Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Just guessing on my distance based off previous entries.  My Runkeeper went crazy and showed I ran 2.2 miles.  The nice thing about it was that it showed my pace in the low 8's.  Ah, maybe some day again.  Anyway, I saw another coyote.  It looked a lot like the last one I saw.  I hate to sound racist, but they all look alike to me.

Today I got up way earlier than normal to go running with a couple of guys on my Ragnar team, Mike and John at 5:45am.  Sounds like a radio show.  I thought it might be cold, so I grabbed a light jacket.  It was lightly sprinkling.  Very lightly.  But it wasn't cold at all.  In fact, it was kind of warm in the long-sleeved Ragnar Trail T-shirt I was wearing.  I also had on my reflective vest and my headlamp as we headed up our favorite hill, Usery Pass.  Since I've barely run in forever, I knew I wouldn't make it to the top.  I decided to turn around at the halfway point.  I could still see John and Mike's red LED lights blinking in the distance when I turned around.  Going down was a lot easier.  I had a 5 minute negative split.  I was surprised at how many other runners and cyclists were out this morning so early and so dark out.  Anyway, I ran down the street a little and turned around so that I could get an even 4 miles in.  I knew if they continued to the top it would be a 7.3 mile round trip for them.  Since it was warm and I was sweaty I decided it would be a nice idea to take my reflective vest and Ragnar Trail T-shirt off, and I would don my jacket when they got back.   After removing said items, I realized that I have recently shaved a V into my chest hair and thought it would be embarrassing for them to see.  So I tried just putting my reflective vest back on.  It was sweaty and gross and it didn't cover any of the V.  So I put my sweaty Ragnar Trail T-shirt back on.  Blech.

My GPS wigged out on me again right towards the end.  Threw an extra 0.16 miles on.  Maybe if I ask it nicely to stop doing that.

I'm slow.  But I go.

I wasn't feeling good today.  A bit of a headache when I started that went away before I finished running.  But mostly my back was sore.  And my legs.  So, just a small run today.

It rained most of the day yesterday and was raining pretty good when I went to sleep.  I was 90% sure the guys I had planned on going running with this morning would call it off.  But it wasn't raining at 5am so they came and picked me up.  I set my alarm for 4:45am.  I was half expecting a text that they were going to cancel, so I went back to sleep and woke up about 5:08am.  There was no text, so I got dressed and made a pee pee.  Unfortunately I did not make a poo poo.  In my haste to get out the door at 5:15 am (Mike and John were there exactly when they planned on), I forgot my headlamp hanging on the rack right next to the door.  I remembered about half a mile down the street, but I wasn't about to ask them to drive back because last week John said he had a meeting to go to today, and I figured any lost time might make him late.  We drove to the parking lot next to the Sherriff's station and the Salt River tube rentals where we always park when we run Usery Pass.  As soon as I stepped out of the truck I knew I wasn't going to make it very far now that my bowels had woken up.  Mike had given me the keys because last week I turned around early and had to wait about 30 minutes before they got back.  I told them to start without me and I would catch up.  I searched Mike's truck for some TP and I found some fancy napkins from the Melting Pot.  I went over to the bathrooms at the tube rentals, which are always locked at this time of year, but I hoped for a miracle.  Of course they were locked.  Now I had to wander out into the wilderness and find a bush.  With the light of my cell phone I found a place that looked like it was safe from wild horses and coyotes.  I'm not an expert at the pop a squat so I ended up taking off my shorts and underwear just to be safe.  Safe from soiling them, not necessarily safe from wild animals.  Anyway, I did my business, which was gross.  It seems things didn't quite solidify as they should have.  I guess that's what happens when you wake up that early.  Thank goodness the Melting Pot has top quality napkins.  Putting my clothes back on proved to be a challenge since I didn't take off my shoes.  I got the first leg in without a problem.  I had a feeling leg #2 wouldn't be so easy.  Sure enough my foot didn't find the hole.  And of course I couldn't get it out in time to maintain my balance.  Down I went.  Luckily I was away from the, well, you know.  I stuck my second leg though my underwear and shorts, pulled them half way up, brushed the dirt off my bum, finished pulling them up, and I was now finally ready to go.  I figured Mike and John had a 15 minute headstart on me now.  And since they're faster than I am, I started doing the math and estimated that I would be about 2.5 to 2.6 miles into my run when I would see them running back down the mountain.  I decided that when I saw them, I would hand one of them the keys so that they could just pick me up when they were done.  Right at 2.54 miles I saw their headlamps and I handed Mike the keys and told him to come pick me up.  I would just keep running straight.  He said, "Ok."  It was later that I realized he had no idea what I had told him, and he thought I was playing a joke on him.  So his, "Ok" was indeed sarcasm.  I started doing more math in my head to estimate at what point in my run they would catch up to me to pick me up.  I figured it would be somewhere between 5.25 miles and 5.50 miles.  My goal was to make it to the top which is 3.7 miles.  I was glad I would make it because I would then have some downhill.  Well, right around 5.15 a guy was running towards me.  He was wearing all black and no lights or reflective gear.  He was literally 5 steps away from me before I saw him.  I had my vest on at least, so I'm sure he saw me before I saw him.  Anyway, I decided that I should call Mike to see where he was at and to let him know that if they saw that guy, don't stop because it's not me.  I ask Mike, "Where are you at?"  He says, "You want us to pick you up?"  I said, "Yeah!  Didn't you hear me??"  He made a joke about hearing me but wanted me to run extra.  Then he said, "No, I didn't hear you."  So, they drove up to get me, and I got to run more than I expected.  I felt bad because I didn't want to make John late.  Hopefully he got to his meeting on time.  Well, I'm sure I'll be nice and sore for a few days.  I am happy with the run.  My pace was slightly slower than last week, but that's a good thing since I went all the way to the top this time.  Have a great weekend, everyone.

It's my month again to do security at the church.  This is the first time I ran this month to the church.  It was raining.  Not too bad.  I'm absolutely positive I sweat more than it rains.  No matter how hard it rains.

Ran to the church again and back.  It was kind of cold.

I'm not sure of the exact distance I went because my GPS wasn't working quite right again.  I think it happens when I don't wait a minute for my Runkeeper to completely locate me.  Then it spends the rest of the run trying to find me.

Anyway, Mike, John, and I went to Usery again.  It was John's turn to drive.  Alyssa was supposed to meet us there, too, but she slept in.  I had gotten up nice and early so that I wouldn't have a repeat of last week.  Plus we left a half an hour later.  It was a little colder this week, so I brought some sweat pants and an extra long sleeved shirt.

We were about to start and I realized I forgot to start my Runkeeper.  I turned it on real fast and as soon as it said Good GPS, we started.  John and Mike took off pretty fast today.  I guess they're getting in shape faster than I am.  After about a quarter mile I saw an awesome shooting start go blazing across the sky.  I yelled, "Wow!"  I was still within range for the two of them to hear me, and I see their red blinky LED lights fade and their headlamps brighten as they turned their heads to make sure I was all right.  I asked the if they saw the shooting star.  Mike said they did.  I said, "That was awesome!" 

Right around mile 1 I heard a coyote howl.  It must've been 200 yards from me.  Then I heard another one answer it probably 5 or 600 yards away.  That, too, was awesome.  After a little bit I could only see one LED light ahead of me.  It seemed closer than what I would have thought it should be and I wondered if either Mike or John was walking.  At about 2.5 miles I see a headlamp coming towards me.  I think to myself, "That can't be one of my guys.  Surely, they couldn't have made it to the top yet."  Indeed it was Mike.  He told me he was going back down.  He wasn't feeling good.  I asked if it was his ankle that he mentioned was aching before we started.  He said he was cramping.  I spent most of the run hoping he was ok.

Around mile 3.2 I see John coming back towards me.  He asks if I had seen Mike.  I told him he had turned around.  I was wondering if I should turn around with him, but at this point I was maybe a little more than half a mile from the top, so I kept going.  I got to the top where I saw my first and only cyclist of the day.  I turned around knowing that even though I was sore, the rest was all downhill.

I love downhill.  I just put in neutral and let gravity take over.  Around 5.75 miles I started wondering whether or not they would come and try to find me because last week I kept running straight.  Sure enough they picked me up at mile 6.  Which means John was able to run 7.3 miles and get in his suburban and pick me up in the amount of time it took me to run 6.  But I'm ok with that.  It's now 6:30pm as I write this, and I'm a little bit sore, but not too bad.  I'm optomistic about having a good Ragnar this year.

Didn't have time to do more.  But I felt great.  I took my daughter to the Sun's game tonight.  They got slaughtered.
 

I couldn't quite get that last 0.01 miles in.  Today's route was determined by the fact that I started to run and realized I had to go peepee.  I had gotten my running clothes on in the morning, but I had work to do, so I kept putting off going.  I don't ever eat before I run, so around 1:30pm I was getting hungry.  I told my wife I was starving and she told me to eat.  I told her I hadn't run yet, so she made me drink a protein shake and said she would make me lunch when I got back.  I drank the shake, stretched a little, and started my run.  It was kind of warm and I realized my bladder was full.  So I decided to run up the canal 2 miles where there is a nice clean public restroom.  Then I ran home.

Usery Pass again with Mike and John.  I'm feeling better each week.  We discovered a porty potty at the main intersection where they're doing some construction.  I needed to use it so I just did a little bit of stretching and ran to it before Mike and John started.  The honey bucket was on a trailer that wasn't secured to anything so it became a balancing act.  I was most afraid of losing my phone to the murky blue deep.  I had brought my own TP, but I was glad there was some in there because, boy did I need it.  By the time I finished, Mike and John were ahead of me, but I could see their tail lights.  Because they got another head start on me, I decided that when the last of them passed me on the way back, I would turn around.  I heard another coyote.  It sounded far off, so I howled back.  Actually it was more like a Ric Flair whooo!  After that I didn't hear the coyote anymore.  I got passed by a cyclist who had a pretty good pace going for the uphill.  When he caught Mike and John was about the last time I saw them until they were coming back down.  First Mike came by.  I'm not sure if he was ahead or if John ran further.  I think the latter.  When John came by I ran for about another 30 seconds and then turned around.  I kinda wished I hadn't because I was only a quarter mile from the top.  Oh well. About a half mile before the bottom, a group of three ladies were running up and they were getting passed by a handful of cyclists.  It was nice to see so many active people out.  Also right then, I saw a guy taking a picture of some of the famous Salt River horses.  I'm not sure if I would've noticed them if he wasn't there.  I paused and snapped a quick picutre myself.

When I got to the truck John and Mike were surprised that I was back already.  Little did they know I didn't go all the way to the top.

Lots of people out this morning on the EMF trail and the RWCD road.  Mostly old.  When will I consider myself one of them?  I also saw Sis. Lowe.  She was running down the street pushing her baby stroller.  Her baby is probably 6 or 7 months old.  Maybe older.  Nice to see her getting back in shape.

I saw a lot of people running with their dogs today.  It made me miss my dog.  I never told anyone this, but Ginger died last year.  It made me sad to think about her.  On a positive note, my body felt great today.

Mike was sick today, and John was in Flagstaff.  Luckily Alyssa and Phil came to run this morning.  Alyssa has run a few Ragnars with me.  At least three that I can think of, maybe four.  I'd never met Phil before.  He's a friend of Rebecca's who was on our team last year.  This week we assigned legs to all the runners.  Phil will be our first runner.  His first leg is no joke and Alyssa and I laughed in unison when he told us he was the first runner.  I'll be runner #10.  My first leg is 8.2 miles and my second is 5 miles, both a gradual uphill the whole way.  My last leg will be downhill, then evens out with a few rollers.  Anyway, Alyssa has been battling diabetes this year, so I hope she's able to get in shape enough to run her 13 miles.  Today she walked all the way to the top and jogged back down.  Phil and I ran the first half mile together.  Then he asked if I would be offended if he picked up the pace.  I told him not at all and it didn't take long for him to put a significant gap between us.  However, then he started walking.  Looks like he was doing the Galloway method.  It worked for him.  He stayed in front of me the whole time.  Today was the first time this year I made it all the way to the top and all the way back down.  So, that was good.  About a mile and a quarter into my downhill, I saw Alyssa.  I stopped to see how she was doing.  She assured me she was all right.  We started running this morning about 8:30am, so it was really warming up and my mouth was drying out.  I was glad to finally finish, and that last half mile seemed like it took forever.  I drove up to check on Alyssa, and I saw her jogging back down almost the same place I saw her on her way up.  Once again, she said she was doing fine.  I asked if she wanted me to follow her.  She declined.  She just texted me as I'm typing this up to say she made it.  I'm proud of her.  We should have a fun van.
 

I've been pretty stressed at work lately.  I probably shouldn't talk about it because there might be a law suit involved, but just saying that, you can imagine my stress.  Anyway, yesterday I put my running clothes on, but right before I left to go on my run, I got a call from one of the parties involved.  After that I called another party involved, and they said they would call another party involved and get back to me.  Well, they never did, so I never went running.  In fact, I just slept in my running clothes last night and finally went this morning.  I felt good at first, but then I think the stress got to me and I decided to stop at 2.5.  I'll try again tomorrow.

I usually wait until my daughter gets on the bus before I leave to go running.  Since I haven't run in a week, I thought it best that I only do a mile and a half.  Therefore, I should have plenty of time to run before the bus got here.  I started to run and realized I felt pretty good.  It's one of those things where if I had more time, I would have gone further.  But since I didn't, I'll just have to make sure I go running tomorrow.  I got home about two minutes before the bus got there and got to have her punch my face through the bus window.  It's our daily ritual.

I didn't run yesterday because I got this 24-hour bug thing.  I did get lots of rest.  I felt better today and decided to try for 5 and a half.  It felt ok.  The Arizona Rattlers training facility backs up to the RWCD canal. On the way back they had taken the field and were tossing the pigskin around.  I was hoping to get some cat calls or whistles.

Ragnar is in two weeks.  I felt great today.  Gotta be more consistent.
 

It rained a lot yesterday.  Not much motivation today.

I got some new running shorts in the mail from Reebok and decided to wear them.  They were nice, but they don't have pockets.  So I figured today would be a good day to practice running while holding stuff in my hands.  I ran with my phone in my left hand and a water bottle in my right hand.
 

Friday I sent a text to John, Mike, and Phil about running this morning.  I wanted to go early because I needed to go out surveying afterwards.  Mike said under doctor's orders he couldn't go.  He's going to rest up until the race.  I hope he'll be all right.  Phil said he couldn't make it either.  I sent out an email to the entire team, but the only people that came were me and John.  John had just run a 1:39 half marathon the week before and is doing seemingly well.  I got there before he did and wasn't sure if he was coming, so after I stretched, I ran up to the porta potty at the intersection.  I saw a car pulling in to the parking lot and figured it was him.  I texted him and told him I was in the porta potty.  It was him, and lucky for me he waited because I saw this guy and girl running down the street on my way there and now the girl was going to try and use the porta potty, but John told him someone was in there.

After I took care of my business, the guy and girl were gone.  I guess they didn't want to wait for me.  Or they didn't want my cooties.  So John and I began our ascent.  After 5 minutes I was only about 8 seconds behind John.  It was close enough to where he could hear my Runkeeper go off, so he turned to make sure I was ok.  That first half mile always goes by much faster than the subsequent uphill miles.  That's where I really start to slow down because in between 0.5 and 2.5 is the steepest part.  My plan was to go beyond the top today to the Usery Park entrance.  That would be 9.2 miles.  That's why I drove myself because I didn't want anyone to have to wait for me.  John went at least that far.  I finally lost eye sight with him after 2 miles, but I was less than a half mile from the turn around point when I saw him coming back.  He asked how I was feeling, and I told him I was feeling great.  About 10 seconds after that my knees started to ball up on me.  Sometimes they do that after I finish running.  It hurts for a little bit, but goes away.  Now it was happening while I was running, so I just ran through it.

About a tenth of a mile (maybe less) before I turned around there was a girl running up the hill.  When I turned around she had a pretty big headstart on me, but I wondered if I would catch her.  Nope.  She was running pretty good, and put some major distance between us.  About a quarter mile from the top, I saw the guy and the girl from the porta potty.  They were running with another guy now.  They guy crossed the street and turned around and started running with the other girl.  They were fast.  I apologized to the first girl for being in the porta potty.  Once I got to the top I knew the rest was downhill.  Even though my knees still hurt a little, I knew I'd be fine.  There were a ton of cyclists out today.  Half a mile before I finished John pulled over in his car.  He said, "You made it!"  I said, "Yep.  Great confidence booster."  I finished up and headed home.  I spent the rest of the day outside walking around surveying.

A nice easy run before Ragnar.
 

Ragnar #24.  I love the Del Sol course.  This was the first time in years that I've been in Van #2.  But they changed the finish line to Fountain Hills this year, so my third leg ending up being one of that I've done many times.  They also changed the date of the race.  They pushed it back a few weeks because they were afraid they were getting too much competition with the Phoenix Marathon.  I'm sure that's true, but perhaps they should have changed it to January.  They said they looked at historical weather data and that it was only a few degrees hotter.  Well, hotter is hotter, so yeah, it was hot.

I had a fun van.  It consisted of Mike and John, who I've been running with on Saturday mornings for the last few months.  It also consisted of Megan, Mike's daughter, Alyssa, who I recruited as a former teammate of mine from several teams, and Bethany, another one of my recruits and former teammates.  This was Megan's first Ragnar and she was a trooper.  Alyssa is a Ragnar veteran, but recently was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes.  She struggled, but she was able to do all her runs, even her last leg which was all uphill.  Bethany was as solid as ever and made good friends with the other girls.  Actually, Bethany's husband, Nate, was in the same van with me and Alyssa when we did So Cal Ragnar, so it was cool that they got to meet.

My first leg was 8.2 miles.  It was shortly after 4pm on Friday, and it was probably in the mid 80's when I started and low 80's when I finished.  I was doing good up until the 2nd water stop right around 5.8 miles.  That next mile was a real struggle.  Lots of walking.  I wondered if my compression socks were cutting off the circulation to my legs.  Thoughts?  Obviously the heat also had something to do with it and the fact that it was all uphill, albeit gradual.  I was surprised because the 9.2 miles I did the Saturday prior felt great.  Anyway, with about a mile and a quarter to go, I finally talked myself into running the remainder of the leg, because, come on, one and a quarter miles is easy, right?

My second leg was 5.2 miles, again all uphill.  It was around 2am.  I felt a little better, but still struggled to really push the pace.  This was the only leg I didn't pass anyone, but I only got passed by a handful of runners.  I stopped once because I thought my sock was sinking down into my shoe.  That would have been a disaster.  Luckily it wasn't, but it took me about 30 seconds to get going again.  Other than that, it was a good run.  Oh, and I saw a couch on the side of the road that I almost took a nap on.

You may recall that Mike had run the Phoenix Half Marathon two weeks ago and really struggled with his knee.  Well, it was getting really painful for him and his last leg was 9.2 miles.  Bethany, John, and myself offered to run his last leg for him.  He was going to take me up on the offer, but Rebecca from Van 1 joined our van for the last set of legs.  She's also a solid runner and had done the Phoenix Full.  They decided to do Mike's leg together, Rebecca would run the first half, which was half uphill and half downhill.  Then Mike would run the last half, which was all downhill.  I'm glad I didn't end up running it, but I feel like I could have done it.  Anyway, it was getting hot again, but Mike powered through the pain.  He handed off to me and I was off for my final 4.3 miles.  Finally some downhill!  It was nice, but it was hot.  I carried a bottle of water with me and I would take small drinks and dump some on my head.  Within 5 minutes it would be dry.  Luckily there was a water station half way through.  This is where a guy and a girl passed me up.  I filled up my water bottle and took off with a nice slow pace again.  About another half mile down the road my van was stopped and John had a bottle of Gatorade and water.  I motioned to him for the water.  I just used it to dump all over myself.  I started again and was able to pass the guy that passed me at the water station as he had started walking.  I noticed the girl was walking, too, and I closed the distance on her.  When I passed her, she started running again.  She was a few steps behind me and we were able to talk and joke about the race so far. We encouraged each other and with about a half mile to go she pulled up even with me.  I told her I wanted her to beat me, but she said, "No!  You're the only reason I'm even still running at this point."  So with a hundred yards to go I said, "Come on!  Strong finish!"  I expected her to pick up the pace and run with me, but she didn't.  So I ended up beating her in and I actually felt strong.

Bethany and John were our last runners.  To get to the Fountain Park in Fountain Hills we had to park at the high school a mile and a half away and catch a shuttle.  I was worried that it would be a disaster, but it was good.  We got there in plenty of time.  I Facebook lived our finish.

Here's our team minus Tyler, who I guess had somewhere more important to be.

Here's van 2.  Mike, John, Rebecca, Megan, Alyssa, Bethany, and me.  I don't consciously remember sucking my gut in.

FedEx dropped off a new pair of Reeboks to my door this morning.  My third new pair of Reeboks from Ragnar in less than a year.  I ran with them and they did all right.
 

With no upcoming races in the forseeable future, I've just been lazy.

Two days in a row?  Whuh what?

Well, it won't be 4 days in a row, I can promise you that.  I was all decked out in an orange shirt and orange shorts.  I planned on running 2.5 miles today, but about a quarter of a mile into it my knee started to hurt.  In hind sight, I should have turned around then.  When I got to Brown Rd. I decided I would only do the 1.5 mile loop.  I ran over to the canal and started heading back.  I saw two old ladies way off in the distance wearing bright pink shirts and black leggings.  I couldn't tell if they were coming towards me or going the same direction I was.  After a while I determined they were going the same way I was.  My knee wasn't bothering me too much, so I decided I would do my 2.5 miles after all.  This would give me a chance to make a funny joke to the old ladies.  I caught them shortly after Adobe Rd.  I asked, "were we supposed to wear pink today?  I thought it was orange."  One of them said, "You didn't get the memo."  I finished my run and felt strong, even though my pace was slow.  Two hours later and now my knee really hurts.  Stupid old ladies.

Every part of my body hurts.

I was sooooooooooooooo slooooooooowwwww today.  It was a Christmas pace.
 

I went with my brother-in-law to an RWB (red, white, and blue) event this morning.  We met at the American Legion Post 1 in Phoenix.  We ran a mile to the Wesley Bolin Memorial Park.  We then did a workout which is going to leave me sore for weeks.  Then we ran back to the Legion and had doughnuts and breakfast burritos.  Have a thankful Memorial Day.

Trying to get back in to it.

A little bit longer, and a little bit faster.  Today's run was kind of weird.  There were high school students everywhere.  And they were running in all different directions.  School's out, so it must be a summer running club or the cross country team training through the summer.  It just seemed weird that they were coming from all different directions and headed in different directions.  No rhyme or reason.  Anyway, it was a nice run.
 

I didn't go running yesterday due to the chicken crisis of 2017.  A couple of weeks ago, my brother-in-law decided he wanted to get chickens.  But he didn't want to keep them at his house because of the HOA, so he brought them to our house.  Naturally my daughters fell in love with them.  There were 6 of them.  Were.  I was stretching out ready to run when my daughter came outside to check on them.  I thought I would got check on them with her right before I left.  I went back there and she was in a panic because they were all missing.  Somehow that had gotten out of their coop.  Abby was worried that the cat got them.  We started searching for them and she spotted one of them huddled up by the wall.  We looked for the others and I spotted one in the pool.  It had drowned :(  Abby started crying.  We kept looking for the others and one by one we would find them.  I went back to the pool and I happened to notice what looked like a set of chicken legs inside the skimmer ledge.  I said, "Oh no.  I found another one in the pool."  I removed the lid and expected to have to scoop out another dead bird, but it wasn't in there.  I could have swore I saw some chicken legs!  So I leaned over the edge and sure enough, there was the runt with its eyes closed.  I blew at it and its eyes opened!  I yelled, "It's alive!!"  Abby yelled, "Get it, dad!!"  I yelled, "I've never picked one up before!!"  So she reached in and grabbed it out.  We ended up finding all of them and put them back in the coop.  I went back inside the house and Abby said, "Did we put the tarp back on?  If we didn't, it's going to happen all over again."  So I went back outside to check if the tarp was on and they were all out again.  And one was in the pool!  The tarp was on.  There were two gaps in the wooden enclosure that I'm pretty sure they were squeezing through.  So I plugged them with bricks.  The runt was still shivering, so I took it inside to get warmed up.  Anyway, that ruined my morning and I didn't run.  This morning I got out, but half a mile in to it my knee started hurting.  This is why I stopped running a few months ago.  So I walked home.  The End.

The first couple of steps felt pretty good.  It was all downhill from there.  Actually it wasn't too bad until I got to the halfway point.  All of my leg muscles just tightened up.  My knee was hurting a little, too.  It's amazing how quickly I get out of shape.  I must have a yeast infection or something.

I'm supposed to do group runs as a Ragnar Ambassador.  So I chose to run with this group that goes out every Tuesday night at Cadence Running Store in Chandler.  Yesterday when I ran it was in the mid 80's and wasn't too bad.  Today it was a lot hotter and the forecast shows it's going to be 117º within a week.  I took it nice and slow to try and not aggravate my knee and too not overheat.  I managed to jog the entire distance at a snail's pace.  I even beat a couple of people.  But those people won the raffle, so I shoulda let them beat me.  Afterwards I talked to the store owner about hosting a Ragnar 101 clinic.

My phone said it was 77º at 8am.  I thought, hey, that's sounds perfect to get a few miles in.  I stepped outside and the very fires of hell itself consumed my soul.  My phone is a liar.  Needless to say, this didn't go too well.
 

I went to Cadence Running. Co. this evening to help host another Ragnar 101 clinic.  They have group runs every Tuesday, so it was nice of them to let us come.  I didn't feel like I was ready to run the full 3 miles that they do.  It was real hot, and I've mostly been doing pool running.  I honestly don't know if that's been helping at all, but it must be doing something.  It's better than nothing I keep telling myself.

I got up earlier than normal, so I was determined to get a real run in today.  I went outside ready to run a mile and a half.  It was a couple of minutes before 7am, but it felt like an oven already.  It was 92 in the shade.  But I should be able to do a mile and a half.  So I turned on my Runkeeper and I got an alert that today is Global 5K Day.  (I capitalized that as if it's a real thing.)  So, anyway, yeah, I had to do at least a 5K.  I slogged my way through it and I'm happy to say that I beat 15,065 people.  (You don't need to know how many people beat me.  Go away now.)

The sun was behind some clouds this morning, so I went running even though it was late.  There was this strange guy out on the trail.  He was staring off into the distance crouched over.  He wasn't moving.  I started to think maybe he died and rigor mortis had set in.  But when I finally got close enough to where he could hear me, he moved.  I'm not sure what he was looking at.  He was staring across the floodway and there's really nothing to look at.  He was real dirty and looked homeless.  I told him good morning and he muttered good morning back to me.  It was strange.

It was hot.  I was slow.  The end.

I realize that it's going to continue to hurt if I only run once a week.  It was 92º out at 7am.  My shoes have just about had it, but they don't even have 500 miles on them.  I guess Father Time also takes its toll on shoes.

It was nice and overcast.  I thought I was feeling better, so I tried to run faster.  But it was still incredibly slow.  Sigh.

It was about 8:30am when I got out.  It was 88º, so not as warm as it has been.  But it was sweaty out.  I wasn't sweaty.  IT was.

I went to bed early last night so that I could get up early and run.  The problem was, I woke up at 3:30am.  Knowing that was too early, I tried to go back to sleep.  I tried everything!  But I couldn't.  I went running at 6:30am.  Later I had a Ragnar clinic to go to at REI.  So it ended up being a long day.

I finally got out the door at 10:00am.  It was 96º in the shade.  So I did something I usually don't do.  I carried a bottle of water with me.  I was feeling pretty stiff and sore, and I was wheezing.  But once I got on the Floodway trail, I tried picking up the pace.  I was like, "Holy crud.  Is this as fast as I can run now?"  It's pretty sad.  Anyway, I stopped after a mile and took a drink.  After that I felt more loose and was able to pick up the pace even more, although it was still incredibly slow.

I've been crazy busy at work.  I've been meaning to get out and run, but it never happened.  I finally bit the bullet this morning and got out the door at 6am.  It was nice running in the shade for most of the way.  I saw one bunny.
 

21.2 mile bike ride.

I didn't get out the door 'til almost 9am.  It was already 90°.  I had to beat the eclipse.

I need to stop eating dessert.  But I felt all right and I got out early.  I was supposed to go bike riding with my brother-in-law, but he went without me.  Guess who will be going to taco Tuesday without him.

I went to bed fairly early last night.  I fell asleep with Emily watching Trolls.  Around 3:30am I realized the little cement mixer was no longer with us.  I got up to check her room and found her in the middle of the hallway with a blanket.  So I put her back in her own bed and couldn't get back to sleep.  I was planning on going on a bike ride with my BIL, Curtis at 6am.  We went 9.6 miles.  The first half was slightly downhill so we were really cruising.  The way back was slightly uphill and we slowed down quite a bit.  Because we did so few miles, I decided to get a little run in.  However, my legs tightened up and I questioned whether or not I should actually go.  I decided to be a tough guy and do it.  I felt so slow.  But in reality, I don't think I was that much slower than my normal pace as of late.  It just felt slow because my legs were tired.  Going to the Foreigner/Cheap Trick concert tonight.  I'll probably fall asleep.

14.2 miles on the bicycle.  I started about quarter to 11.  It was a little bit hot.

Some of you know that I'm addicted to Words with Friends.  I love it.  If I could make a living off of playing it, I would.  Within the last 6 months I've learned that you no longer have to pay for using the Word Strength Meter.  The Word Strength Meter lets you know if you're playing the best possible word.  For example, if I put the word LIGER on the board (it's a real word) and it shows me that I could gain 30 points by playing it and then I press the WSM button and the meter only goes half way up, I know that somewhere with my letters I can spell a 60 point word.  So my weekly word average has gone up from around 27 points per word per week to around 33.  Anyway, for the last 30 hours I knew I had a real good word in one of my games, but I couldn't figure it out.  Of course, I could use an on-line word generator, but that would be cheating.  So, I was thinking about my letters during my run, and I thought NOMITIVE.  I'll bet that's it.  So I stopped and tried it, but it didn't work.  I was disappointed.  But I decided to try MONITIVE before I continued with my run.  Eureka!  83 points!  Now I can continue on my day without worrying about what word to play.  Until it's my turn again.

Another brick workout.  I got up at 4:45am and left to go on a ride with Curtis and Kenny at 5:30am.  We headed due east, which is good because it's uphill.  After about 3.5 miles Curtis told us to go on without him because his knee was hurting.  We rode to mile 4 and waited for him.  He said we didn't have to wait for him, so he turned around and we went north for another half mile.  Then we turned around and tried to catch him.  With half a mile to go, Kenny caught him, but I was just a tad behind and got caught at the traffic light.  Since I went less than 10 miles again, I decided to go on a small run.  Wow, my legs felt heavy.  But I need to get in shape because my wife and I are doing the Heroes Run on 9/11.

I thought I was feeling pretty good this morning.  I must've been for the first half mile.  Then it was back to my slogging pace.  I did see 4 bunnies and a bunch of quail.

I ran this race with my wife.  Well, me mostly walked it. 60% humidity.  I'll be drenched for years to come.

22.4 mile bike ride.  Jumped in the pool after.  I feel good now.  My rumperootus was aching during the ride.

A little faster than usual.  Felt terrible.

27.5 mile bike ride.  I went the Usery Pass route.  In hind sight, my hind end still wasn't ready for this kind of ride, but my butt survived.  I had to stop once going up the big hill.  After that it was a lot easier making it to the top.  I think I'd cut off the circulation in my legs.

If I had only done this run 9 more times, I could've done a marathon.  Except everything hurt.  Anyway, my wife was out walking this morning.  Sometimes when she's walking I don't go running because I'm afraid to leave Emily alone.  Not that she's alone, but everyone is sleeping.  But I knew she'd be sound asleep this morning.  I got to the Floodway and I could see a bright shirt of a lady on the other side along the canal.  I wondered if it was my wife.  The more I ran I could tell that it was not her.  She got to Brown Road before me and she turned around.  I had a feeling I could catch her even though I was going incredibly slow.  It's not like I was trying to catch her.  It just happened.  So I passed her and that was nice.  I ran down to University Drive and headed back to the other side of the Floodway.  Right before I reached Adobe I saw another lady on the Floodway path headed my way.  It was indeed my wife.  So I ran up to her.  We might have kissed a few times.  I won't admit to that.

27.5 mile bike ride.  Pretty close to the same route as last week.  I wanted to ride with the group, but I couldn't get ready in time.  (That means I didn't make a bowel movement yet.)  The group was going to start at 6am at the Park and Ride 5.6 miles from my house.  I finally got out the door at 5:50am.  I didn't think I could make it there even if I drove.  So I pedaled over there thinking maybe I could catch up to the slower ones.  Well, when I got there, they hadn't left yet.  I've only went with them once a couple of weeks ago, and one of their regulars lectured them about leaving earlier instead of wasting so much time.  Today, he was late!!  Well, I'm not really part of the group, so they asked me to take the group picture.  The lady that organizes the rides did apologize that I couldn't be in the picture.  Then she asked me if I would stay with Pastor Bill.  He's a 70-year old man that's a bit pokey.  Such a sweet guy, though.  Of course, I said yes.  So I stayed behind him the entire time.  Not sure if I got the same amount of work that I would've gotten had I rode my pace, than the calculated slow pedaling I had to do to keep myself in motion and not crash into the Pastor or fall over.

After the first loop, I wasn't feeling good.  So I called it quits.
 

I felt surprisingly well this morning.  The weather is nice, too.

Today was day 1 of Ragnar's 7Summits Challenge.  This is a virtual run, and the idea is for the combined elevation gain of all the particpants to equal or exceed summitting the 7 tallest peaks on each continent 10 times over.  The goal for today was 320 feet of elevation.  I went to GoogleEarth yesterday to see how much that distance that would be running my Usery Pass route.  I measured it at 1.55 miles.  Piece of cake.  I decided to run 1.6 just to be safe.  Good thing.  Strava doesn't tell you your distance to the hundredth of a mile, just to the tenth.  I stopped right at 1.6 and paused.  I checked my elevation gain and it said 325.  Not bad.  Then I crossed the road and headed down.  I saw the lady that I had passed on her bicycle after she had passed me and then had to stop.  There were a few more cyclists out, but most of them were coming up the hill.  I can't remember a single cyclists passing me on the downhill as I was running down.  I like seeing cyclists.

I took the other way home because there was construction going on the road the way I came.  I saw a dead Salt River horse on the side of the road that someone had covered with a blanket.  It was sad, but not nearly as sad as hearing about all the deaths from the shootings in Las Vegas last night.

I need to do my runs earlier.  It's still rather warm at 8am.  I was up at 5am, but my daughter, who's been sick for over a week now, was rousing, and my wife was going on her walk.  So I didn't want to leave my daughter all alone.  At 7:30am I drove my other daughter to school and continued up the road to Usery Pass to do day 2 of the 7SummitsChallenge.  My calves were still sore and I don't know if I'll be able to run the entire challenge.  Hopefully I'll get better as the week goes on, but I will get my elevation in even if it means I have to walk it.  I didn't see a single cyclists on the way up in either direction.  Today's challenge was 330 feet of vertical, so I knew I only had to go slightly more than what I had done yesterday.  I crossed the road right before I got to yesterday's turnaround point and looked for the mark I made by dragging my heel in the sand.  I couldn't find it.  I kept running thinking maybe it was just a little further ahead, but finally I stopped knowing I had gone too far.  I stopped my Strava and looked at the elevation gain.  340 feet.  10 extra.  I can live with that.  While I was trying to figure out how to sync this to the challenge, I finally saw my first cyclist.  He was kind enough to ask me if I was all right.  On the way down I saw 6 more cyclists.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll pause and take a picture of the dead tarantula.  That will be a nice treat for my readers.

Day 3 of the Ragnar 7SummitsChallenge.  I knew I had to do 370 feet of elevation gain today, but I didn't map it out.  So I got to my turnaround point from yesterday and looked up the road, and said, "that looks like about another 30 feet up over yonder."  I ran to over yonder and stopped my Strava.  It was 389 feet.  Then I took a mad pee pee behind a tree.  Going downhill is so much nicer.  I've noticed I've gotten a little slower each day.  I'm all right with that.  I stopped once to take this picture.

Today was beautiful and overcast.  As I was driving to my starting point I saw some people stopped off on the side of the road.  This usually means Salt River wild horses.  Sure enough there were some horses on the west side of the road.  I was nervous about this run because my knee started hurting last night.  But it felt ok during my run.  I ran about a quarter mile and I spotted four wild horses on the east side of the road.  I took this picture on the run.

I kept running (jogging) and until I got to where all the cars were.  There were four more horses that were trying to cross the street.  The big dark one seemed to be the leader.

A truck was coming up and I motioned for it to slow down.  Another horse started to follow the dark horse across the street, but the truck spooked them both and the dark one ran to my side of the street while the other ran back to the other side.  Now I stopped to watch.  I wanted to help, but I also didn't want to get trampled.  The dark one crossed the street again and tried to lead the other ones back to the wilderness, but couldn't find a way to get passed the barbed wire fence.  It stuck its head through and seemed to get tangled  up, but it was able to pull itself free.  They started to head up the hill, so I started running again.  I was able to outrun them.  Well, ok.  They weren't racing me.  I saw two more about a quarter mile from there.  A couple was chasing them back in the wilderness so they'd be away from the road.

Today is Day 4 of the 7SummitsChallenge.  The goal for the day is 390 feet.  Since I did 389 yesterday, I knew right where I needed to go.  I ran a little bit passed where I stopped yesterday and ended up recording 393 feet.  Then I turned around and headed back down.  I saw the horses again still heading up.  It was the best run yet.

Day 5 of the 7SummitsChallenge.  It was not overcast today and was actually a bit warm.  But it wasn't terrible, and I had water with me.  Nevertheless, this was not the most enjoyable run.  Certainly no where near yesterday's run.  But I'm getting stronger even if I'm not getting faster.  The goal for today was 410 feet.  I haven't been mapping them out prior.  I've just been eyeballing them based off of the previous day.  Today I got 424 feet when I stopped.  Tomorrow's goal is 460 feet.

Day 6 of the 7SummitsChallenge.  I need to provide the backstory to this run first.  As an ambassador for Ragnar, I often get free stuff from Ragnar/Reebok.  I've received three pairs of shoes so far.  The first pair didn't fit, so I ended up giving them to my wife's sister's ex husband's biological father.  A few months after that his diabetes got so bad that he had to have one of his legs amputated at the knee.  After the operation I asked him if I could have the other shoe back since he didn't need it anymore.  (Sometimes I crack myself up.)  Anyway, it seems his diabetes is once again catching up with him as he's almost completely lost his eye sight.  His girlfriend, Vanessa, who's lived with him for over 30 years is starting to crack under the stress and strain of the whole situation.  It's almost too much for her to handle.  Yesterday she came over because she needed a hug.  My wife, Vickie, who she usually goes walking with in the morning, wasn't home.  So I got to be the shoulder for her to cry on.

This morning we got up early because I didn't have to get ready or take any kids to school.  Vickie and Vanessa came with me because Vanessa really wanted to see the wild horses that I saw a couple of days ago.  We didn't see any on the ride over, so I told them that while I was running, it might be best for them to head the other direction down towards the river in hopes that they might spot a few over there.  I told them I would be gone for an hour.  It was shortly before 7am when I started.  There were already a lot of cars on the road, which I knew there would be since it's the weekend and next week is fall break.  I had to make sure to stay alert.  There were plenty of cyclists, too.  I have been feeling stronger each and every day.  It showed in that today I had my fastest pace for both uphill and downhill.  Today's goal was 460 feet.  I saw a big cactus and thought, that looks like a good place to stop.  It should be well over my goal elevation.  I ran to the cactus and it was 465 feet.  Ha!  Good thing I didn't stop before then.

I headed back down and I didn't see any horses.  At the half mile to go point the road straightens out and I can see all the way to the parking lot.  I spotted Vickie and Vanessa walking back.  Perfect timing.  I asked them if they saw any horses or coyotes or snakes.  Nothing.  They did see the river, so that was nice.  But I wasn't about to give up.  I kept my eyes open as we drove back, this time taking the Power Road route.  To my left I thought I spotted a brown horse behind some brush.  I slowed down a little and saw a white horse.  If I wasn't looking for them, I wouldn't have seen them.  So I swung back around and pulled over.  Turns out it was the same four horses that I saw first on Thursday.  Vanessa got out and was able to take some pictures.  It really made her day.

As a personal choice, I don't usually run on Sundays.  But I signed up for this event, and  it was either run on Sunday or double up on Saturday.  I didn't sleep well last night which I attribute to terrible eating yesterday.  My wife bought this WalMart pizza for dinner, which was suprisingly delicious, yet incredibly greasy.  When 5:30am rolled around I didn't want to get up because since 1:30am I had been waking up every hour.  But I got up and sat on the toilet for 20 minutes.  That wasn't long enough.  I contemplated bringing TP with me for the run, but I didn't.  I had Vickie and Vanessa drop me off at the parking lot and drive up three miles on Usery Pass to a dirt parking lot where a lot of people go hiking on trails.  Almost immediately after they left something stirred within my bowels.  My first thought was just practice selective muscle control and I'll be all right.  But moments later I knew I would not be all right.  I've been in this situation before, but I've always had something to bail me out, whether it be a nearby porta john or Mike King's high quality Melting Pot napkins.  Now I had nothing.  I went over to the tube rental parking lot and was certain that they would be locked.  They were.  I thought, "I'm going to have to use my underwear and I don't want to because they're such a nice pair of running underwear."  I wandered out in the wilderness and I found a piece of paper.  It was dirty and had little sticks and weeds all over it.  But I crumbled it up to make it soft, and most of the dirt and weeds fell off.  I went behind a tree and stripped off my shoes, shorts, and my nice underwear.  It was light out by this time, but I was confident nobody could see me.  I squatted down, and will spare you of the remaining horrific details.  But I finally got dressed, picked the cactus needles and weeds off my socks and shorts, and started my run.  I felt terrible still, but today was the last day of the 7SummitsChallenge, and I knew I could make today's goal of 580 feet.  It took a while, and it felt difficult, but I made it.  I saw two of the Salt River horses, likely the same ones we saw Saturday.  About a quarter of a mile before I finished, I saw Vickie and Vanessa walking down because by this time they had become slightly worried about me.  I heard Vickie screech for joy and clap when she saw me.  I'm serious.  Anyway, they asked if I was all right and if I needed water.  I was good, so I kept going up to the dirt parking lot and I successfully finished the challenge with 606 feet of elevation gain.  I'm glad I did this.  I feel stronger.  Now I just need to keep up the consistency and maybe I'll lose some weight.  Last thing before I go - What does it mean when two ladies pass you up on their bicyles and one of them says, "We were admiring your dedication in running up this hill?"

Friday the 13th.  It was nice to run on a mostly flat surface this morning.  However, my shins hurt most of the way.  I kicked two teenagers off the Canal for fishing.

27.4 mile bike ride, Usery Pass route.  I decided it would be more fun to do a bike ride today.  As I pulled my bike out of the garage I noticed the tires seemed slightly low on air pressure.  I thought, "It'll be fine."  It was not fine.  I was getting passed by other cyclists right and left.  Well, mostly on the left.  The low air pressure made a noticeable difference in my speed.  It also made the climb more difficult.  At one point during the climb, I had just said to myself, "C'mon, Burt!"  I do that a lot.  But this lady was in the process of passing me and I felt embarassed for having just said that out loud.  Anyway, she went out into the road and had her head down, so she didn't see that a car was passing and she darn near got flattened.  They were honking at her and I slamming on their breaks.  The funny part was I was too tired to even care.  It was strange.  Anyway, on the decent I was able to pick up a lot more speed, but I kept feeling my back tire drag.  At one point I thought it went completely flat, so I pulled over and stopped.  This lady behind me must've seen me because later when she caught up to me she asked if I was all right.  I told her I was fine, and that I thought my tires were a little low.  She said she had a CO2 container and offered to top them off.  It was incredibly kind of her.  There was a big difference after that, but my legs are so dead now.

It was a beautiful morning out.  I've been up since 5am, and after two rounds on the toilet, I finally got out to run at 7am.  There were a lot of people out jogging, walking, walking their dogs.  I didn't feel great.  I had a tiny wheeze for the first half mile, but after a mile, I finally had settled in and felt ok.  See you guys tomorrow.

Very slow run this morning.  As I approached the Floodway, I noticed a big truck parked over on the other side.  I always look to make sure they're not parked in front of the RWCD gate.  I saw the owner by it, too, but didn't think much of it because I figured he was getting in it.  As I ran north on the east side of the Floodway, I saw a man walking his dog on the west side of the Floodway.  He was almost to Brown Road.  When I made my over to the west side of the Floodway at Brown Road I saw another guy that walked up and touched the fence.  I was like, "Where did that guy come from?  And why is he touching the fence?  That's what runners are supposed to do.  Not walkers."  It was then that I realized he was the owner of the truck and he must've ran up the canal.  He waited until I got right next to him and he started running again.  He was pretty slow, but I was slower.  He made it back to his truck, which was half a mile away about 20 to 30 seconds before I did.  Then he waited for me to pass by him again before he got in his truck.  He seemed like a super nice guy.  Maybe he'll be my new best friend.

I went running after I put Emily on the bus at 8am.  It was overcast out, so it was nice.  When I got to the west side of the Floodway there was a guy running with his dog.  He was probably 20 feet ahead of me and we were running at the exact same pace.  (Which was slow, BTW.)  I noticed in the canal what I thought were bubbles coming up from the bottom.  That will happen sometimes when biological processes occur in the algae at the bottom.  When we got almost to Adobe Rd. the guy and the dog went over by this lady that was walking down the canal.  I guess they knew each other.  That's when I realized it was actually sprinkling, so that was what was causing the bubbles in the canal.  (They weren't really bubbles.  I just thought they were.)  Anyway, the lady thought the guy was sweating on her so she started to freak out.  Then she realized it was raining, too.  It made me laugh out loud.

This is my entry for the run I forgot to blog about.  Consequently, I don't remember too much about it.  The End.

Decided to go on a "long" run.  The pace was slow, so it felt sustainable.  I ran all the way up to McDowell Road.  About a quarter mile before I hit McKellips I heard these speedy footsteps behind me.  I turned to look and it was a speedy lady.  I told her good morning.  She put her hand up as if to say, "I acknowledge you, but don't say another word to me."  She then proceeded to leave me in her dust and run another half mile down the canal where she turned around giving me another opportunity to indeed say another word to her.  This time I told her to have a great day.  She gave me another wave so I think I have another new best friend.

I took a week off.  I didn't mean to.  It just happened.  The first couple of days I was busy at work.  I shoulda went Wednesday, but I didn't.  My plan was to hop on a Ragnar McDowell Mountain trail team at the last minute.  But Thursday came along and I felt awful.  Probably the Papa John's pizza I had the night before.  So, no Ragnar, and no running.  This morning I was feeling better and it was beautiful out.  Even though I didn't start until 8:30am, it was still cool out.  The first 100 feet felt great.  I thought, "this week off sure did me a lot of good."  But then my knees and ankles felt like they were going to break, so I settled back down into the slow pace I've grown accustemed to these last 5 or 6 years.  As I was making the last turn up the Floodway I was coming upon a tree with a bunch of doves in it.  Arizona doves aren't pretty white ones like you think of.  They're brownish gray.  Anyway, I spooked them so half of them took off flying to another nearby tree.  It caused me to look up, and I noticed that one of them was a parakeet.  A green parakeet with a red face.  From the on I was singing, "One of these birds is not like the other..."

I was feeling pretty ok this morning.  Maybe because I started out slow instead of strong.  Anyway, I saw another runner that had crossed Brown Road before I got there.  They were on the other side of the Floodway which gave them a slight lead on me.  I use they and them because at this point I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman.  I really thought it was a woman, but the short hair made me think it was a man.  Anyway, I got to the other side and noticed they weren't putting that much distance between me.  Like I said, I was feeling good, but I was still running slow.  They moved over to the other side of the Floodway when they got to Adobe.  I continued on the Canal road.  After a while I forgot about them and thought maybe they'd turned off somewhere.  Then I started remembering how dirty my shoes, socks, and ankles have been lately because of all the dust I kick up on myself.  So I started looking at the footprints and I noticed a barefoot print.  Not sure if it was a barefoot runner  or that homeless guy I see sometimes.  Anyway, after I crossed University I notice the runner was still heading south and still hadn't put much distance between us.  Right before Main Street they stopped and started walking.  They turned right on Main Street allowing me the chance to run by HER.  The moral of the story is I may need a stronger prescription for my eyeglasses.

As I was approaching the Floodway I saw the same lady that caused me such confusion on my prior run.  I felt good inside knowing her gender, although I'm not sure what she identifies as.  She was on the Canal road while I was on the Floodway path.  They're roughly 200 feet apart.  But I could see that we were keeping the same pace.  I briefly contemplated asking her to to fill out the last remaining spot on our Ragnar team.  Anway, when we got to Brown she continued across the street while I ran over to the Canal and turned south.  At a quarter mile south of Adobe I could see two people on the Floodway path.  They seemed to be resting with their bikes.  I got to University and headed back north on the Floodway path.  When I was about 150 feet away I could tell that they had their bikes and everything else they owned strewn all over the path.  Mind you, the path is at least 10 feet wide.  At about 100 feet I could smell the strong pungent odor of marijuana.  Holy smokes!  I could also see that one was a man and the other a woman.  The man was changing one of the tires on a bike.  As I got close enough for them to say something to me, the woman apologized for having their stuff everywhere.  She said it was an obstacle course.  I just stepped off the path and ran around it.  I hollered back, "I cheated!"  They seemed very proud of me.

I actually passed someone today.  I'm seeing a lot more runners out lately.  And that's nice.
 

Some times when I'm running I think about what I'm going to blog.  I had just gotten to the Floodway and I thought I heard a vehicle coming up behind me.  I thought, "That's impossible.  There's no way they could've gotten the gate opened that fast."  I turned around and it was a guy on a bicycle.  So I thought, "That's not really blog-worthy."  But as I watched the guy ride off into the distance I saw him approaching a man walking two dogs.  I could tell that one of the dogs was restrained and the other was not.  The dog that wasn't on a leash barked at the guy on the bike.  I hoped he would get the dog under control by the time I got there.  However, he did not.  And the dog came at me barking.  Since I'm not afraid of dogs I just kept running and said, "Nice puppy."  I looked at the old man and told him good morning.  He just looked at me with a grumpy old man face.  So I wondered if it was even his dog.  Maybe he was grumpy because this dog was loose and wouldn't leave him and his dog alone.  Who knows?  Well, I got to the Canal road and headed back south.  I could see across the Floodway that the other dog was still with them.  The moral of today's story is - don't be a grumpy old man.

My legs were still sore today, but by the time I was almost done, I was feeling strong.  Good sign.

I woke up this morning with a sore throat.  My run wasn't great, but it was ok.

Well, Thanksgiving didn't do me any favors in the weight loss category.  I'm up in Enoch, Utah, which is just north of Cedar City.  I'm spending the holiday week with my sister and family just like last year.  I only ran a mile and a half because 1) the altitude, 2) the hills 3) I haven't run for over a week, 4) I ate too much yesterday, and 5) I didn't want to die.

I felt much better today, even though I labored through the whole run, but it was good.  Felt like a workout.  My pace was over 30 seconds per mile faster than yesterday, too.  It might be because I started out by going left rather than right, like yesterday, which means downhill instead of uphill.  The downhill was steep so I kept thinking eventually I'd have to hit a big uphill because I knew I'd be ending on another downhill.  I finally found the uphill as I turned on the road that parallels the I-15.  By that time I had settled into a nice pace so I just powered up it and it felt good.

I was worried this morning because when I was in the bathroom helping Emily, I tweaked my knee.  Just a little, but I thought that running on it might make it worse.  I decided to only do my one loop around the Floodway and the Canal, but after a while I decided to do the two loop, and then I was feeling really good so I did the three loop.  By loop I mean going an extra half mile up or down the Floodway/Canal.

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!