I ran my first half-marathon today! I know that many runners who blog (or bloggers who run) will write about their times (2:04:00) and their splits (9:27 /mile) and their training (all the time). I have thought about doing that myself because I'm also raising money for the Lymphoma & Leukemia Society and this blog would be a great promotional tool (See my web page! Help me reach my goal!). But, I didn't do that in the beginning of my training and now it just feels strange to write in medias res. This training is no epic, though it sometimes feels like it.
In the course of running long distances, I see many things on the trails - usually trash. I find most of it interesting, although I probably wouldn't think twice about the garbage if I were able to bring my iPod with me. (Curses to my funny-shaped ears that were not built for ear buds.) Sometimes I find dead animals. I've learned that I'm the only one on my training team that is interested in road kill. Nobody else seems to care. How can they not wonder how the animal died? Wild animals don't die of old age. There is always a story. And given that I'm not running on roads with street traffic, they're not dying by vehicular homicide either. I usually wonder aloud about the dead animals, and noone ever joins my conversation. So, it always ends up as a monologue about carcases. And then someone changes the subject to something more pleasant, like chaffing or nipple protection.
Today I found a second duck head! A second one! I'm not finding the decapitated bodies. I'm not finding the heads of other animals. What's going on?!? Obviously there's a duck serial killer loose in Milwaukee.
4 comments:
I love hearing about training! Even though my max daily mileage is 4 miles, I definitely can relate to your experiences. Once I found a headless bluebird. Right after I passed a scary woodland lean-to. I think I ran my fastest time that morning.
But why don't my teammates appreciate the dead stuff. I find it fascinating. When I told my mom this story she told me that alongside of the road near her house there's a dead animal and she drove past it 5 times to figure out what it was. Her verdict: dog or coyote
Recently I was hiking and found the foot of a deer. No other parts, no sign of struggle, just a foot. I had to stop and stare for a little bit.
My dog used to find hooves in the woods and carry them with her for a part of the walk. Maybe that's how the foot moved away from the body.
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