Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Today was supposed to be our ward Christmas party/breakfast.  But somebody died and they needed the building for the funeral, and they couldn't secure another location, so they just cancelled it.  Boo!  That meant we could go running.  Yay!

Alyssa texted last night to say that the swelling has gone down in her feet, but she still has sore muscles.  Or torn muscles.  I don't know.  Maggie texted this morning to say that she woke up with her neck hurting and a headache and she needed to bake cinnamon rolls, so it was either going to be running or baking, and baking won out.  So it was me, Vickie, Mike and Glen.

Vickie started out first as usual, but the three of us left right behind her so that Glen caught me before the stop sign, I caught Vickie right after the stop sign, and Mike caught me shortly after that.  On the way up Mike had said he almost cancelled on us because he also had a sore neck and ankle.  I was able to see Mike most of the way except when there were curves, but I knew either I was a little faster this week, or he was a lot slower.  It was a combination of both.

It was 5:30am when we started running and it stayed dark up until the last mile.  I saw three shooting stars.  There were 0 cyclcists on the way up and 8 on the way down.  About a tenth of a mile from the top, there is this place where you can pull over and park a few cars.  Maybe 10 if you squeeze them.  It's close to the start of the Phoenix Marathon course.  There was a big group of runners about to run the first 10 miles of the course.  Most of them left right before I got there.  But one left a little after them and was right behind me.  I recognized her as one of the twin girls I follow on Strava.  I thought it was Leann, but it may have been Debbie.  According to the Flyby's they both were there, so I think it was Debbie.  I said, "Is that you Leann?"  She said, "Good morning."  Then I asked her about it on Strava after and she doesn't remember.  LOL!  Running down I expected that Glen would catch me.  He usually runs extra, but catches me before I reach the bottom.  With half a mile to go, I could still see Mike, and I turned around to look for Glen.  He was no where in sight, so I knew he wouldn't catch me today.  When I turned to go into the parking lot, I looked and saw his headlamp not too far away, maybe 4 tenths of a mile.  Vickie, I think, slowed down a lot.  She likes to wear headphones and sing.  I could hear her half way up the hill still, so she couldn't have been too far behind.  But when I texted her after Glen got there, she said she was 5.5.  So we waited a few more minutes and went and got her.  It was a beautiful morning for running.