Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I'm still not 100% healthy.  As Emily would say, I have boogers in my throat.  But today was nice.  I felt great during the run.  And I actually got faster as I went without trying.

My legs are a bit sore.  I noticed that I was speeding up just like yesterday, but then I started slowing down.
 

I tried out a new pair of shoes today.  Well, it appears I've put 10.89 miles on them already.  Anyway, I didn't do my normal stretching routine.  I just stretched a little and took off.  I got to 0.29 miles and felt a sharp pain in my knee.  I immediately stopped.  It felt like it might be a muscle strain or something.  I didn't want to risk going any further.  I did run back home, but very gingerly.
 

I got a text from Mike yesterday about picking me up this morning at 5:45am.  I said no problem.  Only there was a problem.  My alarm didn't go off.  Or it did go off and it was turned down low, so I didn't hear it.  That doesn't explain why it went off last week in church when I thought I had all my volumes turned down.  Anyway, luckily this week I immediately got his text and it woke me up.  I texted him back that I would be right out.  I threw on my clothes and went pee pee.  I grabbed my wife's headlamp and I was off.  We drove out to Usery like we always do.  About five minutes before getting there, Mike got a text.  It was mine.  Grr!!  Anyway, our goal was to make it to the top today and back down.  Except we didn't tell each other that was our goal, I just assumed it was both of our goals.  I asked Mike if he had any fancy napkins just in case I needed them.  Luckily he did.  We began our ascent.  I was running right behind Mike and he slowly started putting distance between us.  I was surprised at the number of cars out on this remote road this early in the morning.  But then I remembered that it's a holiday weekend, so maybe a bunch of people are headed to the lake or something.  I felt pretty good, even though my breathing was labored.  I felt like I was breathing while in a deep sleep.  Kind of like that guy in Sunday School last Sunday.  Only he wasn't running.  He was just sitting there.  It stayed dark almost all the way to the top.  About a half mile before I reached the top I could make out the sillouhette of a lady running down at high speed.  She was on the other side of the road, and I said good morning to her.  She either had ear buds in or just ignored me.  I figured with her behind me now I could start talking to myself.  I was just mentioning how much I had to poop when here she came again, still on the other side of the road, still at high speed.  I sure hope it was ear buds.  About a quarter mile from the top I saw Mike coming down, which means he put about a half mile distance in between us.  I still felt good, and even though I had to poop, I was confident I could hold it in the rest of the way.  But then the downhill came.  I knew I was in trouble.  I looked for a place to pull over that wouldn't be too conspicuous.  I found some large trees that looked like they would do the trick.  It was getting light now, but I still turned off my head and butt lamps so as to not draw attention to myself.  I hate having to do this.  It's so disgusting.  And stinky.  And dangerous.  Well, it took all three fancy napkins, but I finally finished.  Now Mike would be well ahead of me.  I started back down and was feeling good.  At one point my knee gave another sharp pain similar to Thursday's run.  I slowed down a little and it was fine for the remainder of the run.  With about six tenths of a mile to go, Mike pulled up in his truck.  He asked if I wanted to finish.  He wasn't sure because last week I told him to keep going.  I said that if it was all right with him, I'd like to finish.  He said no problem and drove back down to wait for me.  It's been a while since I've gone all the way to the top and back down, so I was glad I did it.  I'm  feeling more confident about being the first runner for the Del Sol Ragnar.  My first leg is 8.7 miles mostly uphill.