Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Sometimes when I take a few days off I feel renewed and ready to go, even if it's brief.  Today I didn't.  Well, my breathing was pretty good, but my legs felt sore.  That may have been due to the cold weather.  Anyway, I approached the Floodway and I saw what looked like my old buddy Brad's truck on the west Canal road.  I didn't want to seem presumptuous so I turned on the east Canal road and tried to see if I could make out who was behind the tinted windows.  I couldn't tell, but it didn't look like Brad.  So I ran past, but then I came back and the guy rolled down his window.  I said, "I thought you were Brad.  That looks like his truck."  He said he thought it was Brad's truck before it was his.  I asked what his name was.  He said Josh.  I asked if he had taken my place when I left.  He said he didn't think so.  I asked what his responsibility was at the District.  He said he works with the wells.  I said, "Oh.  With Jason?"  He said, "No, I think I took Jason's place."  I said, "I didn't know Jason had left.  So, then with Andy?"  He said, "Yes."  Thinking any further conversation with him (from the othe side of the Canal) would just be more awkward than it was I told him it was nice to meet him and for him to have a nice day.  I continued on my way up to Brown Road and now finally over to the Floodway where I got to run on the newly resurfaced pavement.  The previous surface was very gravelly, but it staid together and was a decent running surface.  Now it's luxurious.  About halfway down I came upon three silver-haired ladies that were walking side by side by side.  I said good morning when I got in earshot range of them to which they sweetly replied good morning to me in unison.  Then I said in dramatic fashion, "Isn't this great now?"  They all simultaneously heartily agreed with me and then they giggled like school girls as I passed by them.  I took this picture on the run.  You might be able to see them in it.

I saw the same three ladies that I saw yesterday.   They weren't as giggly today.  Then I saw the couple that was running last week.  I'm starting to get regulars.  Then I saw this guy that was getting ready to fish in the RWCD Canal.  I said, "Hey friend.  You're not supposed to fish in this canal."  He said something that I did not understand as I was running, so I stopped turned around, puffed my chest out and said, "What did you say?"  Just kidding.  I just asked him to repeat himself.  He said that he spoke with the zanjeros and they told him he could fish as much as he'd like.  I asked him if he spoke with the SRP zanjeros or the RWCD zanjeros.  He said SRP.  I told him this isn't an SRP canal.  This is RWCD and they stock their own fish in the canal.  I told him there was a sign on the fence and as I ran off I said, "Just saying.  If they catch you out here, they'll run you off."  I felt real bad because he looked like a sweet old man.  Then I felt even worse because I didn't tell him that the SRP canal was 2 miles down the road.  Then I felt triple bad because it dawned at me that it's highly likely that he was Santa Claus and I didn't recognize him out of costume.  I guess I won't be getting and presents this year.

I did this run today because I know I won't have time tomorrow.  The plan was to take my high school aged daughter to school and go from there.  But then I was told she wasn't going 'til later, but I could take my junior high aged daughter.  But she doesn't leave until 35 minutes after my other daughter.  Seeing my disappointment, my wife told me to just go now and she would take my junior high aged daughter with my college aged daughter's car.  So I drove out to Usery Pass and decided to see how far I can run.  Optimistically I wanted to run to the top and back down.  About 2.3 miles up I started to wear out, but I told myself that I hadn't driven this far to run less than 5 miles.  Also, I knew that it's not as steep after 2.5 miles, so I pressed on and decided to turn around at 3 miles.  Just yesterday I happened upon a previous blog entry of mine from 8 years ago when I ran this route.  I was amazed at how fast I used to be.  While running today I tried to see if I could pick up the speed, but I'm no where near what I used to be.  I don't know if I'll even come close to that again, but I'll continue onwards.