Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I wanted to do a 6 mile run today, but it was getting kinda late by the time I got out the door.  I decided to run up the Floodway to Greenfield Rd. then back down the RWCD Canal to Main St. and home.  Turned out to be 4.65 miles.  I had a good pace despite the dessert I ate last night.  I could feel it, but I think I'm definitely getting faster.  After doing the loop from Brown to Greenfield and back to Brown, I could see a lady walking with two little dogs.  She all of the sudden turned around and headed back towards Brown.  I thought that was an odd place to turn around.  Did she forget something?  Did she have diarrhea like I did this morning?  I said good morning to her and then spotted a coyote up ahead on the Canal road.  I said, "Is that a coyote?" (knowing full well that it was.)  I just wanted to make conversation.  She said yes.  Turns out the two coyotes I saw last week are still hanging around.  I wonder if they have babies around there somewhere.  They seemed like they were being protective.  Or maybe they were just hungry.  I stopped for a while and took pictures and video.  Then I finished my run.

I got out the door a little earlier today, so I was ready to run a little longer.  My right hamstring is a bit tight. 

So, I take my dog on a walk every day around 5:30PM - 6PM.  Last night I was hoping we'd find the coyotes again that I saw on my run in the morning.  We usually go south down the middle of the Floodway.  We went north and Herbie was very excited to be exploring something new.  As we were going a lady and a kid told us that there was a coyote just up ahead of us.  I thanked her and it wasn't long before we saw it.  Of course Herbie wanted to chase it, but knowing that there are two of them, I wasn't about to let go of the leash.  We just watched it for a while, and when it disappeared in the bushes, we cut through the brush on to the east Canal road.  There we saw it again.  I took three videos of it.  One when we were down in the bottom of the Floodway and two on the Canal road.  In the second video (all of the videos are posted on Facebook) we decided to get a little closer and chased it back in the bushes again.  Then we headed back south toward home and saw it one more time.  Only now, it was agitated and started yipping at us.  My guess is that they've got a litter of pups right close to there and they're being protective.  It's a real cool video.

Anyway, this morning I wanted to see if I could see them again so I ran past there.  I didn't see them.  I continued north all the way up to McDowell.  It's about 2.8 miles to McDowell.  I turned back south and a half mile later I saw my Strava buddy Michael.  I said, "Good morning, Michael!"  He said, "Hey, good morning!  Lookin' good, Burt!"  It was cool.  Then a quarter mile later I saw a coyote.  This coyote was about a mile north of the ones I saw yesterday.  I would assume it wasn't one of the same ones.  It ran over into the orange grove.  When I got close I turned the volume all the way up on my phone and played the video of the coyote yipping from last night.  I was trying to draw it out.  But it was too smart.

Not exactly sure on the mileage because Strava glitched.  It's done this twice now, both on top of Hilltop.  Maybe because I took a picture?  Anyway, today is Friday.  I forgot to blog yesterday.  And my hamstring was kinda sore all day Tuesday, so I decided to take Wednesday off, even thought it felt fine Wednesday.

I decided to try three climbs today on Hilltop.  It was quite the workout.  It's a nice steep-ish climb, and it's perfect for Ragnar trail training.  Next week is the race. 

My legs are sore from yesterday's hill work.  I was just going to do one loop, but decided to go two.  I saw three other runners out including my Strava friend Matt.
 

Today we had me, Vickie, Mike, Glen, and Bryan show up to run Usery.  Maggie was sick, so she texted that she couldn't make it.  Bryan drove himself and didn't get there until right after we started running.  It was about 46º according to Mike's truck.  Everybody was freezing.  Except for me.  I stay nice and warm underneath this layer of insulation.  My fat.  My fat is my layer of insulation.  Anyway, it was around 5:30am when we started running, so it was still dark out.  Vickie was the first to leave.  Then I left.  Then Mike.  Then Glen.  Glen said he saw Bryan pull in as he was leaving.  Mike passed me right before I passed Vickie.  I pinched her behind.  Glen caught me after 3/4 of a mile.  He ended up running about 9.1 miles.  Around the 1.5 mile mark, a couple of cyclists came cruising down.  When thye got to me one of them yelled, "Crazy people!"  But he said it in a kind voice.  I heard him yell it again a few seconds later.  I figured he was yelling at my wife.  Then I heard him yell it again.  I didn't put two and two together until a little bit later when I heard Bryan's footsteps behind me.  I told him it was good to see him, and I gave him a fist bump.

I wasn't feeling great today.  I didn't sleep well, and I woke up with a sore throat.  It was one of those days where the goal is just to run the distance.  I have been steadily getting faster each week, but I slowed down considerably today.  Mike, on the other hand, was feeling great, and he ran almost 2 minutes per mile faster than me today.  He was about 6 tenths of a mile ahead of me when we passed each other, me going up, and him going down.  Not long after that I saw Bryan.  Bryan never caught Mike, and they only saw each other briefly when they finished.  I got to the top and couldn't see Glen.  It was starting to get light out, but I kept my headlamp on for a little more.  Maybe three quarters of a mile.  Right before I saw my wife.  She wasn't feeling great either, but she did real good.  Glen finally caught up to me with one mile to go.  Right after he passed me, a cyclist waved at me with his hand high in the air.  It was Jay again.  I tried to give him a high five, but I was too late.  I got down to the bottom and was disappointed to not have seen any horses.  But Vickie saw a coyote.  We then drove to pick her up.  She ended up getting 5.88 miles. So, pretty good.