Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I need to get up earlier.  Not because it's still hot, but because I would rather run while it's dark and people can't see me.  But I didn't get out until 7:06am.  I think today is the first day back for many kids at school.  I saw the crosswalk guard doing his duty for the elementary school, and I saw my next door neighbor's junior high kid sitting at his bus stop.  My two high school aged daughters only have school two days a week; Tuesday and Thursday.  The rest is on-line.

I turned west to head toward the Floodway/Canal.  I saw four guys walking across the street.  I thought about just going to the other side of the Floodway to run because I didn't want to have to deal with them.  But I couldn't break the habit of running the same route in the same direction.  So I turned in behind them.  I caught up to them and one of them looked to be in his 40's and the other 3 in their 20's.  As I passed them the 40 year old said, "Is that all you got?"  Mohummad Ali once asked that same question to George Foreman, so I gave him the same answer, "That's it."  One of the 20 year olds said, "Well, you're beating us."  Not long after that I heard their footsteps behind me.  They caught up and passed me.  They started walking again before reaching Brown Road.  They went through the gate and turned west.  I was like, "Please don't tell me they're going to go back south on the RWCD Canal.  I don't want to play leapfrog with them.  But they ended up crossing Brown Road, and that was the end of them.

I think they kind of made me push my pace because my second mile was 2 minutes slower than my first one.  My legs were sore, but not as bad as they were during the two weeks I took off from running.  I turned north on the Floodway trail at University.  Jeff was laying down asleep against the wall.  He was probably pretending because there was what sounded like a dirt bike revving its engine real loud as it drove down the street.  As I approached the green belt, I could see a leg up against the wall.  It looked like a woman's leg.  It seemed weird because although I could see a lump of clothes, I couldn't make out the rest of the body.  When I was close enough I could see that it was a lady (or a man with nicely shaved legs) underneath a jacket.  She was sitting on her butt up against the wall with one knee up and the other leg criss cross apple sauce without the cross.  Then there was a man laying down next to her long ways with the wall.  I'm guessing they slept there.  I briefly stopped just to make sure they were ok, and when I saw one of them move their arm, I ran off.  I wonder if they were there the other night when I took Herbie on a walk.  I could smell cigarette smoke, but I assumed it was coming from the other side of the wall.

I took Vickie to a fancy restaurant last night.  Her birthday was Saturday.  I wanted to book a reservation for Saturday, but there wasn't any availibility until 9:30pm.  So I booked one for Monday at 6:30pm.  I literally just asked Google to find me some fancy restaurants, and a seafood one popped up, so I took it.  I'd never been there before, though I'm sure I've driven past it.  We pulled up and there was a tiny little building on the property.  How can this be a fancy restaurant?  It was all underground.  It was kinda fun.  Vickie got a lobster and filet mignon.  I got crab stuffed shrimp.  It was real good.  We had a carrot cake for dessert. 

Luckily I barely ate anything before that, so this morning I wasn't suffering from being overfilled.  I got up just before 5am, went potty, and went back to sleep.  I should've stayed up, but I didn't.  Vickie and I went outside at the same time to go running.  I started my stretch routine, and she started picking up some of the garbage on the side of our house from our remodeling project.  I left about 30 seconds before she did.  Maybe a minute.  Not sure.

I was running north on the Floodway path and passed two ladies.  One young and tall and one older and short.  I'm guessing it was a mother and daughter and the daughter had outgrown her mom.  Then I saw the lady with the curious dog.  The dog always wants to come see me, and the owner doesn't really stop it.  But I don't mind.  Then I turned south on the RWCD road.  I could see Vickie running on the other side of the Floodway.  So she was following me!  We waved at each other.  Then I could see an RWCD truck stopped at Adobe and the Canal.  I wasn't sure if it would be there when I got there because I was still over a quarter of a mile away.  But it was, and it was Mosiah.  I stopped and talked with him for a little bit.  I pointed out my wife as she was heading toward us.  Then another zanjero truck pulled up.  It was Dave.  He got out and we started talking and shortly after that Vickie arrived.  I introduced them to her, and Vickie says she remembers meeting Mosiah before.  Mosiah asked if I had any marathons coming up, and I said no.  But Vickie piped up and said she was doing Rim to Rim this weekend.  Then she said she had to go because the girls needed her help getting ready for their first day of school.  So she left to go home and I left to do one more loop.  I got home and jumped in the pool.  It was actually cold.

I was up at quater to 6.  I thought I'd have the bathroom all to myself.  But after a while I saw the light on in my room because my wife was up, too.  So I cut it short, hoping I'd be all right.  But I wasn't all right.  I had to go more.  Next thing I know it's 6:35am.  That's almost 50 minutes of you know what!  Of course, I wasn't on the toilet for all that time, but still.  I did my two loops again.  I could see a bunch of trucks up at the Canal on Brown.  Then I saw a zanjero truck pull up.  I wondered what was going on.  The zanjero truck left before I got there.

When I finally got there I saw Rob Carlock and Danny Shin.  I don't remember what Rob's official title was when I worked there, but he was one of the heads of the zanjero department.  Danny worked in the shop.  They were talking to other guys from a construction company.  I said, "Hey Rob!"  He didn't recognize me right away because of my Covid beard, so I was about to run on by.  But then he said, "Oh, hey Burt."  So I stopped.  I kinda interrupted the converstation, so Danny walked to the side with me so we could talk and Rob could continue talking with the construction guys.  I asked what they were up to.  He said they wanted to be able to clean out underneath the street this year during Dry Up, and this company had short Bobcats that are remote controlled.  I then said that I had heard about Stephen Davids.  Stephen was one of the zanjeros that trained me.  He was about my age.  A couple of weeks ago I got a message on Facebook from his sister-in-law that he passed away unexpectedly.  She didn't say how.  I asked Danny if he knew how.  Covid, maybe?  He said they were never told.  Just that he didn't show up to work at wherever he was working now, and they sent the cops over to his house to do a welness check, and he was dead.

I said goodbye and headed south down the RWCD road.  I saw the tall old lady.  She's usually trotting along, but today she was walking.  Then I could see my wife running down Adobe.  I waved at her, but I couldn't tell if she waved back.  It looked like she had her face turned toward me, but I couldn't tell if she was waving.  She later told me she was.  Three more days until she does Rim to Rim.
 

I finally got up a littler early.  Early for me anyway.  I was having a weird dream when I woke up about my mom confessing to having given up my older brother's twin as a baby.  She said she could only take care of one of them and was now feeling guilty.  I told my brother that I rember seeing someone that looked exactly like him at ASU.  (True story.)  But my mom said it was a girl.  I decided I was going to find her, so I took my phone out and started doing a Google search for babies that were put up for adoption in Bakersfield, CA in December 1972.  A monthly calendar popped up starting in 2020.  I had to scroll all the way down.  I was scrolling and scrolling, and ads were popping up that kept slowing it down.  I never made it before I woke up.

Since I'm driving Vickie to Flagstaff today, I decided to stay up and get my run in.  I was on the toilet when I heard Emily come in to my room.  Apparently she had a weird dream, too.  I got dressed, took Herbie outside, and then went running.  I saw Edythe Ray.  I don't think she recognized me right away.  It was a little dark, and my beard keeps getting longer and longer.  I saw another beautiful sunrise.