Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I got up later than I wanted to this morning.  But then again, I went to bed later than I wanted to.  Saturday we did one more load of tree branches.  My allergies have been acting up for the last couple of weeks as a result.  But at least my yard looks better, right?  So says my neighbor. 

I ran north on the Floodway path and was brooding about my wife kicking me off the toilet.  I wasn't done!  I guess at the time I thought I was done, so I can't blame her really.  I went to the other side of the Floodway to head south and I saw someone coming.  She had to wait for me at the gate so we didn't bump into each other.  It was Edythe.  Later I saw two more runners, a girl and a guy.  The girl was about 20 feet ahead of the guy.  I said good morning to her first, but she didn't say anything back.  Then I said good morning to the guy and he did respond with a good morning of his own.

I was running even slower than usual this morning for reason already mentioned.  I even had to stop and compose myself briefly about 0.05 miles away from home.

Other than the two cyclists I saw at the intersection, there was nobody else out this morning.  It was cold.  It was dark.  Only a lunatic would be out in shorts and a T-shirt at this time of day.

My wife is going to go on a hike tomorrow with her group of friends from Kingman.  I decided I would like to join.  I woke this morning at 3:30am and thought I would go back to sleep for another hour and then go running.  But I woke up after 6am.  I didn't start running until 6:45am and it was already light out.  I ran into Edythe again.  She was walking today.  My legs were really sore.  Like really sore.  So I decided to just do one loop so that I would be all right for tomorrow's hike.
 

This was a hike, not a run.  Daylene and crew came into town again.  They planned on doing two hikes this weekend, Weaver's Needle on Saturday and Daisy Mountain on Sunday.  My wife told me that the hike was 12 miles long.  I said I wanted to go.  Honestly, if she would have said it was 13 miles long, I probably would have opted out.  It turned out to be 13.71 as measured by Strava.

We were supposed to meet at 7:15am to start.  We were just a couple of minutes late as Vickie was putting her stuff together.  She had bought a new backpack and water pouch.  She was trying to close the lid and she said she kept feeling like it was not going on straight.  I grabbed it, turned it upside down, squeezed it, and it wasn't leaking.  So I said it must be good.  She discovered it was leaking during our ride out there.  She also forgot to grab the two water bottles she had gotten out to take with her.

Weaver's Needle is in the Superstition Mountains in Apache Junction, AZ.  Vickie had told me to bring a jacket, which I did, but I took it off as soon as we got there.  Some of the other hikers said it will probably get cold as we get up to higher elevation.  I knew I could tough it out, and it never did get colder.  It did get pretty warm.  Not hot, but warm.

There were a lot of cars in the parking lot.  We figured it would be pretty busy.  The first 2.5 miles was kinda busy.  I guess a lot of people just hike the Peralta Trail up to the point where you can see Weaver's Needle.  Then they turn around and go back.  After that, we hardly saw anyone. This is a picture of the point where everyone turns around.

I was snacking on mixed nuts while I was walking along, and I would take sips from my Camelback.  We stopped near the halfway point, and I was starting to feel tired.  I hoped after I ate some more food, I would feel better.  My appetite wasn't great, and I could only eat half of my ham and cheese sandwich.  I forced down a piece of beef jerky, also and a couple of miniature cookies.  We started off again, and I was lagging way behind the rest of the group.  After a while they stopped and waited for me.  They started again as soon as I caught up and now I was in the middle.  Well, there was six of us, so Daylene and Chuck were in front of me and Vickie, David, and Toby or Koby or Colby was behind me.  Vickie poked my shoe with her walking stick and apologized.  I moved over so they could pass me so I could be behind everyone again.  I prefere to hike alone because sometimes I want to go fast and sometimes I want to go slow. 

I realized I was starting to crash.  I felt like I was ok, and would be able to make it, but that I would have to go real slow.  The group stopped for me again right before a very steep climb.  This is where I really had to stop and get some rest.  My wife said she still had a liter of water.  She asked how much I had.  She pulled it out of my pack and I realized I had hardly drank any even though I had been sippping on it quite often.  That was my problem.  So I took some big drinks and at some energy beans.  That climb was brutal, but after I got up it, I started feeling better.  I was now drinking more and more water.  The wind started to pick up, too.  It would completely dry my mouth out which would make me drink more.  By this time we had told the rest of the group not to wait for us.  With about four miles to go, Vickie was out of water.  She thought we only had three miles to go, but I said I think it's going to be closer to 4.  I was right.  She said she would be fine.  We kept going and stopped to rest one more time.  I found a patch of grass and laid down.  If my legs weren't on top of rock, I probably would have taken a nap.  We started going again and I asked Vickie if she wanted any of my water.  She said she was fine.  I then took another sip and realized that was the last of my water.  We still had 2.5 miles to go.  I was feeling better now despite not having water and now Vickie started to lag.  I just kept going so that I could get back to the parking lot and hopefully someone would have water.

Now we were starting to see more people again.  I was able to follow them to know that I was on the right trail.  Vickie has the AllTrails app, so she wouldn't get lost.  I know she's a stronger hiker than I am, but I felt bad about leaving her.  I tried to go slow so she could catch up, but she never did.  There were still some more significant climbs in those last two miles.  Luckily the mountains provided shade for a bit of it.  But the wind was still blowing and making my mouth dry.  My lips were getting cotton mouth.  I just had to keep moving forward so I could get to the parking lot. 

Finally I saw the parking lot.  It looked like it was a mile away, but I knew it was closer.  I was so thirsty.  Also, for much of the hike we were without cell service.  But I was back in range.  Since I hadn't seen my wife for a while now, I called her.  She answered and I asked how she was.  She said fine.  She didn't sound happy.  Next, I called Daylene.  She said she was still there waiting for us.  I said, "You didn't have to wait for us, but since she did, did she have any water?"  She said that Dave had some.  What a relief.  I just had to get there.  The final half mile was all downhill.  But it was very steep and it had steps.  It was painful.  At least I could move my legs again, but they were continuing to ache with each step.  At times I would yell out if I started to slip or if a step down was real high.  I'm glad no one heard me.  I finally got to the parking lot, and wouldn't you know it, they didn't have any water waiting for me.  C'mon, guys!  LOL!  But they went and got it.  Not too long afterwards we saw Vickie coming.  She was exhausted and dropped all her gear when they handed her the water.

I guess I really don't like hiking that much and I had forgotten that.  That's why I didn't do Rim to Rim with my wife.  Maybe if I get in better shape and lose a few pounds.  Oh well.  We went out to eat with the group once we were done.  This turned into an all day thing even though we thought it would only be half a day.  We had plans to finish cleaning outside, but that didn't happen.  I guess we'll have to do that next weekend.