Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I got up and out the door a little earlier than normal.  Still a lot of people out.  I saw an old guy running towards me on Adobe.  I'm sure he was much faster than me.  I turned north on to the Floodway path and saw a group of runners coming my way.  As they got closer I could tell that it was a mother, a daughter, and a son.  Then I recognized them as this fairly new family in the ward, the Bishop's.  I said, "Hi Bishop's!"  It'll get a great 4 to 5 years if their dad ever gets called to be the bishop. When I was heading south on the RWCD road, I saw a couple walking toward me.  It was Bruce and Carol Schumacher.  For that brief stint I had as a primary teacher, Bruce was my companion teacher.  He always brought salt water taffy for the kids.  His son and his family moved in with them about a year ago.  Maybe more.  Their son, Blake, is the ward Sunday school president.  Bruce was his secretary, but he was recently released.  The new Sunday school secretary is......me!  Of course, since the Church went into lockdown mode, I haven't done anything.  Anyway, I said, "Good morning, guys!"  Carol said, "Good morning, Burt!"  I said, "It's so good to see you guys."  And that was that. 

I thought about doing 3 loops today, but I went on a 3 mile hike yesterday with my wife and my dog.  I'm a little sore, and I could feel it while I was running, so I decided to just do two loops.  I'm enjoying the weather, but fear that it's going to warm up soon.  Actually, that might be a good thing.  The heat is supposed to help with viruses.

I was feeling better today.  I decided to do 3 loops.  Saw some of the regular faces.  Very few people are wearing masks, but some are.  That's good.  I haven't shaved since the lockdown started.  That's my mask.

What was on my mind today while I was running?  Well, this morning one of my friends posted something on my wall again of Facebook.  He was a former client of mine that friended me.  Recently he's been saying a lot of anti-Trump stuff.  Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but he lives here in AZ where most people are conservative and Trump supporters.  This includes me.  Of course I don't like everything he does, nor everything he has done.  But I have never seen a President try and fulfill his campaign promises to the extent that Trump has.  It's not even close.  So I called my friend out on it once.  I said, "Look.  We're not all bad people.  I really like it better when you don't post anti-Trump stuff, but that's all you post about lately."  Something like that.  So, his response was to start posting stuff on my wall.  He really can't stand our President.  I get it.  I couldn't stand Obama.  But I keep my mouth shut most of the time.  I think Trump has done more good that he has bad, but if you don't like him, all you see is the bad.  If you do like him, all you see is the good.  I'd like to think I see both.  They say Trump has divided the country.  I say it's the media.  But that may be Trump's fault.  When Trump called CNN fake news, they literally declared war on him.  So every time they report on him, it's that he's a racist, homophobe, xenophobe, etc.  It's shameful, but he kind of asked for it.  Anyway, that's what was going through my mind.  Made the time go by faster which is what I need when I'm so slow nowadays.

I was feeling real sore today.  Don't know why.  I took yesterday off.  I saw Bruce and Carole again.  I asked if they were hanging in there.  They said they were.

Yesterday was my daughter Julianna's 21st birthday.  After lunch we all loaded up in the van to go see my daughter Mary, her husband, and my grandson.  We just stood outside her door making small talk while my grandson was inside sleeping.  So we didn't even get to see him.  I had Herbie with us, too.  After a while I walked over to the van to get ready to go.  But I didn't have they keys.  My wife did.  The rest of my family joined me, but my wife lagged behind.  There was a lady that had pulled up next to us a parking space over.  When she finally got out of her vehicle she had totally covered her mouth with a handkerchief.  She was taking this COVID thing seriously.  Either that or she has it. 

So this morning I wanted to go on a longer run, but I still am not feeling like I'm anywhere close to being in shape.  Everything is a struggle.  Everything is work.  I love when I can go out and just enjoy a nice long run, but I can't do that right now.  I decided to run up the RWCD Canal far as far as what felt good.  I ran up to Brown Rd. and I saw a runner coming towards me.  I realized it was Gary Prahl.  I've been following him on Strava.  I see him as a Flyby quite often.  He bought one of the new houses that were built in the old orange grove on the corner of Greenfield and Brown.  I've sent him a message before, but he's never responded.  It wasn't until recently that I actually started to "follow" him.  I thought, "This guy must think I'm a weirdo."  But oh well.  I've always had a fascination for getting to know my fellow runners.  That's why I like the blog so much.  Anyway, as we passed each other I saw a smile crack upon his face, and he said, "Burt?"  I was like, "Yep.  Nice to see you."  Ha!  He likes me!

I continued north and made it to McKellips.  I could see old man Hatch driving his stage coach.  He passed a lady walking her dog, and the dog started barking at the horses.  When I got to her, I said, "Just like my dog!  Thinks he can take on horses."  To my great surprise and delight, she stopped to talk to me.  It was just a quick conversation, but it's nice that some people will stop and talk, maintaining their six feet of separation, while others bury their faces in handkerchiefs and run away.

I ran to the half way point between McKellips and McDowell (a little over half a mile), and turned around.  After crossing McKellips I was running and I looked down and saw a $5 bill folded up.  Was it riddled in COVID?  I'll take my chances!  So, the title of this run became - "It pays to run the extra mile."