Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I went to be early last night, but I decided to finish binge watching the final season of the show that I'm watching on Netflix.  Said show will remain nameless.  Anyway, the problem with Netflix is that once you finish one season of a show you you've been watching, you start the next one.  Then you finish that one and you start the next one.  Before you've even finished watching them all, the next seasons come out.  Not sure what time I finally fell asleep, but I'm sure it was after midnight.

I didn't get out the door until after 8am this morning.  That was a mistake.  It was hot.  I'm glad I brought a bottle of water with me.  I was running real slow.  Before I crossed Greenfield, I could see two figures out on the Canal road.  Everytime I see someone I wonder if they're on Strava.  As I got closer I could tell at least one of them was on a bike.  A little closer and it looked like one of them might be on foot as they appeared smaller.  Then I realized it was a dad and a daughter riding bikes.  Right before I got to them the daughter had veered over in front of me.  She kept veering over towards the Canal and I thought she was going to ride right in.  Luckily she was able to correct course and went around me.  I think her dad was worried, too.  Right after that I saw a lady and a dog.  I got to the Canal gate that indicated half a mile away from McKellips.  There's a dirt road and a fence gate that lead up to the Canal gate.  The fence is about 3 feet away from the block walls that form the alleyway.  This is so pedestrians can get through, but vehicles cannot.  I saw an old man about to come through the fence.  Well, older than me.  He would be right behind me and I thought for sure he would pass me.  I was getting pretty close to the dog and the lady and the dog started trotting over to me.  But actually it was trotting to the old man behind me.  The lady said, "Is that daddy?"  So apparently they were one big happy family and he never passed me. 

I kept going and got to McKellips.  This is where I started doubting if I really wanted to go all the way to McDowell, another mile.  So I decided to just do maybe a little over 5 miles.  From previous runs I knew if I turned around at the Canal gate a quarter of a mile south of McDowell I would be around 5.25 miles.  But as I neared the gate, I could see another couple walking down the road.  I kept thinking how awkward it would be if we both reach the gate at the same time and I turn around with them.  So I checked my Strava and I was at 2.5 miles.  I went a little further and turned around.

There was a bit of a headwind, which was nice, but the sun was getting hotter and hotter the further I went.  The last two miles were a real struggle and I thought about calling my wife to come pick me up.  But then I thought, it's okay to walk some.  So I walked a little here and a little there.  The final mile I walked a lot.  In fact, I started running in between trees and then walking in the shade.  I finished my water bottle and figured I'd fill it back up at the water fountain even though it's only 0.15 miles away from my house.  I'm pretty sure I saw Kori.  It was her car at least.  That's funny because I had texted her and her husband before I went running to see if they wanted to be on my Ragnar team.  She hadn't replied yet, but she has since.  Perhaps because she saw me.  They are maybes.  So I went to refill my water bottle, but only hot water was coming out of the fountain.  I must've let it run for a full minute and still hot.  I thought, "This is ridiculous.  I'm almost home."  So I just ran the rest of the way home.  I've lost about 15 lbs. since my vacation.