Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I texted Mike yesterday.  He said for me and Glen to go on without him today.  Glen wanted to run in the afternoon again.  I much prefer the morning.  But I don't really have a choice when Ragnar rolls around. 

Glen picked me up at 4pm.  It's about a half hour drive out to Usery Pass.  I had packed my LED blinky light and my headlamp.  We saw all these new paint markings that had been installed on the road and also the new warning scores carved out in the road.  WATCH    FOR    HORSES.  We saw a couple on the top of a hill.  I told Glen about the time I saw a dead one on the side of the road that someone had covered with a blanket.  We got to Usery right around 4:30pm.  I told Glen I was bringing my lights with me, but wasn't sure if I'd need them.  It seemed pretty light out with the sun still above the horizon. 

We briefly stretched out and we were off.  Glen immediately left me in his dust.  There was so much traffic.  I'm not in as good as shape as I was about a month ago.  I was kind of struggling.  It seemed like each half miles increment was taking forever.  After two miles I could see the sun was going behind the mountain.  Maybe I would need my lights after all.  After another quarter mile I could see the traffic slowing down.  Then I could see all these sheriff vehicles with their lights on.  I wondered what was going on?  An accident?  A dead horse?  A dead person?

I kept running past them all and looking to see what was going on.  I couldn't tell.  Most of them were on the other side of the road.  Maybe I would build up the courage to ask what was going on when I was running back down.  That would be another 2.5 miles as I was 1.25 miles away from the top.  After I passed them I saw three more horses, so I started to think it might be a dead horse from their pack. 

After that, I decided to pull my LED light out of my pocket and hook it to the back of my shirt.  The 2.5 mile point is where the slope is not as steep anymore and it felt easier for the rest of the way up.  I saw Glen coming back down.  He must've had at least a half mile lead on me.  I made it to the top and decided to put my headlamp on, but it wasn't terribly dark, so I set it on the lowest setting. 

I was making my way down the hill and my tummy wasn't feeling great.  I prefer running on an empty stomach in the mornings.  I made it back to the sheriff vehicles.  But I was to nervous to ask them what was going on.  What if it was a murder?  The people who ask about it become suspects.  I didn't want to be a suspect.  With less than two miles to go I turned my headlamp on all the way.  Mostly so drivers could see me.  We only saw one cyclist.  But gee the traffic was terrific.  I was running slow.  I looked back on my Strava and saw that I hadn't run this slow here since July.  Glen was waiting for me at the stop sign.  We ran the last couple of hundred yards together.  He said he got there about 10 minutes ago.  I told him that sounded about right.  I'm glad we got to go even if it was in the afternoon.  I've got some work to do to get back where I was.