Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I got sick Friday afternoon.  My wife got sick Saturday.  That covers everyone in the household.  I texted Mike Friday evening telling him to check with me in the morning before coming over because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to go.  I wasn't.  I still did things Saturday, like going to the baptism of one of my scouts and then out to eat at Applebee's with the family for my wife's birthday celebration.  I was going to stay home from church Sunday, but I still went.  I was feeling better this morning and thought about getting a long run in to make up for Saturday.  But I didn't get out the door until after 6am, so I thought about just doing the 5 loop course.  I changed my mind and decided to do the 3 loop course.  But after a mile I changed it to the two loop course, and honestly would have been happy with the 1 loop course.

I was able to do my "5 Loop" run today.  I got up early and sat on the toilet for a while.  A long while.  Glad I did.  I finally got out the door just shy of 6am.  I ran north on the Floodway trail.  I saw that deaf lady again.  I think she's deaf.  Maybe some day I'll ask her.  I crossed Brown Road and right before merging on to the RWCD road I saw a little thing hopping across the trail.  I thought it was a bug or something.  Turns out it was a little toad, about 3/4" long from head to haunches.  I don't see a lot of those while I'm out running.  This very well may have been the first time.  I paused to take a picture.  The cute little guy wouldn't hold still.  I started running again feeling decent.  There were a lot of people out running today.  One guy was running without a shirt on.  He was tan and muscular.  But he was running with his arms straight down.  I thougt maybe he was carrying weights or something.  But I think he may have been crippled.  Good for him for getting out and getting some miles in.  Right before the fence where I turn around at, this girl came through the other side of the fence.  Her arms were flailing around.  I thought she might have been dancing.  Turns out she was talking on the phone with someone and she's the type of person that talks with her hands.  I wondered if I could catch her.  I touched the fence and turned around and noticed there was a young guy with mauve (maybe maroon, I'm not good with colors) hair that was running pretty fast.  I knew he would catch me and the girl, too.  He did.  As he passed me I said, "You're pretty dang fast."  He said, "Thank you.  It's a beautiful morning."  It was a nice morning.  I'm glad it's been cooling down at nights somewhat because we're still getting over 100º days here.  I wasn't able to catch the girl, not that I was trying.  She was putting some distance between me even though sometimes she was weaving across the trail.  But she stopped and turned around about an eigth of a mile from McKellips.  I waved again at her and told her good job.  I saw a few more runners on the way back.  Some of them were using Strava and I am getting familiar with their little profile pic icons.  The last mile was a bit of a struggle, but I maintained a decent pace most of the way.  Most of my miles were under 10, and I haven't seen that for a while.

Herbie woke me up at 5:30am to go the bathroom.  Well, to go potty.  Dogs don't really use the bathroom.  I didn't really want to get up, but I kinda did want to get up, but I really didn't.  So it was still dark out and I took him out back in my underwear.  He went pee, but the pig, Cupid, always bothers him.  Then he ran around to the side of the house.  Apparently he was trying to poop, but Cupid wouldn't leave him alone.  I heard some growling and some scuffling, so I called to him, but he wouldn't come.  I had to go over and make sure he was all right.  I finally got him back in the house, and he went straight to the front door.  I'm still in my underwear, so I don't want to take him out the front door where people might see me, even though it's dark, but there's the porch light and street lights, etc.  But he starts squatting down in front of the door, so I tell him no, no, no.  Then I take him outside because it's obviously an emergency.  I'm also barefoot and we have rocks in the front.  So I walk across the bricks and sit down on them so I won't be seen by any of the neighbors.  Herbie finishes up, and I have a hard time getting him back in the house.  That's when I notice that he did drop a load on the welcome mat inside.  So now I have to clean that up, but first I have to drop my own load.  20 minutes later I'm finally ready to clean it.  I just took it outside and sprayed it with the hose.  It's now 6:30am and I really only have time to run two loops.  That's probably all I should have run anyway.  I took it nice and easy and could feel some minor stomach cramps.  Half way into the run I noticed a few sprinkles.  By that time I was so sweaty, that they weren't bothering me at all.  When I turned back north on the Floodway path, it started sprinkling a little harder.  It felt nice.  I saw Sis. Booth from the ward walking down the path.  I put my hands up and said, "I love the rain!"  She said, "Isn't it awesome?"  The End.

I woke up around 2:30am.  I couldn't get back to sleep.  I was sitting on the toilet when my alarm went off at 3:32am.  I was still sitting on the toilet when Mike got to my house at 3:50am. Luckily I had just finished up, so all I had to do was throw my clothes on.  And grab my lights.  And grab a towel.  And grab some water.  He brought Brian Stradling with him today.  Brian has run a handful of Ragnars with us.  It was his first time running Usery with us.  His brother, Tyler, had run with us a few times.  But Tyler lives in Texas now.  Their parents have also been on some of our teams.  In fact, they've got another brother and a sister who were on our Vegas team one year.  Their father has accepted the invitation to be on next year's team.  But Brian has not as of yet.  I think he will.  Why else would he go running with us? 

Brian is a pretty good runner.  But he was worried because he hasn't been running regularly.  I told him he'd do fine.  I started before both of them.  I was in the lead for about 0.4 miles.  Then Mike passed me.  I asked myself, "Where's Brian?"  I took a quick glance back and he was right behind me.  Not making a sound.  No footsteps.  No heavy breathing.  Just very relaxed and quiet, unlike Mike and myself.  He soon passed both me and Mike.  Knowing how competitive Mike is, I wondered if he'd pick up the pace.  Of course, he did.  This was my fastest time of the year.  I'm getting dangerously close to breaking that 10:00 min. pace. 

There was very little traffic this week, and zero runners.  I can remember only seeing two cyclists.  I wonder if it's because it's cooling down a little, so people aren't coming out quite as early to beat the sun.  I felt good running up.  I could see Brian coming back down the hill when I was about a quarter of a mile from the top.  Maybe more.  I finally saw Mike with about a tenth of a mile to go.  I found at later he stopped at the top to catch his breath.  I figured he must've.  Then he was off to the chase.  His goal was to catch Brian.  He caught him right before the bottom.  About a half mile from the bottom I saw Brian coming back up.  It was still dark out, but I recognized his reflective vest.  Looks like he wanted some extra mileage.  Mike and I weren't sure if we were supposed to wait for him or go get him.  We decided to get him.  Oh, I also saw the other Brian right at the bottom where we always see him.  He tends to take a break there before climbing the hill.  He runs a 20 mile loop.  I said, "Good morning, Brian!", and totally scared him.  He was on one of my Ragnar teams once, too.