Today was a chilly but otherwise good day for a run. It was 41F when I got outside, so I was dressed pretty warmly. By the end of the run, it was still only 45F, but the sun was up, so I felt too warm. I wore cold weather running pants and a long sleeved running shirt. I also started with gloves, but those came off after a few miles. I just stuffed them under my iFitness belt and all was well.
My original goal was 8 miles for today. Mother nature delayed me a little more than I had wanted to, so I changed my goal to 1:30. It turns out, if it not were for a special encounter, I would have finished 8 miles before the 1:30 mark.
I was running down an asphalt path that has a very steep hill. It's not very long, but steep. So, I was just concentrating on getting up the hill, not looking to the top. At the top, there is a sharp curve that goes around some brush. When I got around the curve, about 20 feet in front of me, frozen and staring at me, was a young-ish whitetail buck. After a second or so, he turned down the path and started running away. So, I started up running again behind him. Then he veered to the right and over a wire fence. I took a few more steps and turned around. In the field where he probably came from was a doe, staring intently at me. Then, I looked over to where the buck had gone and noticed he had two little ones with him. I was far enough away, but the doe wasn't taking any chances. She very cautiously moved bit by bit toward her family. Eventually, she too jumped the fence and the family was reunited and they headed off across the field. It was breathtaking. There are often deer and deer tracks in this area, but I've never encountered them so closely! It was amazing and invigorating!
That actually did pick me up some. I was starting to drag and was wondering if I would make my goal. But seeing those deer gave me a second wind. On the street that the path leads to, I ran right by a dead racoon. Not quite as exciting as the live deer! Ha!
It turns out that in those 1:30, I ran 7.73 miles. Considering I stopped for about 4 minutes to watch the deer, I don't think that is that bad. I used 160 and 159bpm podcasts today.
Tomorrow will definitely be a day to rest. In addition to the run today, I spent around 7 hours at an amusement park with family and friends. Of course that included a lot of walking and even some running after kids!
1 bunny
4 deer
No comments:
Post a Comment