Go, you chicken fat, go away!

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

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

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

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

I was going to skip today because of my long run yesterday, but I wanted to start the year off right.  Around noon I decided to throw on some running clothes when my wife tells me that our girls want to go get sushi for lunch.  I was like, "Have fun with that."  But she wanted to make it "family" event, so I had to come along, also.  I had thrown on a tight fitting shirt, and decided it was too tight for wearing in a public restaurant, so I found  one of my new shirts I got for my birthday.  But it didn't have sleeves, so I pulled out an old BodyArmour® shirt that I haven't worn in forever and put it on underneath.  I figured that would be good since it was cold out.  So my shirt was black on the bottom half and neon yellow on the top half.  My shorts were like this camouflage red and black.  My wife says, "Burt, you don't match."  No matter how many times I told her it didn't matter because they were running clothes, she just wouldn't listen.  She made me change.  I put on my new neon yellow running shorts, and she said it was okay.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to run all the way home from the restaurant.  It would be 5.8 miles, and my ankles are still tender from yesterday.  Plus, how would it be running on a tummy full of sushi?  I'd have to make the call after I ate.  I don't think I over-ate, but I had my fair share.  Plus I had a glass of Sprite®.  I went to the van and briefly stretched out.  I told my wife to drop me off at Higley and the freeway.  I figured that would be around 3.15 miles.  It was 3.17 miles.  Nailed it.  Kind of.  I kept it nice and slow.  I could taste the sushi come up a couple of times, but if I can run a mile and a half after consuming 6 donuts, I should be able to handle this.  It was a decent run, but I definitely need to start my diet again.  Happy New Year, everyone!

I'm 1 for 3 on this run.  I texted Glen and Mike to see when they wanted to run today.  Mike said it was his wife's birthday, so he wouldn't be joining us.  We haven't run together since before Thanksgiving!  Glen and I decided to run Usery at 8am.  My alarm still goes off at 3:30am on Saturaday mornings.  I should change that.  I woke up and decided to tinkle, but then I couldn't go back to sleep.  I ate too much at Red Lobster last night.  I was hoping to pass some of it, but nothing happened.  Around 7am I got a text from Glen that something had come up, so he couldn't come either.  I decided I would attempt the run again where my wife drops me off at the top of Usery Pass, and I run home.  Of course she had to stop at another property she's been looking at beforehand.  We saw a couple of coyotes.  We walked around the property.  I wasn't too impressed.  Then we drove to Usery Pass.  It was 9am when I started to run.  Immediately my right shin was hurting.  After two miles I stopped to try and stretch it out.  It didn't help much.  I kept going and hoped that it would stop after I was warmed up.  I got to Brown Road which is 4.1 miles.  I texted my wife to let her know.  She texted back asking if I was good, but I didn't respond because it's hard to text and run.  But I felt fine.  Less than half a mile later my knee started to hurt.  I thought I could run through it, but it didn't take long until I knew I had to stop.  I tried stretching again, and tried to run, but a few steps later I texted my wife to come pick me up.  She must think I'm such a loser.  I walked about a half mile by the time she got me.  And she had donuts with her, so that made me feel better.