Seeking a better country...

Buggy, windy, warm.  Headwind out, tailwind back.  Russian olives starting to bloommmm.

Sweet baby murmured and cooed for 5 miles before falling asleep.  Thank God for May.

Tonight I joined the varsity scouts for a hike to the rope swing by Deuel Creek.  We had a party of six, with one other adult.  4 of us made it to the swing easily, while 2 lagged behind.  I got some running in shuttling back and forth between the groups, since I wasn't familiar with our destination.   When the slower two were making the final leg, I ran ahead to see how far the trail went before dwindling away.  My son met me (and startled me brilliantly) when I was coming back with news that one of the boys had fallen off the swing and hurt himself.  Sure enough, he had banged his right shin pretty hard, and couldn't put any weight on it.  We tried helping him hop to no avail.  We were around 2 miles away from the car, but this kid was big, probably 150 lbs.  Me and Kevin (the other adult) ended up carrying him down on our backs.  Kevin probably did 70%.  It turns out I'm not very good at carrying my body weight.

Anyhow, we got him down just as it was getting dark.  His parents took him straight to the instacare; I don't know the results yet.  Hopefully he's all right.  I found some new muscles tonight trying to decelerate over 300 lbs coming down a hill.  

 I'll have to retrace our steps tomorrow with the GPS.  It'll be worth knowing real distances.  This is one of those stories that'll get better with each retelling, I would imagine. 

6 a.m.  early for me.  Despite a late night, my eyes popped open at 5:45.  If I didn't go in the morning, I wouldn't make it after work, since work wasn't slated to end till 10 p.m.  Plus I needed a shower anyway, so I went.  It was a cool, arm freezing, perfect morning.  My running was horrible.  Still glad I went.

8-10 p.m.  I had to work all day.  All afternoon my legs felt like a million bucks, so I was very excited to go tonight.  I wanted 15, and I really thought I did 15.  Oh well.  I ran with watermelon chomps, venus, bugs, cool breezes, Muse, Vampire Weekend, Radiohead and my thoughts.  This week has been crazy busy.  I'm very glad to get this one in.  Next week's long run will be on the Ogden Marathon course.  I'm going to meet friends at mile 7, and run them to the dam, then loop back around to my car.  

4  weeks till UVM.  At one time I thought I'd be able to give this race a shot, and now it looks more like a throwaway.  My spring schedule isn't very conducive to dedicated hard training.  I'm lucky to get the miles in, to say nothing of adequate sleep.

 I really need a sponsor.  It's too bad for me that shoe companies and foundations don't sponsor mediocre, past their prime runners.