17 miles on the Virgin River path

I Woke up at 6:00 am to overcast skies.  I had to take "Willow" today because Ron's going to the gym at 7:00, then to business meetings.  I debated whether I should risk getting out there with her and have to get home in the rain.  The forecast is not usually very precise for this area.  There's lots of wives tales about how you can tell if it's going to actually rain or not on a cloudy day.  (My MIL says that if the clouds come in from the "saddle" in the west mountains then it will rain, but it never rains if  they come in even a couple miles from that saddle.  Yeeaaah, right.  People like my FIL that grew up in farming communities with no doctors (or weathermen) grew up AS doctors, weathermen, veterinarians, general contractors and basically specialists of all kinds because they had nobody else to depend on.  Their bits of wisdom are so charming, but annoying at the same time because they absolutely cannot be told differently than what they think they "know."  My FIL has mastered the grumpy old man's "BAHHH!"  It's hilarious.)  Anyhoo...  these clouds had come from no obvious direction, they're just covering everything, and the forecast said no rain till this afternoon, so I decided to risk it.

(This is my view from the back of the B.O.B.  I'nt she precious?)

I took the path under River Road going East first.  I wanted to see exactly how long the Garmin says this section of path is.  It's 2.5 miles, so this added 5 miles to my usual 12 mile out-and-back I usually do.  Perfect.  There's lots of fun things to look at on this path.  Old rotting farm equipment, and even this rusty deathtrap swingset in case "Willow" and I want to ever take a break.  I am so impressed with the environmental photography I see on other running blogs, like Bryan's that I decided to give it a try.  How's this?  It stayed overcast and cool the whole time.  "Willow" was sucking on my flask of Hammer Gel, which I guess she didn't like because she kept throwing it out of the stroller.  I didn't notice right away one time and had to run back for it, stinker.  She threw a toy out once and I didn't notice, but a nice biker did and he brought it back to us.  I've decided I like running with the B.O.B. better than without.  I can put an entire buffet in that basket.  I carry sunscreen, diapers, GUs, water bottles, a few toys...  When I run without her I have to either carry the bottle or put it on a belt, both of which bring problems on longer runs.

Colin Hay was on the playlist today.  (I mention this for my brother.)  Colin always brings back great memories of being about 8 years old and listening to Mark's Men At Work, Business As Usual album (on vinyl, of course) while playing Intelevision Dungeons and Dragons.  Colin still has the greatest voice.

I think it was good to take a nice slow but long run in trying to recover from those hills on Monday, as opposed to just resting today.  It loosened me up alot, and I don't feel as sore anymore.  Now I've gotten the long run in this week and can rest/stretch tomorrow, maybe be ready for intervals Friday.  I really wanted to be able to work on speed alot more than I have been.  If I want to finish fast and not just finish this time I have to pick up the pace somehow.  Maybe I need to listen to less Colin Hay and more Kanye West.  I think I run faster when I'm listening to the clean version of "Stronger."   I know, still gross.

I've come home to bigger messes than I did today.  Today it was just Lucky Charms all over the floor and my 5-y-o trying to cut three frozen cookies apart with a butter knife.  Breakfast at the Jensen's when no parents are home.   We'll have a talk about the knives.