Go, you chicken fat, go away!

What better way to start off 2018 than by putting another (ex) blogger on my list of BIMIRL?  Slow Joe happened to be in AZ for the new year and on his way back to the airport from Tucson, I was able to meet him face to face for a few minutes.  He looked just like I imagined he would from the hundreds of pictures I've seen him in.  He thanked me graciously for driving out to meet him, and I thanked him because it would give me the opportunity to run South Mountain.  You know the run, Tracy.  So after the warm embrace of a handshake, we parted ways; he to the rental car return facility, and I to South Mountain.  But guess what, Clark?  Florida was closed!  How can you close a mountain?  So instead of running there, I went all the way to Usery.  It was a bit brisk this morning, but not bad.  Still shorts and T-shirt weather.  The air is bad in the Valley from all the fireworks last night, but it was clean out here on the outskirts.  I saw one runner coming up as I was driving down.  I was jealous that someone was running my route, because there aren't a lot of runners that do this.  There were a couple dozen cyclists out too that I had to share the shoulder with.  My legs felt ok, but after a while I really started to wear out, so I decided to turn around at 2 miles.  Downhill was faster, but it still felt like I had to work it.  On the way down one of the cyclists said, "Good job.  Keep pushing it."  Now normally you don't push it on the downhill because the hill does the work for you.  But he was right.  Today he was right.

Today was cool.  I got up at 5am because Mike was going to pick me up at 6am.  I sat on the toilet for half an hour, but no bowel movement.  So I got ready to go.  Right at 6am I texted Mike to see how far away he was.  I wanted to give it one more try.  I sat down and managed to expunge a little, so I felt like I would be good during the run.  Nevertheless, I packed some wipes to take with me.  At 6:10am I looked out the window and there was Mike who had been waiting about 5 minutes.  Apparently we weren't getting each other's texts.  He brought his daughter Megan with him.  Last year was Megan's first Ragnar and this will be her second.  Today would be Mike's first attempt at running since his shoulder surgery.  He was also sporting a knee brace.  About two miles before we arrived we saw some serious runners out doing the entire loop.  I think it's about 17 miles.  I had a feeling they would catch us.  Sure enough as we crossed the intersection we saw two of them right behind us.  They caught us in short order and I said good morning to them, but they were having a conversation, and they completely ignored me.  Douches.  Mike and I stayed together for the first quarter mile and I asked him how he felt.  He said he didn't like it, meaning he didn't like the knee brace.  He started to inch away from me, but at 0.38 miles he stopped.  He said, "I can't do it."  I didn't know if that meant he couldn't run with his knee brace on or he just couldn't run.  He took his knee brace off while I supported his balance.  He then proceeded to find a hiding place for it over by the barbed wire fence.  By that time Megan had caught up to us.  She offered to carry the brace for her dad, but he said it would be fine.  We started running again and shortly after that the next guy caught us.  He did say good morning back to me.  He was a sweet guy.  Mike started to pul away from me again.  He was running with a handheld light that would illuminate the trees on the side of the road every time he swung his arm.  When Mike got two miles up the Pass he turned around.  He mentioned beforehand that he would probably do that.  But I really wanted to get all the way to the top today because it's been a while since I've done that.  I told him to just go down and get the truck.  I would continue going.  I figured with only 1.7 miles to go to get to the top I should be able to make it there even though he would be going downhill and I would still be going uphill.  I was right.  About a tenth of a mile before the top the next set of runners, a guy and a girl, passed me.  I put my hand out to give them five.  They guy only gave me two, so he felt obliged to slow down and make sure I got the entire five on the second attempt.  I made it to the top and kept going straight, now downhill.  About 0.15 miles later another set of runners, another guy and a girl, passed me.  They also accepted my five on the side.  It's a good feeling to make it to the top of Usery Pass, so a high five, a low five, or a five on the side is completely appropriate.  I got to 4.01 miles when Mike pulled up.  Even though I've been sick all week, I felt pretty good.  But then the most amazing thing happened.  We were driving back home and we turned on McDowell Road.  We passed the runners that had passed us.  Then I saw two other runners running towards us.  As we drove by I was like, "That looks like Nan.  But it can't possibly be Nan.  She lives in Utah."  Guess what.  It actually was Nan.  It was amazinnnnng.  I'm glad I can spot her as she's running down the road and I'm cruising by 40mph in a vehicle.