Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I just got back from taking my daughter to college.  BYU Idaho in Rexburg.  It was cold.  But at least we drove a brand new Ford Mustang back.  Speaking of back, my back is feeling better.  If it wasn't for that darned trip, I would have been running sooner.  I was only going to run 0.64 miles to get my shoes up to 800 miles, but then I thought that would be dumb.  I thought about bringing a pair of shoes to change in to, but that would have been even dumber.  But I usually do dumb stuff like that just to be silly.  Maybe I'm getting more mature now that I have kids in college. 

So, while we were gone, there was a bit of rain.  We missed it right as we pulled out of town.  But it was back this morning.  It wasn't raining when I left to go on my run.  Here's a picture.

I was just going to run one loop, which would have been slightly under a mile and a half.  But when I got to the RWCD Canal, I saw some headlights up 3/4 of a mile.  Knowing that it is the dryup/low flow period, I figured some of my old coworkers would be out on the canal doing some maintenance.

There were three guys working on putting some sand bags around one of the gates so they could change it out, Flint, Stephen, and a new guy.  I talked to them for a while.  I could also see another truck  about a half mile up the way.  I asked them who was up there.  They told me and it started to sprinkle.  I told them I didn't want to go up there since I hadn't even planned on going this far.  They told me to get my @$$ up there.  I guess I didn't have a choice.  I ran up there and saw Charlie, Mosiah, Milton, and Greg's son.  We talked a little, but it wasn't too long before the sprinkles turned in to a steady downpour.  I told them it was great seeing them, but I needed to get going.  I was about a mile away from home at this point.  I turned around and went home.  The rain wasn't too bad.  In fact, it felt kinda good.  So now I have an extra 2.53 miles on my shoes that are officially retired.  Well, until the next mud run or whatever.

It was cold this morning.  My fingers are having a hard time typing right now.  But still, I wore shorts and a T-shirt.  Not a cloud in the sky.  And it's been cloudy for a week now.  I saw Stephen, one of the zanjeros that trained me.  We talked for a while about my brother-in-law's nasty divorce.  Then Charlie showed up.  They're still changing the canal gates out.  So I'll probably see them tomorrow, too.  My knee hurt a couple of times when I was going uphill.  I hope it's just soreness from not running for a long time.

20.9 miles on a bicycle with my BIL.

27.7 miles on a bicycle with my BIL.

Had to run and errand this morning so I took it literally.  I wore my orange shirt, shorts, and compression socks.  Needless to say, they did not match my shoes.  I knew this would be a lot longer than what I'm used to, but after riding almost 28 miles on a bike yesterday, I thought I was up for the task.  I just paced myself real slow.  I was running along the streets which is something I've gotten out of the habit of doing.  Glen Frey's Take it Easy was appropriately going through my head.  At one point I saw three dead birds and thought, "What the...?"  Then I looked up and saw I was under some electric lines.  When I got to my destination a man told me I was fast.  He said he saw me way down the street.  I wonder how he knew it was me?  I assured him that I was not running fast.  I headed home and it was mostly downhill.  The last mile had a little uphill and was certainly the hardest.  I made it, though.  My Body Glide failed me.

Just a little run to loosen up the legs.

Went running with my Ragnar team this morning.  We went down the canal and back in my old neighborhood.  Everybody quit before the 6 mile mark :(
 

Nothing too interesting about this run.  I did see two male doves doing a dance-off for an on-looking female.  And one brave hummingbird that sat on a branch of a bush as I ran by.

Last night I wanted to do a breathing treatment because I was wheezing.  I couldn't find the mouthpiece.  This morning I tried to run, but I could barely breathe, so I called it quits after one lap.

No wheezing today.  I felt good enough to finally attempt to run to the top of the canal.  I took it nice and easy and felt good the whole way except for my runny nose.
 

I needed a confidence booster for my Ragnar in two weeks.  For some reason my team captain gave me the most miles in our van.  I'm going to have a 7 mile downhill, 4 miles flat, and 9 miles - 2 uphill then 7 down.  I went to Usery Pass and started to head up the 700 foot climb.  My right calf felt pretty tight and I made me angry that I just drove 13 miles and might have to call it quits.  Then I said, "Forget that.  I just drove 13 miles.  I'm doing this if I have to crawl."  Luckily I didn't have to crawl.  I liked seeing all the cyclists today.  It was so beautiful out, a perfect day for a ride.  But here I am running.  There's a special feeling when you conquer Usery Pass without wheels.

My brother-in-law dragged me to the gym tonight.  I've never worked out a gym before, believe it or not.  We did this 30 minute circuit workout.  I'm sure my arms will be sore tomorrow.  Afterwards I ran on the treadmill for a mile.  That was a different experience.  I was so nervous.  I settled in at a comfortable pace.  Then I realized it was a 17 min./mile pace.  No wonder.  I kept bumping it up little by little until finally I got to 10 min./mile.  I saw the stop button and I was praying that it wouldn't just STOP once I pushed it, but that it would come to a gradual halt.  I finally convinced myself that it would and I was right.  Whew!  But once I stepped on the ground it felt like I was still moving, or like the world was still moving, and neither I nor the world could stop.  I was walking right towards this wall and I was like, "Please, be able to turn.  I don't want to walk into this wall."  Such a weird and fun feeling.
 

Only had time for a little bit this morning.  I need to do another long run Monday so I can go in to Ragnar with a little more confidence.

Tonight was a fun run at Roadrunner Sports.  It was the early shirt release party for the Adventure Run which is two days from now.  I will not be in attendance as I have far too much going on and Ragnar this weekend.  Anyway, we ran 3.1 miles and I felt terrible.  I hope I feel better within the next few days or Ragnar is going to suck yet again.

I'm posting this picture of me as a young lad because I discovered that the other young lad on the far left has a son that is a member of this blog.  This is a picture of us in Alicante Spain where we served as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  You probably can't tell, but I have blood all over the side of my nose.  No doubt it was Asa that punched me.  Just kidding.  The way I play basketball, I probably did it to myself.

I have been running a little here and there.  But mostly I'm just gaining weight.  Anyway, today felt a little better than any of my other sporadic runs over the past 4 or 5 months.

It was raining, so I just went 2.5.

It was hot and I ate too much cake last night :(

Nice and slow.  Needed a confidence builder for my upcoming race.  I'm feeling pretty confident after 3.67 miles.  Very confident.

I guess you could say I'm in taper mode.

Today I ran the Sol Invictus Marathon Relay.  You have 4 people on your team.  The first person runs 3.5 miles.  The next runs 2.0, the next 1.0, and the last runner runs 3.5 and that continues until everyone on the team has run three times.  According to my Runkeeper the course measured a little bit short to be considered a full marathon, but it was close.  My team consisted of Jeff Wimmer, whose wife was one of the race organizers, Bryan Bartishell, who works with Jeff, Marilyn Freeman, who was on at least one of my Ragnar teams, and me. 

I ran the 1 mile loop first.  I was a little winded at first, but felt pretty good.  Then I ran my 3.5 mile loop.  It was starting to get hot.  I ran slow and I could feel I was starting to cramp.  Luckily I was running slow so it didn't bother.  But my last leg was the 2 mile loop and now it was even hotter, I was more tired, and I definitely felt it.  But I made it.  Marilyn was our last runner and we all crossed the finish line together.  It was fun.  I'm still way out of shape.
 

I just got a new calling at church.  I'm the building security specialist.  Don't even look at my chapel without asking me first.  So tonight I ran to the building which is a mile and a half away.  My legs are still sore from Saturday.  I tried to run back but decided to call my wife to come pick me up.

Ran to the church again and got a ride home.

I hiked 1.25 miles with the cub scouts.

I was running late, so I didn't have time to run to the church.  I had my wife drop me off and I ran home.  I did not take the canal route so it was a little longer.

7.78 mile hike with my friend, Paul.

My legs were still sore from Saturday, but I felt good.

I ran to the church, checked the building, and ran home.

To the church and back.
 

My legs felt like lead today.  I think I'm getting old.

Immediately out of the gate I was greeted by my neighbor's four dogs that started chasing me.  Luckily, I'm not a pansy like the rest of you, so I just went Crocodile Dundee on them.  LOL!  Sorry about the pansy comment.  Dog control is a real thing.  Later I saw four ducks by the side of the canal.  They got nervous as I ran by, but stayed where they were.  Being that it's Halloween and I already had one encounter with 4 animals of a difference species, I wondered if they would chase me, too.  They didn't.

We broke the record this year for the latest day in the year with temperatures over 100º.  I've been worried for the runners at the Ragnar McDowel Trail race this weekend.  But today it finally cooled down.  That explains why there were so many people out on the trail today.  So many.  Anyway, I wasn't going to do Ragnar trail, but now I might be.  We'll see.

I wore socks that were too small today.  My shoe rubbed the skin off the back of my heel.  I had to stop at 2.53 and call my wife to come pick me up.  There were so many people out on the trail today!

I put a bandaid on and rubbed body glide over my wound, but it was bothering me too much and I turned around and came home.

My legs felt heavy this morning.  Probably because they are fat.  But my breathing was good.  My Runkeeper had a problem starting this morning.  The GPS started when I hit Go, but the timer did not.  So when it finally did it was nice to hear that I was averaging under a 9 min/mile pace, even though I knew I wasn't.  The further I went, the closer it got to my actual pace.  Which will not be mentioned on this blog.

My legs were sore from yesterday, but after about a half mile, I was feeling ok.  When I got to 1.6 miles the top of my foot started to hurt again so I immediately stopped.  I stretched some and decided to run back home.  But it hurt, so I walked.  Might be a stress fracture.  I'm happy that I finally got an injury from running and not from doing something stupid like sitting on the toilet wrong.

This was the Alta Mesa Stake Trot for Turkey.  I'm not counting this as a race and I don't have to explain myself.  So shut up.  I was going to run with my wife, but she said for me to go on.  We ran three loops around a gated community neighborhood by the stake center.  I got lapped by three young men.  My shorts felt like they were going to fall down the whole time, but I didn't want to stop and retie them because I didn't want to look like a perv.  Later I realized they weren't tied at all.  When I finished I went back to run with my wife.  I found her about half a loop back.  She did the whole thing without walking.  And she did 5.5 miles yesterday.  Pretty proud of her.  I'm trying to get her to sign up for Ragnar next year.  Anyway, it wasn't quite a 5k, so we continued running to the stake center.  Her GPS measured 3.05 miles.  Close enough.  We didn't win any turkeys even though a couple in our ward gave us their tickets because they were going to leave.  Then we passed out Ragnar beanies to a bunch of people.

I actually felt pretty good this morning.  I saw a coyote.  It was 8am, and you usually don't see them out this late in the day.  I'm guessing because of the rain last night it spent most of the night in its shelter.  So it came out to look for breakfast this morning.  It was stalking some birds when I scared them off and ruined his breakfast.  I took a picture, but it is barely visible.  I tried to get closer and it hid in the brush alongside the bank of the floodway.  I got closer and it ran away to the south.  About 20 seconds later I saw it running north down the middle of the floodway being chased by a hawk.

I'm in Enoch, Utah, at my sister's house for Thanksgiving.  The elevation is near 5600 and it's COLD!!  But my run was good.  I tried to map out a course before I left, but it took less than a quarter mile before I took a wrong turn.  In my "defence" there was a fence in the way.  So I just started winging it.  I saw some people.  They were friendly.  There were more hills than I'm used to running.  I ran down Enoch Rd. and saw what I thought was my turn, but I wasn't sure, so I kept running.  Then I saw another turn and thought that might be it.  But I kept running.  Finally I decided to turn around and take that second turn.  It led to a well station.  I could see the other road that I needed to be on and I saw a dirt road that I thought would connect, so I ran on that for a while.  Then I realized it wasn't going to connect and the ravine was too deep and muddy, so I just backtracked and went back on to the the first road.  That's how I realized I messed up because there was a wire fence going across the road.  Luckily it was just one strand so I went under it.  It was a nice adventure.

I did the loop I wanted to do two days ago today.  It seemed real hard.  Maybe because I ate breakfast first.  And it was a late breakfast.  So I left at 11am.  I had two shirts on, one long sleeve with a short sleeve on top.  But it wasn't that cold out.  However, it was windy.  The first half mile was all down hill.  The next mile and a half was a gradual uphill in to the wind that seemed like it would never end.  Then the last half mile was downhill again.  I wish I was in better shape because it would be fun to explore some of the hills around here.

I had a headache yesterday, so I didn't run.  Today I was feeling better.  We just got back from Enoch, Utah, visiting my sister for Thanksgiving.  We rented an RV.  Today we had to take the RV back.  So on the way home, I pulled over about 3 miles away so I could run the rest of the way home and my wife could go to the store.  I got about a mile and a half into it and my headache came back.  I tried just running through it, but I ended up having to walk.  I would walk and run a little, but mostly walked the rest of the way home.  Luckily I was able to go along the Floodway which took at least a quarter mile off than had I stayed on the road.

After my run the top of my left foot really hurt.  I wasn't sure if it was a muscle strain or a stress fracture.  I would think a stress fracture would be unlikely since I haven't been running much.  Who knows?