Sunday, June 13, 2010

The Mad Deer


I'm feeling good again.

I met Karl for a run on Friday morning and, despite some soreness/fatigue, I finally felt back like my old self. It capped off the end of a 50 mile work week (10 miles per day from M-F), but the weather has turned quite humid.

I didn't run again until Saturday evening. It was warm and muggy so I opted for the Cabin John Trails; at least there would be some shade there. Despite the canopy, I was drenched in sweat after only a half mile. I began exploring some new trails and tried to keep the pace easy as I had planned to run 18 the next morning. As I approached a thicket I noticed a doe pounding out of the woods at a good clip. She must not see me I thought. I stopped running. She stopped too. Behind her I could see what looked like a newborn fawn. I then began to jog again, but no sooner than I took my first step, the doe came charging out of the brush. She dashed in front of me and began to tear through the woods. I gave chase at top speed along the trail and for 5 seconds man and beast battled as they did millions of years ago. We both came to a stop and then I ran back to get a better look at the fawn. Again she came charging alongside me snorting and thrashing as she went. I decided to leave the deer alone and continue on my run. I explored some more trails, crossed a few creeks and then proceeded south across Tuckerman Lane. By this time a warm rain was falling. I got in 9.

On Sunday I met a half dozen GRCers at Greenbelt Park. Instead of running the usual three x 6-mile loop, we only ran 2 and then explored some of the lesser known routes. Half of us got in a solid 2 hours of rolling trails and then we ate like kings at a diner in College Park. Oh yeah, we saw a 2.5' black snake.

77 for the week. Back at it.

2 comments:

oldrunningfox. said...

There's nothing like wild life encounters to make runs more thrilling and enjoyable. We're both fortunate to have beautiful hills, woods and trails to run through. I'd have stopped running long ago if I lived in the city with only a few Sparrows!

KLIM said...

Very true, Old Fox. Very true.