A Tale of two worlds-
Zero degrees today with a good coat of ice and sleet, northwest wind of 12-15mph. It is cold and slick. I layered up and lit out for my new battlefield hills run. It is a beautiful run of 11.8 miles. The largest part of the run is done in the world of nature. I saw a Red-Tailed Hawk working the fence line. I spooked a gaggle of geese off of silver spring pond and watched them form the amazing skein. I saw Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and their kinfolk in several locations. Do you know why the male has the colorful markings and the female does not? No googling! Think. Of course being an Ozarker I love the outdoors and observing nature. Animals are smart. I noted the birds hunkering on the lee side of a hill. Keeping warm and out of the wind. As I found the trail head I began to observe several different animal tracks. The Coons are really thick in this area and I noted there must be a big ole boar coon because he made heavy tracks. I was wondering about deer and sure enough around a turn were two good sized Does. What marvelous creatures! They gave me a quick look (I imagined them laughing at me with gusto, they had to be thinking what an awful site I was trying to run!) They took off with white tails up and leaped South Creek with ease. I felt bad about disturbing them. I also thought how they care about their kind. Do you know why the white tail is lifted when they are alarmed?
Well there was no turning back, I had to face reality and the world of humans had to be entered. As usual there was an instance of poor driving on someones part. Here we have ice covered roads and this gal is moving way too fast, on the phone, runs right through the four way stop. Fortunately experience on my part prevented me from being involved in her negligence. No one was hurt, by the way.
Well, the run was slow 2:03.54. But it was a joy! I used the old time tested sock on the outside of the shoe and had little trouble with footing. I had one time I almost bit the dust, I looked like a first time skater with arms flailing and feet flying but I stayed up, embarrassing!
So there's my tale of two worlds. I can't wait 'till I can run that route again!