Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Usually I just enter in whatever number Strava tells me I got, but my Strava didn't record today.  I tried taking a picture of a partial rainbow this morning before I ran, and I must've not hit start or something because it said 0.0 miles and 0 minutes and 0 seconds.  Boo!  So I'll just put the mileage in from the last time I ran this route. 

As I was heading south on the Canal road a zanjero pulled up the same time I reached Lateral 3.5 (Adobe.)  I didn't recognize him so I kept going.  Now that all the bushes have been removed I could see all the way over to the other side of the Floodway.  From a distance I could see some people over near where Jeff is usually at.  My first thought is that it was the police.  As I got closer I could see that it was more hobos.  Or vagrants.  Or homeless people.  Whatever is the PC way of saying it.  I've gotten in enough trouble on this blog for my lack of sensitivity.  They had a bunch of stuff.  I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but there is another hobo that I see from time to time.  He's got himself a bike, a tent, a sleeping bag.  He's pretty hooked up.  I thought it might be him.  But when I finally got across from them where I could see better, I realized that Jeff was under one tree and the other two were under then next tree about 50 feet to the south.  I ran all the way down to Main St. (Lateral 4.5) and headed back up the Floodway path.  As I got to University, the other homeless couple had finished packing up and were leaving the path.  It was a man and a lady.  They were talking and the lady was standing right in the fence opening that I needed to go through.  She seemed like she had no intention of moving.  So I said, "Coming through!"  She moved a little bit and I threaded the needle between her and the fence.  They were talking about something.  Maybe about where they would go next.  It reminded me of the time I was in high school and my friend and I went down in this ravine and there was a homeless couple living under the bridge.  The man told his wife that he would be home soon.  Then he looked at us and got embarrassed because he didn't know we were there.

Well back to Jeff.  So I continued running and I saw biscuit buyer up the path.  Jeff was going out to meet him to get his daily sausage biscuit.  I got there right after the hand off so I stopped.  I asked him if he had new neighbors moving in.  He just kind of grunted.  I then looked at biscuit buyer and told him that the couple he had passed had camped out under the other tree.  I said I could see them from the other side and I thought it was the police coming to haul Jeff away.  Biscuit buyer said I'm sure Jeff wouldn't mind that.  I asked Jeff if he had talked to them at all.  He mumbled, "No."  He was not in a good mood today.  So I decided that I should get going.  Biscuit buyer told me that I need to motivate him to start running.  I said, "I'll tell you what.  This is the only thing keeping me from being 300 lbs."  Then I told them I'd see them tomorrow.  It was yet again, another awkward conversation.

It took me a while to get out the door this morning.  It was a little after 7am when I started.  But that's ok because Emily is staying home again today.  She's still a little sick.  My legs felt sore today.  I was moving slow.  Also, I didn't tie my shorts tight enough and they felt like they might fall off.  I decided to stop and tie them once I got behind the first tree on the Floodway path, but a guy was following me.  So I had to run farther to lose him.  But then there was another guy walking a dog.  So I had to run a little farther.  Luckily they never fell down, and I finally tied them up.  Also lucky the lady running on the other side of the Floodway didn't look over and see me.

I woke up shortly before 5am.  It was dark out.  I got dressed and went outside.  I could see a couple walking down the street.  I knew it was the Schumakers'.  I hollered good morning at them while I stretched out.  I ran my usual RWCD/Floodway 3 loop route.  Even though it was dark, there was just enough light to see without needing a headlamp.  I could see a few other runners out.  As I approached Brown Rd. I saw a lady walking two dogs.  Not sure where she was before.  Perhaps she was on the trail the whole time and I couldn't see her because it was dark or perhaps she was in the bottom of the Floodway.  Anyway, she heard me coming and moved over.  She was wearing a jersey with the name Susan on the back.  So naturally I said, "Good morning, Susan."  She said back to me good morning with an inflection in her voice that meant, "I don't recognize you yet, but you obviously know me, so I'm going to say good morning back to you and hope that it dawns on me soon who you are."  I felt like such a jerk because I just kept running.

It started getting light out as I was headed back north.  That's when I noticed my underwear was rubbing me raw.  It stung so bad in the shower.  I saw Sis. Porter and her daughter again walking their dogs.  Then I saw my wife heading east on Adobe.  It looked like I was a little bit ahead of her.  But then she turned south on the Canal Road.  I waved at her and saw her stop.  I was wondering why she had stopped.  So I stopped.  Then I got a text from her that she was going to run a mile.  She ran it in 12:03.  That's her best time yet!

I forgot to blog today.  (Today is Friday.)  I remember turning on to the Floodway path shortly after the Porter ladies ran by.  I was following them and thought I would be able to catch them, but wasn't sure how long it would take.  They're slow.  I'm slow.  So, you know...

Eventually Sis. Porter stopped to check her dog's paw.  Her daughter kept going a little way with her dog.  Then Sis. Porter started running again and her daughter stopped so she could catch up.  That's about when I caught up.  Then the two dogs got their leashes tangled and Sis. Porter seemed annoyed about it.  That's all I can remember.

I just did one loop today.  My left ankle is pretty sore today.  Tendons I think.  I saw the Porter ladies again.
 

This morning at 3:14am I was awoken by Herbie barking.  I looked at the time and immediately thought it was 4:14am and that Herbie must be barking at Mike and we were late.  But nope, we still had half an hour before we needed to be up.  I went upstairs to find Herbie.  He was actually in the room above me which is my daughters' room.  He was barking out the back window, so no idea what he was barking at.  Maybe a coyote jumped the fence?  Well, I still wanted that extra half hour of sleep.  But then at 3:22am Mike sent a response to the group text that he wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to make it.  I responded, "Ok."  Then I responded, "Everyone else, I'll pick you up an hour later."  Everyone else was my wife, Maggie, and Glen.  Then Maggie replied that her youngest was up and wasn't feeling well, so she wouldn't be able to sneak out.  It ended up being just me, Vickie, and Glen.  And we were a few minutes late because of the Jalapeno Bucks we ate for lunch yesterday.

We got to the sheriff's station and stretched out.  I was the first to leave with my wife right behind me.  Glen gave us a head start.  He caught me at the half mile mark.  Since we were out an hour later we didn't bring any of our lights with us, but Vickie and Glen wore reflective vests.  I just wore my orange outfit.  But since we were out an hour later, there were tons and tons of cyclists today.  Glen left me in the dust and I'm not sure how far he went.  I stopped once to take a picture of a tarantula on the side of the road.  I finally saw Glen when I got to the top.  He reached the crest a few steps before I did, but I had to wait for some motorcycles and cyclists before I could cross.  So he was a good 50 feet ahead of me again.  And at this point we were being attacked by gnats.

I had sent that picture of the tarantula to the group text.  My wife saw it and took her own picture and sent it out.  That means she wasn't too far behind me.  When I passed by her going down she was only about 9 tenths of a mile behind me.  She's getting better and better.  Glen was out of sight again.  And now is when just an entire horde of cyclists started riding up.  I spent more time on the side of the road than on the shoulder.  Of course that's not true, but with my left ankle still sore from yesterday, it felt like it.  I finally made it to the bottom.  It was nice and cool today and I still had plenty of water left.  I was going to run to our jeep, but I saw a bunch of horses in the Salt River Tubing parking lot across the street.  So I ran to them to take a couple of pictures.  Then I called Vickie to see if she wanted to finish so she could see the horses or if she wanted us to come get her.  She opted to have us come get her.  She was able to do 6.25 miles, her furthest run ever.