Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Less than 20 miles to go on these shoes.

I finally took a day off.  Well, I always take Sundays off, but that doesn't count.  I am so busy with work.  I pretty much didn't work Conference weekend, so I have to catch up.  That's all I'm ever doing is catching up. 

There are all these pretty bushes that are in bloom right now with little purple flowers.  They smell like a rotting carcass whenever I run by them, but they really are pretty.  So I decided to take a picture of one which was off the path a little way.  Right when I got off the path I saw this lady.  She probably thought I was going over to tinkle.

I ran to the top of the RWCD Canal today.  That's nearly the same distance as our Saturday morning runs.  It felt like it was slow, but turned out to be a decent pace for me lately.  That's a good sign.  I feel exhausted now, so I hope I can have a productive day.

Today was kind of a weird day.  My legs are more sore than they have been in quite some time.  I guess that means I'm getting out of my comfort zone.  I normally have cub scouts today in the afternoon, so I was texting the parents of my scouts to see who would be able to make it today.  There's only two boys left.  Well, three, but one is real sickly and hasn't been able to come yet.  Another turns 9 this month and he earned his Wolf ages ago.  The other is the son of our former Bishop who reminded me that our current Bishop asked that there be no activities during Fall Break.  Well, both sets of parents were texting me back early in on my run and since my legs were sore, I stopped to read and respond to them.  While I was texting Bishop back I realized that standing across the other side of the Floodway was a man dressed in all red.  I was literally pointing right at him so that he might have thought I was taking his picture or something.  I finished my texts and looked back over and couldn't see him.  I started running again and went to the other side.  I still couldn't see him anywhere and I started imagining that he had crossed over the Floodway to find out why I was taking pictures of him.  I finally saw him about 200 feet south of where he was when I originally saw him.  There was a bike laying down where I had seen him.  I kept running 'til I got to him and saw that he was carrying a medium sized stone in his hand.  Did he want to bash me over the head?  He looked dirty, like maybe a vagabond.  We told each other good morning.  I kept going towards Adobe and I saw this older couple walking up the road.  I contemplated telling them to be on guard, but I didn't.  Instead I stopped at Adobe and watched to make sure they passed him safely. 

That was the half way point and my legs were feeling better so I kept going.  I ran down to University, left the RWCD road and went back to the Floodway path.  It's been a few days since I've been around here and I hadn't seen Jeff since the last time.  I could see his stuff from the RWCD road so I knew he was there.  When I got close I saw what looked like a clump of clothes.  But that's weird because he only has one outfit.  Then I realized it was him lying down with his jacket over his head.  I stopped to see if there was any movement.  I couldn't see any, but he's a sound sleeper.  Still, I guess he could have been dead.  I thought about calling for him, but didn't want to wake him.  So I started running again, but shortly thereafter I stopped again because there were all these tents set up behind some bushes on the other side of the path.  There was a bicycle and some other stuff.  I couldn't see anyone, but my imagination once again started to create a scenario that the red outfit guy and his crew set up camp here, murdered Jeff, and pulled his coat over his head.

I took my wife and we went and hiked Hilltop.  She summitted once and I did it twice.  My legs are still sore, but as long as I'm getting stronger, it's all good.

My muscles were real sore this morning.  I contemplated doing 3 loops today, but because of how my legs were feeling I was leaning more towards just 2.  Plus, I want to be fresh for tomorrow.  I figured I would decide while I was running whether or not to go 3.

It was dark out.  I saw a lady up ahead of me on Adobe walking her dogs.  I hoped she would continue straight, but she turned up the Floodway path.  I made sure to let her know I was coming when I got close so as to not spook her.  I was hoping my legs would loosen up and they finally did after a half mile.  When I got to Brown and went over to the Canal road, I saw a boy walking with a skateboard.  I told him good morning.  Then I could see a light coming up the way.  It was another lady walking a dog.  So many people out in the dark this morning.  Then I could see two more figures down the path.  I told them good morning.  They said good morning back to me as we passed and that's when I noticed it was the Ray's.  I said, "Oh hey, Ray's."  When I got to Adobe I still thought about doing 3 loops, but a quarter of a mile later, my knee started hurting a tad so I decided two would be fine.  I came back up the Floodway path and saw Jeff sleeping under his jacket again.  It's kinda getting cold now, so I hope he gets a thicker jacket.  It was starting to get light out.  Right before I got to Adobe I saw the same lady and her dog again, but she had taken off her headlamp.  When I got on Adobe I saw the Ray's again and wished them a great day.

So, our landlord wants to put the house on the market.  He offered to sell it to us, but my wife hates it.  Seems as though we'll be moving again shortly.  I'll miss my neighbors and friends and ward and Jeff and my running paths.  I hate moving.  We do it so often.  It would be nice to actually be able to settle down somewhere.  Hopefully this is the time.

Glen was out of town.  Maggie got back into town late.  Vickie was sick.  So it was just me and Mike this morning.  On the way there we almost hit a big fat skunk.  I started out with Mike right behind me.  He caught me at about 0.4 miles.  I only saw 4 cyclists on the way up.  They were all headed downhill.  I got to the top and saw that someone had decorated a small saguaro cactus in Halloween decorations.  I took a picture and headed back down.  This is when all the cyclists came out.  They must not be coming out as early anymore due to the colder weather.  I mean, why not wait until there's daylight if it's gonna be a beautiful day?  On the way down I saw two ladies standing on either side of the road.  I knew what that meant.  Horses.  There were probably 10 wild horses, one of them a baby.  I took a couple more pictures and finished up.  Over the last 6 weeks I've gotten faster and faster on this route.  I was 8 seconds per mile faster than last week.  Last week I was 6 seconds per mile faster than the week prior.  The week prior I was 10 seconds faster, which was 12 seconds faster, which was 24 seconds faster than the week previous.  The bottom of my right foot hurts now, but hopefully it will get better by Monday.