Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Today was day 1 of Ragnar's 7Summits Challenge.  This is a virtual run, and the idea is for the combined elevation gain of all the particpants to equal or exceed summitting the 7 tallest peaks on each continent 10 times over.  The goal for today was 320 feet of elevation.  I went to GoogleEarth yesterday to see how much that distance that would be running my Usery Pass route.  I measured it at 1.55 miles.  Piece of cake.  I decided to run 1.6 just to be safe.  Good thing.  Strava doesn't tell you your distance to the hundredth of a mile, just to the tenth.  I stopped right at 1.6 and paused.  I checked my elevation gain and it said 325.  Not bad.  Then I crossed the road and headed down.  I saw the lady that I had passed on her bicycle after she had passed me and then had to stop.  There were a few more cyclists out, but most of them were coming up the hill.  I can't remember a single cyclists passing me on the downhill as I was running down.  I like seeing cyclists.

I took the other way home because there was construction going on the road the way I came.  I saw a dead Salt River horse on the side of the road that someone had covered with a blanket.  It was sad, but not nearly as sad as hearing about all the deaths from the shootings in Las Vegas last night.

I need to do my runs earlier.  It's still rather warm at 8am.  I was up at 5am, but my daughter, who's been sick for over a week now, was rousing, and my wife was going on her walk.  So I didn't want to leave my daughter all alone.  At 7:30am I drove my other daughter to school and continued up the road to Usery Pass to do day 2 of the 7SummitsChallenge.  My calves were still sore and I don't know if I'll be able to run the entire challenge.  Hopefully I'll get better as the week goes on, but I will get my elevation in even if it means I have to walk it.  I didn't see a single cyclists on the way up in either direction.  Today's challenge was 330 feet of vertical, so I knew I only had to go slightly more than what I had done yesterday.  I crossed the road right before I got to yesterday's turnaround point and looked for the mark I made by dragging my heel in the sand.  I couldn't find it.  I kept running thinking maybe it was just a little further ahead, but finally I stopped knowing I had gone too far.  I stopped my Strava and looked at the elevation gain.  340 feet.  10 extra.  I can live with that.  While I was trying to figure out how to sync this to the challenge, I finally saw my first cyclist.  He was kind enough to ask me if I was all right.  On the way down I saw 6 more cyclists.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll pause and take a picture of the dead tarantula.  That will be a nice treat for my readers.

Day 3 of the Ragnar 7SummitsChallenge.  I knew I had to do 370 feet of elevation gain today, but I didn't map it out.  So I got to my turnaround point from yesterday and looked up the road, and said, "that looks like about another 30 feet up over yonder."  I ran to over yonder and stopped my Strava.  It was 389 feet.  Then I took a mad pee pee behind a tree.  Going downhill is so much nicer.  I've noticed I've gotten a little slower each day.  I'm all right with that.  I stopped once to take this picture.

Today was beautiful and overcast.  As I was driving to my starting point I saw some people stopped off on the side of the road.  This usually means Salt River wild horses.  Sure enough there were some horses on the west side of the road.  I was nervous about this run because my knee started hurting last night.  But it felt ok during my run.  I ran about a quarter mile and I spotted four wild horses on the east side of the road.  I took this picture on the run.

I kept running (jogging) and until I got to where all the cars were.  There were four more horses that were trying to cross the street.  The big dark one seemed to be the leader.

A truck was coming up and I motioned for it to slow down.  Another horse started to follow the dark horse across the street, but the truck spooked them both and the dark one ran to my side of the street while the other ran back to the other side.  Now I stopped to watch.  I wanted to help, but I also didn't want to get trampled.  The dark one crossed the street again and tried to lead the other ones back to the wilderness, but couldn't find a way to get passed the barbed wire fence.  It stuck its head through and seemed to get tangled  up, but it was able to pull itself free.  They started to head up the hill, so I started running again.  I was able to outrun them.  Well, ok.  They weren't racing me.  I saw two more about a quarter mile from there.  A couple was chasing them back in the wilderness so they'd be away from the road.

Today is Day 4 of the 7SummitsChallenge.  The goal for the day is 390 feet.  Since I did 389 yesterday, I knew right where I needed to go.  I ran a little bit passed where I stopped yesterday and ended up recording 393 feet.  Then I turned around and headed back down.  I saw the horses again still heading up.  It was the best run yet.

Day 5 of the 7SummitsChallenge.  It was not overcast today and was actually a bit warm.  But it wasn't terrible, and I had water with me.  Nevertheless, this was not the most enjoyable run.  Certainly no where near yesterday's run.  But I'm getting stronger even if I'm not getting faster.  The goal for today was 410 feet.  I haven't been mapping them out prior.  I've just been eyeballing them based off of the previous day.  Today I got 424 feet when I stopped.  Tomorrow's goal is 460 feet.

Day 6 of the 7SummitsChallenge.  I need to provide the backstory to this run first.  As an ambassador for Ragnar, I often get free stuff from Ragnar/Reebok.  I've received three pairs of shoes so far.  The first pair didn't fit, so I ended up giving them to my wife's sister's ex husband's biological father.  A few months after that his diabetes got so bad that he had to have one of his legs amputated at the knee.  After the operation I asked him if I could have the other shoe back since he didn't need it anymore.  (Sometimes I crack myself up.)  Anyway, it seems his diabetes is once again catching up with him as he's almost completely lost his eye sight.  His girlfriend, Vanessa, who's lived with him for over 30 years is starting to crack under the stress and strain of the whole situation.  It's almost too much for her to handle.  Yesterday she came over because she needed a hug.  My wife, Vickie, who she usually goes walking with in the morning, wasn't home.  So I got to be the shoulder for her to cry on.

This morning we got up early because I didn't have to get ready or take any kids to school.  Vickie and Vanessa came with me because Vanessa really wanted to see the wild horses that I saw a couple of days ago.  We didn't see any on the ride over, so I told them that while I was running, it might be best for them to head the other direction down towards the river in hopes that they might spot a few over there.  I told them I would be gone for an hour.  It was shortly before 7am when I started.  There were already a lot of cars on the road, which I knew there would be since it's the weekend and next week is fall break.  I had to make sure to stay alert.  There were plenty of cyclists, too.  I have been feeling stronger each and every day.  It showed in that today I had my fastest pace for both uphill and downhill.  Today's goal was 460 feet.  I saw a big cactus and thought, that looks like a good place to stop.  It should be well over my goal elevation.  I ran to the cactus and it was 465 feet.  Ha!  Good thing I didn't stop before then.

I headed back down and I didn't see any horses.  At the half mile to go point the road straightens out and I can see all the way to the parking lot.  I spotted Vickie and Vanessa walking back.  Perfect timing.  I asked them if they saw any horses or coyotes or snakes.  Nothing.  They did see the river, so that was nice.  But I wasn't about to give up.  I kept my eyes open as we drove back, this time taking the Power Road route.  To my left I thought I spotted a brown horse behind some brush.  I slowed down a little and saw a white horse.  If I wasn't looking for them, I wouldn't have seen them.  So I swung back around and pulled over.  Turns out it was the same four horses that I saw first on Thursday.  Vanessa got out and was able to take some pictures.  It really made her day.