Tag: Deer

August runs

I made it!  71.74 miles for the month of August. I know there are a few more days left in the month but I will not be able to get in many (if any) miles during that time.  Today’s run was to get me over the hump of 70 since I had reached 67.29 after yesterday’s run.  2.71 miles, easy.  I ended up doing four and a third.

Today was the first day of class for Sac State.  One of my usual run routes takes me along the river berm (American River) next to Sac State.  I also tend to cross the Guy West Bridge (a walking/bike bridge) that connects the school to Campus Commons (a mixture of condos and businesses such as medical offices and law offices).  I weaved my way around the students coming and going and ran back towards my house headed to the H street bridge.

Today I saw 5 deer.  First there were 2 young doe grazing together near Guy West.  Then about 500 yards further down the berm, I spotted a mother deer and her 2 young fawns also grazing.  The fawns still had their white spots on their flanks.  As I ran, I was thinking about how female deer are called does and male deer are bucks.  Naturally I then started singing “Doe, a deer, a female deer, ray, a drop of golden sun…”   And the rest of my run was spent singing this song.  Talk about an ear worm!  It’s amazing what your memory can dredge up.  The last time I saw that movie was many many years ago.   No pictures this time as I didn’t have my phone.

I’m fairly proud that I was able to hit 70+ miles with only 12 total runs in August (my fewest per month to date).  Here’s hoping I can keep up the 70 without major injuries (*knocks on wood*).

-StewsCat

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Wildlife run

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).

Empty river trail

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.

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Initial standoff

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

Random cooking / running

Made it out for 7 miles today.  I decided to go a different way on the bike trail.  Ran near Cal Expo (the big expo in Sacramento that holds the annual state fair).  There is a lot of dry grass and such behind cal expo between the fairgrounds and the river.  A lot of fires break out in this area, some suspect due to transients.  On today’s run I went towards this area and saw the aftermath of one of the recent fires.  On my way back I headed towards Sac State.  Near the big pedestrian/bike bridge (Guy West Bridge) next to the school I saw a cool sight.  There were two young adult deer just grazing in the grass between the river and the berm.  I ran about 20 feet from them on the bike trail and they didn’t even spook.  One of them looked up at me warily as I ran past but the other one just kept right on munching on the dry grass.  Given that there is a lot of foot/bike traffic in this area, these guys must be so used to people that they know nothing bad is going to happen.

Sometimes I wish that I still ran with my phone since I could catch pictures of these interesting things I see.  I definitely enjoy not running with a running belt, but I know that I should carry my phone on my runs more often.

For lunch I didn’t have much around the kitchen so decided to make a quick bread.  I combined some AP flour with greek yogurt, garlic powder, salt, baking powder, chopped jalapenos from our raised vegetable bed, and water.  I let it sit for 20 minutes then baked it at 425 F after rolling it out flat.  I bake it for around 30 minutes.

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I also sliced up some zucchini and coated it with olive oil and mixed in some chili powder, garlic powder, salt, and bread crumbs.  This I also baked at 425 F.  I then heated up some pastrami with mozzarella and topped the bread with it.

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A little dry but not too bad.

-StewsCat