Cowboy Shower

Probably not a real cowboy shower, but it was a slightly rougher one than I’m used to.

It started with another early morning for me. I dropped off last night around 8:30 or so, tired from the day. I got up, had some coffee and a bar, reading a bit in the early morning, enjoying the quiet. It was cool today, and so I had a second shirt on, but after about an hour the sun had heated things up.

Alex had said he’d run with me today, and so once he’d had a chance to start his day, we were thinking to get started. We asked if Kyle wanted to join us and he said he would, so I got changed and ready to go. As we stretched for a few minutes, waiting to see if Tia might want to go, Kris walked up and accepted our invitation. So we were 4 and when Tia came back, she made 5. After a short walk across the water, we started a jog to the west down the country road.

I was thinking to take it easy, especially going slow with some others that don’t run as regularly as I do. We started up the road, and Tia kept telling us to just run. She goes at a slower pace than I and doesn’t want to slow me down. I completely understand and I’ve asked people to leave me when I know they’re faster.

I picked up a little pace, with Kris keeping up with me and the run feeling good, I was enjoying it. Before I knew it we were 10 minutes out and I decided to hit the 12 minute mark and then turn. Kris was laboring a touch, so I said he should walk and I’d turn around in a minute. I made it to the turn, started back and met the two men on the way. They wanted to get to the same spot as me, so I told them where I’d turned around and headed back. I picked up Tia and she turned around and we started back together. I was nearly a mil and a half in at that point, so I slowed my pace, running up and down a bit more than forward. We had a nice chat and jog back along the Arkansas river.

When we got back, the boys wanted to go for burritos, so I grabbed a change of clothes and the liquid hand soap to get a shower. I’d forgotten to pack soap and shampoo, so I was making do. The shower was an open stall in the community bathroom, water misting out at a decent temperature, but with little pressure. As I was soaping up, I realized that I’d forgotten my towel. So I made do.

Liquid hand soap to wash off, including my hair. Hands to push off most of the water and then my shirt to dry off the rest. It felt great, however, I was clean, new clothes, and my run done for the day. Very nice.