Go, you chicken fat, go away!

This weekend we took a short trip up to my home town of Kingman, AZ.  My sister wanted me to bless her baby, which I was happy to do.  She's no longer active in the church, and her husband is not a member, so you know, no pressure.  But I think it went all right.  I got to see some old friends.  I even saw inactive blogger Kerry Herbine.  When I first met him on the blog, he wasn't a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Now he is, and that makes me happy. 

Although it was nice to get out of town and see family, I ate more junk food than I should have.  I gained about 6 lbs. this weekend.  Blah.  That may be why I didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning.  But I did.  I started running, and felt more blah.  Wasn't sure if I would just do one loop today, but I decided I could do two.  When I got to University to head  north on the Floodway path, I saw a young, maybe late 20's, Latina who was getting her headphones and stuff ready to start running.  Her friend was about 200 feet up the path.  There was also the old lady I passed last week.  And finally, there was the biscuit buyer.  I caught up to the second Latina and was closing in on the old lady, but then I caught up to the biscuit buyer, with the sausage biscuit in the brown paper bag.  I decided to stop and ask him what the hobo's name is.  Jeff.  We talked for a couple of minutes.  Maybe only one.  The first Latina ran by me.  Then I wished him farewell and ran by the hobo, but I didn't say anything to him.  I passed the old lady up, then I almost got to the second Latina, but she started running.  She only ran for a little bit, so I was able to pass her.  I wondered if I would pass the first Latina, but she was running about the same pace I was, so I never caught her.  I turned at Adobe and saw Sis. Spencer running pushing her two-kid stroller.  I didn't check the temperature, but if felt cooler than it has been lately.  My last half mile was a lot faster than my first two miles.  Did I catch my breath after talking to biscuit buyer?  Was I subconsciously trying to catch the Latina?  I guess I'll never know.
 

Herbie was barking at something this morning at 5am.  It woke me up out of a dream.  Previously when Herbie barked at something and we didn't go check, we later found out that someone had gotten into our van and rummaged through stuff.  So I got up and went outside unarmed like an idiot.  I was so tired and it was taking a while for my eyes to adjust to the street lights.  I didn't see anything.  Finally I saw a couple walking down the street.  Later on I wondered if it was the Schumaker's.  Not sure if that's what Herbie was barking at or not, but I was up, so I may as well go running.

It was warm and humid out.  83º.  I could see a bright light on the RWCD road.  I figured it must be a cyclist.  It was.  Man that light was bright.  The sun was rising, and it was pretty out.  I saw my wife when I crossed the street south on the RWCD road at Adobe.  She gave me a kiss and asked how far I was going.  She's still having stomach issues, but she walked 3.96 miles.  When I got to Jeff he said, "You're out earlier this morning."  I said, "Yeah, my dog woke me up."  Then I told him to have a good day.  He seemed to be in a better mood today than usual.
 

So yesterday on my morning run I noticed that the Flood Control had wiped out all the creosote bushes that line the sloped banks of the Floodway in between Main and University.  I thought about the time when I counted the number of lizards I heard scurrying through them.  Now those lizards will have no shade.  Then, in the evening, when I was walking Herbie, I saw that they had cleared out all the creosotes from University to Main.  I was a little sad.  There was this cute little cactus that got wiped out.  I would've like to have taken that home and transplanted it.  Also, the coyote now has no place to hide.  And Jeff.  Jeff will now lose some of his privacy and possible shade.  So Herbie and I walked over to Jeff and I said, "They took all your bushes away."  He was back to sounding sad again.

This morning I saw they were ready to remove the bushes north of Adobe.  I didn't get very far in to my run when I got a phone call from my son.  They were already out at the site for their survey.  Truthfully, I had forgotten that they were going.  So I stopped and he told me they couldn't get radio connection again and one of the GPS heads kept dying.  So I told them I would meet them out there.  This meant I had to cut my run short, and I just did one loop.  But I tried to pick up the pace.  I pretty much pushed it as hard as I could and I can't even break a 10 min. pace anymore.  Well, I did last week when I just did one loop, but I couldn't today.  Just means I have to keep losing weight.
 

The power just flickered at my house and now I get to re-write my blog entry.  [Insert mad face emoji]

So yesterday I saw some posts from my friends up in Utah about how cool it's getting and that there is snow on the mountain tops.  This morning a friend up in Kingman posted that it was 60º.  So I looked at my phone and whaaattt??  77º???  It's finally under 83º.  It still felt warm, but I am noticing a difference.

Running south on the RWCD road I saw my two old Latina friends.  Why do I call them my friends?  Because today when I ran past them I said, "Hola amigas!", and one of them said, "Hola amigo" back to me. 

Now that I can see the other side of the Floodway because they've wiped out all the bushes, I noticed that I couldn't spot Jeff where he is usually at.  I figured I'd find him when I looped around.  But he was no where to be found.  Some of his stuff was there.  The tree goes vertical for about four feet, then bends west toward the Floodway.  Seems like all the trees on either side of the Floodway bend towards the Floodway.  His sweater was draped over the trunk.  His bag of water bottles was there.  That's pretty much all he has.  But no Jeff.  This was the very first time I've gone by there and he wasn't there since he took up residency about three months ago!

I finished up and my wife finished up right behind me.  She did 4.2 miles because she just turned 42 today.

Less than 100 miles to go on my shoes.  Will they last?

We went to IHOP last night for my wife's birthday.  She likes to take the entire family out for her birthday.  I saw one of my best friend's son there.  That was fun.  I haven't seen him in years.  Anyway, I ate too much.  I wasn't feeling great this morning, but that's all the more reason to run.  I ran real slow.  Typical for a Friday.  The Flood Control still hasn't cleared the creosotes on the west bank of the Floodway north of Adobe.  I'm sure they'll get to it soon.  I just did two loops today.  I saw my Strava friend Matt Bell.  I looked across the Floodway and Jeff was gone again.  But then I spotted him walking towards his hang out/home.  I passed a lady walking her two kids to school.  She was smoking a cigarette while holding her daughter's hand.  I felt sorry for the daughter who must be reaping the benefits of the second hand smoke.  But it's not my place to judge.  Then I passed Jeff and he had a cigarette in his mouth ready to strike up.  I said good morning and finished up.

Early morning run with Mike, Vickie, and Maggie.  I didn't sleep very sound last night.  I woke up at 1:30am and checked the time.  Oh good.  Still have over two hours before the alarm goes off.  But I kept waking up several times in between then.  The alarm went off at 3:45 am, meaning I had half an hour before Mike got here to pick us up.  Half an hour is barely enough time to get ready.  But it worked out today just fine.  After we jumped in Mike's truck we swung back around to pick up Maggie.  She only had one of her kids with her this weekend, and he's old enough to take care of himself.  We have different conversations when there are females in the vehicle.

After a quick stretch out, we were on our way.  The moon was full and lit up the desert enough for it to look real pretty.  Traffic wasn't bad, but I was surprised at the number of cars going uphill.  Mostly the cars are going downhill on their way to the lake.  Mike had past me up pretty early.  He finished a mile ahead of me again.  I would look back occasionally to see if my wife was still within my sight.  A lot of the time she would be.  She was moving pretty well.  She wanted to run up to the top and then turn back around and have us pick her up, which she was able to do.  I saw some runners heading downhill on the other side of the street when I neared the top.  It was still pretty dark out when I turned around, but my headlamp was squeezing my head too tight, so I took it off and held it for a while.  I took a sip from my water bottle at mile 3, 3.7 at the top, 4.7, 5.7, 6.5, 7.0, 7.25, and finished it off at 7.45.  I had also brought a bottle of PowerAid and I drank the whole thing in Mike's truck.  Maggie had turned around after a little over two miles, so she and Mike were waiting for me.  Then we went and picked up Vickie.  She had gotten to 6.15 miles.  She's doing great.