Today’s run featured a lot of really cool wildlife. I did an extended stretch on a more deserted part of the river trail today. I am not always 100% comfortable running there because of the lack of people that traverse the area. It’s more remote (as evidenced below).
The nice thing though is that it is more peaceful and there’s more things to look at. Today I passed by 2 Cooper’s hawks that were perched on a fence and flew off when I ran by. And then I came face to face with a buck deer. I have seen them here and there along the river trail, but usually from a distance. This one stopped about 20 feet from me. Since it was heading towards me, I was a little scared it might try to run right over me. I could hear someone coming in the opposite direction (behind the deer) and realized that’s why the buck was heading towards me.
All of a sudden the guy took off running right by me. I managed to get some shots though they aren’t very clear. Nevertheless I don’t know when/if I’ll ever be this close again to a deer. The crazy thing is this all happens within the confines of the city limits.
I made it out for 8 miles. I’ve been doing some research into the various training methods for a marathon. The previous 3 I did, I didn’t have set training plans and had issues with bonking. So I’ve been checking out the Galloway Run-Walk method as well as the FIRST method. Given my previous history with injuries and bonking, the Run-Walk method may be right up my alley. I have been so ingrained (for some reason in my mind I told myself that when I run, I want to only run and not walk) with how I’ve been running the last 6 years that I need to re-wire my thoughts on running. I know that the run-walk method can actually result in faster race times than traditional running. I did a few walking sections on today’s run and will have to see about incorporating more in the future to see if it can help me extend my long runs.
-StewsCat
StewsCat 