Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I was still sore this morning, but I didn't want to miss another day.  Emily is sick again today.  I didn't get out until 8:30am.  It's actually kinda chilly today.  Right as I started, it began to rain.  I'm okay with that, but it did seem colder than Saturday.  I just took it nice and easy.  I wasn't sure if I was going to do 1 loop or 2.  I decided on 2 since I was feeling good.  I saw a couple of ladies pushing strollers.  I wonder if they didn't realize it was going to rain and just got caught in it.  Anyway, with a little over half a mile to go, I saw a walking stick in the path.  I stopped and took its picture.  Then I decided I wanted to keep it.  So I picked it up and carried it home.  At one point it crawled all the way up my arm and on to my shoulder.  That's when I had to stop because bugs on my shoulders tend to creep me out.  I have this recurring nightmare about it.

I wanted a mid distance run today, but I was limited on time.  So I did a run that I haven't done before even though I've done it a million times.  I ran up the Floodway to Greenfield Road.  Usually I cross the road and keep going.  But today I turned around and ran down the other side of the RWCD Canal, all the way to Main Street, and then back home.  I felt nice and comfortable the whole way despite eating some goodies last night, and my pace was well below 10 min/mile.  When I first got on the Floodway path, I could see a woman up ahead.  I assumed it was a woman because of the skirt.  As I got closer I started to question (short hair and baseball cap), but it was indeed a woman.  It took me a while to catch her though because she was walking along at a pretty nice clip.  She turned around at Brown Road and walked down the RWCD road.  It's probably about 0.4 miles from Brown Road to Greenfield, so by the time I got back to Brown Road she was way ahead of me.  It was a beautiful day out and there were a lot of people out walking.  I saw this guy on the other side of the RWCD Canal.  It looked like he was wearing an old Ragnar shirt.  The closer I got, the more I was convinced that is what it was.  He ended up saying good morning to me, and I asked him if he was wearing a Ragnar shirt.  He looked down at it, and said, "Yeah it is.  But it's a really old one.  Like 10 years ago."  I said, "I know.  I have that same shirt." 

I crossed Adobe and wondered if I would be able to catch the skirt lady.  She looked like she was too far ahead.  I was making some ground on her, but she got to University before me.  I saw her turn east and thought she might live in one of the 55+ communities and that would be the last time I saw her.  But she moved over from the Canal road to the Floodway path.  I got to Main Street and started heading back north.  When I passed her I said, "You sure are walking fast!"  I don't know if she recognized me from before, so she probably thought I was being condescending.  Right after that I saw this lady with a dog.  I don't think the dog was leashed, but when she saw me she leashed him.  As I approached her she said, "I should just give you the leash and let him run with you."  I said, "Sounds like my dog except my dog stops on a dime every 10 seconds."  Then she said, "Would it bother you if I let him off his leash?  He's not a biter."  I said, "I don't mind.  I'm not afraid of dogs."  So she let him off, and he started galloping toward me.  He got about 5 feet in front of me and stopped.  He just wanted to beat me.  I said, "You win!"

A nice and easy run today to keep me fresh for tomorrow.  I don't know if fresh is the right word.  But I'm going with it.

When you have Filiberto's the day before, you make sure you pack some TP with you.  It was a beautiful morning, but I didn't have a bowel movement beforehand.  I got a headstart on Mike.  He caught me right around 0.55 miles.  I told him I didn't know if I could hold on for the entire run.  I said, "Luckily I brought some toilet paper with me."  He said, "You did?"  The way he said it made me think that he might need some.  But I wouldn't be able to afford any so I said, "Yeah.  Just a little bit."  He continued past me, but he wasn't running as fast as he usually does.  Or I was running faster than normal.  I thought I might actually pass him, but it I enjoy having him in front of me.  That way the traffic sees him and is more aware of me.  Selfish?  Maybe.

Right at 1.2 miles the pressure was too much.  I found a nice tree to go behind.  I popped a squat and well, you know.  I had just enough TP, so I'm glad I didn't share.  I got back out on the road and Mike was well ahead of me, but I could see his butt lamp from time to time.  He was now half a mile ahead of me. 

At one point I could see a headlamp pointing in my direction.  I wasn't sure if it was Mike, a cyclist, or another runner.  Then I saw the butt lamp, and figured it was Mike.  I was thinking maybe he was going to ask me for some TP.  I felt a little bad, but I have to take care of numero uno.  Or numero dos, depending on how you look at it.

I was actually gaining on Mike.  Looking at Strava, I can see a couple of times that he had to stop.  I reached the top and stopped briefly to pull my briefs up.  By which I mean retie my shorts.  As we were running up, there was plenty of vehicles coming downhill, but not one that came uphill.  I finally saw one at the 2.75 miles to go mark.  That's always nice.  I felt like I was running pretty well and pushing it a little.  But that last mile seemed to drag.  Mostly the last half mile, but that's usual because the slope starts to flatten out.  I finished and Mike was upset at how poorly he had run.  The truth is, it wasn't that bad.  His pace was still a minute faster than mine.  He told me that his shins were killing him and that he was glad we only did the 7.4 (to the top and back) today. 

The reason we only did the 7.4 is because I was going on a 1 mile hike later with my Wolf den.  All 4 boys showed up and 1 father.  I'm glad he came because Vickie started feeling real sick after her walk this morning.  He was able to substitute for her.  We went to the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert.  I think the boys had fun.  Well, they certainly enjoyed the doughnuts when we finished.