a murder?  The people who ask about it become suspects.  I didn't want to be a suspect.  With less than two miles to go I turned my headlamp on all the way.  Mostly so drivers could see me.  We only saw one cyclist.  But gee the traffic was terrific.  I was running slow.  I looked back on my Strava and saw that I hadn't run this slow here since July.  Glen was waiting for me at the stop sign.  We ran the last couple of hundred yards together.  He said he got there about 10 minutes ago.  I told him that sounded about right.  I'm glad we got to go even if it was in the afternoon.  I've got some work to do to get back where I was.
 

First of all, Merry Christmas to everyone who reads this blog.  Which is about two people per week, if I'm lucky.  Second, it's not even close to being cold.  Is it really Christmas?

I ran two loops today.  When I turned the corner on to Adobe, I saw a young kid turning on to the Floodway path.  He looked like he was moving pretty fast.  I was looking for him when I got to the Floodway, but I couldn't see him.  But out of the corner of my eye I saw some teenage boys hanging out under the culvert bridge of the Floodway.  I thought they looked suspicious, so I kept turning around so that they would know I was on to them.  It felt like I was running super slow.  I guess I was, but not as slow as I thought I was.  I had turned around and moved over to the RWCD road and was looking for those teenage boys again, but they were no where to be found.  I wonder if they were tagging the culvert.  I haven't really paid attention to the spray paint so I wasn't sure if it was new or not.  I continued south down the RWCD road and saw this couple that I had seen earlier on Adobe.  They were walking their dog and the man had on Jack Skellington pj bottoms.  I told him I liked his Christmas pants.  At University I turned and headed north back up the Floodway path.  I saw an old cheerful man carrying a pack over his shoulder.  He told me Merry Christmas.  If it was Santa, he shaved his beard off.  Then I saw a lady walking her dalmation in the bottom of the Floodway.  I said Merry Christmas to her, but wasn't sure if she heard me.  She did and said thank you.  Then I decided to go down to the culvert so that I could see if the paint was fresh.  It looked kinda new.  I ran my finger across it and it smudged a little.  Then I sniffed it, but couldn't smell anything.  I then went to the other side of the road because that's where I saw the boys.  I did the same thing over there.  There was no conclusive evidence that they had spray painted the graffiti on the culvert.

I had a pebble in my shoe from the get go.  I hoped that it would shift somewhere in my shoe where it wouldn't bother me, but it never did.  After a half mile I stopped at the Nancy K. Daugherty memorial rock and took my shoe off.  I had sliced open my thumb on Christmas Day trying to open this egg shaped toy for my grandson.  So putting my shoe back on was difficult.  Once I finally got it back on, I decided I needed to tinkle.  I went behind some bushes by the bank of the Floodway, but I saw someone walking on the RWCD path, so I waited 'til they went by.  I hope no one saw me.

I ran the same route as yesterday.  I've been seeing this beautiful falcon the last couple of days.  It doesn't like to be on the same side of the Floodway as I'm on, so it always flies over to the other side.  Today's run was slower than yesterday's, but if felt faster.

I'm trying to eat all my Christmas goodies as fast as possible so that I can start another diet.  This plan is not helping my running.

I texted Mike yesterday to see if he was still up for running today.  Earlier in the week he said he wanted to pick me up at 6:00am.  He finally texted back late and said that he had been moving furniture around all day, so he would text me at 9:00am.  Around 9:30am he texted to say he was too sore.  So I texted Glen, knowing that he likes to run in the afternoon anyway.  He never texted back.  So after eating 4 pieces of pizza, I finally decided to run on my own at 7:30pm. 

Since it was dark, I decided to stay on the main streets.  That way, if I suffered a massive heart attack from all the pizza consumption, someone might find me.  But as I was running, I felt like such a fatty, that I almost changed my mind because I didn't want people seeing my fat belly hanging out of my shirt.  But I went on the main roads anyway, and felt totally blah.  I went west down Adobe, turned south on Greenfield, east on University, north on Higley, and west again on Adobe.  When I turned north on Higley, I could see a police helicopter circling around with its spotlight.  It looked like it was in my neighborhood, or at least on Adobe.  The closer I got to Adobe, the more I could tell that it was definetely circling around Adobe.  I wondered if it would be safe to turn on the street.  I made the turn and saw a couple of police vehicles parked on the side.  Then, as I passed the first road beyond Higley, I could see an officer with his gun drawn, waiting for the suspect to come around the corner.  I just kept running and hoped that the police helicopter wouldn't think I was the suspect running away.

Glen finally texted me back yesterday in the middle of sacrament meeting.  I may go to hell, but I did text him back.  He aplogized for just barely seeing the text, so I asked if he wanted to go today.  He said sure and asked what time.  I said I'm free any time, thinking he would want to go in the afternoon.  But he said he would come by my house at 6:00am to run along the Canal again.

My alarm went off at 5:00am, and I hit snooze the max amount of times.  I think it was 4.  Anyway, I finally dragged myself out of bed around 5:30am.  I was happy to get a bowel movement, and got ready.  But with just minutes to go before 6:00am, I had to go again.  So Glen texted me to tell me that he was here, and I texted back saying I'd be out shortly.  I had wanted to stretch out before he got here, but that didn't happen.

After stretching out for about 5 minutes, we were ready.  Glen was all bundled up, and I was wearing shorts and two T-shirts.  It was a little bit cold, but not too bad.  I also thought that the sun would come up soon, so I didn't bring my headlamp.  Glen had his.  He started putting distance between us right away.  I know the Floodway path pretty well, so I didn't have any problems running in the dark.  Glen was still within eye sight when he crossed Greenfield.  I was glad to see that he went to the right side of the Canal (which is the left side.)  But once I crossed Greenfield and went through the fence, I couldn't see him anymore.  It was too dark, and he was too far ahead.  I looked in the Canal to make sure he hadn't fallen in.  I was able to see him a couple of times as once he turned his head and I could see his headlamp, and whenever he would get to a street to cross. 

When I got to a quarter of a mile away from the turn around point, I figured I'd see him coming back soon, but I never did.  Right before the fence, there is a steep drop.  I thought maybe he was waiting there at the fence, so I coudln't see him.  Or perhaps he kept on going to Val Vista and would turn around.  I stopped briefly at the fence and drank some water.  Then I saw his headlamp coming back, so he had gone on to Val Vista.  I started back up the small hill and was able to keep him behind me for three quarters of a mile until I got stopped by traffic at McDowell.  Then we basically ran the remaining 2.85 miles back together.  We didn't talk much because we were both tired.  I thought he was purposely slowing down to run with me, but he was crashing just as hard as I was.