So here I sit at work, not busy but can't sleep and catch a nap . So I'll start the daily.
Got in a nice, but humid run before work. 5.1 miles started out 84 degrees and about 85% humidity. Felt moderately strong and light on my feet. The last 1 1/2 to 2 miles the rain caught up with me. Felt pretty nice. Ended up turning in one of my fastest runs of the year. If I had known it was going to be as fast as it was I would have pushed harder the last 3 miles and probably could have cut off 20-30 seconds per mile. Love runs like that.
QOTD: What is the wildlife looking like in your backyard or on the trails?
Recently we had a groundhog messing up our yard. DS took care of that with some lead poisoning. Today I saw another one but couldn't dispatch him before he disappeared into the woods. When I have a lot of them under my shed the Wascally Wabbits that live there seem to disappear . I prefer the wabbits to remain unmolested, they're cuter and more relaxing to watch. Right now momma bluebird is extremely busy, through the rain, the heat and storms she's feeding her brood. Haven't seen much of dad so I hope nothing happened to him. Since I assassinated the sparrows there have been a lot of colorful birds coming around, even seeing some Orioles. The Skunks seem to have left since the yard was treated for grubs. DD hates when they are around, scared she's going to get sprayed. I told her not to worry they use skunk spray in some perfumes. She wasn't impressed . I kind of let the skunks do their thing. I figure if they come around when there are grubs it's a early warning signal for me. When the grubs are gone the skunks head off in search of another buffet.
On the trails I keep seeing more deer than ever before. See a few turkeys but no bear. I haven't had the time to get up to the trails that I had been running the past several years. That's were I would see the bears.
sleepless here too so might as well post even though I'm out for running for the next three weeks. Xray showed that I broke off a bit of a toe bone, right where it attaches in the foot. 3 weeks of other activity. Funny thing though, my doc listed all these things I could do (elliptical, rowing, etc.) never said 'no running'. So I ask 'can I run?'. She's clearly not a runner or I think she would have understood that a runner really doesn't care as much about the rowing, elliptical, etc. and needs to hear clearly a yes or no on running. She then said 'no running', albeit reluctantly, so maybe I can run in a few weeks, right?
I'm generally a good patient so I'll follow her directions. There's a bone fragment which may cause problems and have to be removed, but it's wait and see until later in July. Glad to know what it is, even if it wasn't what I hoped.
qotd: Yard-wise- Lots of birds and bunnies. I haven't seen any fox lately, which might explain the rabbits. Deer seem to have returned to the park, now that construction down there has been completed. Run wise, lots of canada geese yesterday and a couple of turtles. The geese are a problem and the parks have announced some much needed culling to take place this summer.
I sort of miscalculated my timing this morning on my wake up. I set the clock for 4 and hit snooze a few times. By the time I got out the door, it was 4:45. I felt like I was running late and only needed a couple of miles to be on track for my weekly time/mileage. So, I did one 2.5 mile loop. It was slow and sluggish. Maybe that was because I was running in some minimal shoes this morning and felt every root and rock. It was not a very good run, but it was a run. I got back and realized I could have easily run at least one more loop. So, I sat and watched the news for 30 minutes before it was time to go to work.
QOTD: I have not seen much wildlife lately, a few chipmunks, some crows, a fox, some armadillos, and a couple of black snakes over the past few weeks. I'm just glad I haven't seen any poisonous snakes. I'll do several road runs next week in an area where I normally see a pretty good many turkeys. The annual turkey survey starts July 1, so that will have me hitting a few different runs to see if I can get some counts.
LB2
Slept pretty good for the most part last night but this time of year always waking up early because of the daylight. Also had a strange dream last night about being in some of ultra and it was a weird course and I could not seem to figure out the drop bag logistics. I was trying to figure that out while being on the course... oops.
Last night was 7 miles on the easy side of Green Lane reservoir. Still a bit putzy but better. Pretty humid out there and some light rain started to fall at the end that I could barely feel. The sun was out then too which lead to a decent rainbow in the eastern sky. Day off today I think. Decided not to push daily running yet.
QOTD: Weird goings on in my pool with the wildlife. I guess because it's been so dry here. Monday was the first rain we've had of any substance in several weeks. First, there was a bird sitting on the ledge/inset of the skimmer, sort of stuck, on Sunday, then the next morning a baby rabbit in the same boat. Thankfully I saved both of them. Other than that, the usual stuff. Rabitts galore, birds, deer, deerflies, horseflies, etc.
Runtrail - Sorry about the toe.. what happened, did you toe jam into something on the trail? Well, on the bright side it's hot now so you will miss the dog days of summer.
In dog beers, I've only had one.
Le professeur de trail
I was not sleepless this morning, I actually slept in...slightly. I hope t run tonight. DD has been begging me to take her running (she is 6) the last few days. So last night, off we went. We probably did a total of 1.5 miles of run/walk stuff. I was impressed. She was extremely chatty while out there. It was fun.
dc - say it ain't so. It maybe sounds worse than it is. When I think a part of the bone broken off, I think extremely painful, but if you're trying to find a way to run..
QOTD: In our yard, it's cats. Yes cats, cats and more cats. There is a feral colony of cats that hang out in our yard and many of the neighbors. In the summer, they literally just lay around in the yard in various places. We have some very playful squirrels that always seem to be in a wild game of tag. We have a lot of birds - blue jays, robins, finches, cardinals, and some others I am trying to identify. On the trails, like DD, I too have seen a lot of deer. In fact, a couple of recent trail runs the deer don't seem to be too scared of me. They are sitting off the trail or road just staring at me as I meander by. I guess I am not that scary.
Have a great day!
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
Repeat of yesterday.
QOTD: Mr Jangles protects me from all sorts of wild critters on our runs. According to him we have the meanest group of coon, rabbits, possums, squirrels, fox, coyote, deer, skunks, turkey, woodchucks, big foots, and all sorts of flying dangers in all of Michigan.
So glad he's around to protect me 😜
Are we there, yet?
Hopefully an interval workout later this evening with my club.
QOTD: I run late enough in the day that the wildlife is usually not out. What I do see are the ubiquitous squirrels, chipmunks, groundhogs, various birds including one turkey sighting in VF, once in a while a deer if I run late enough close to dusk, and a rare fox now and then. And roadkill possum; haven't see a live one since I surprised one crossing US Route 1 in Greenwich, CT one night back in1972.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
Tim
Someone was nice and turned the humidity switch off, so I'm planning a run over lunch. Hopefully I won't be a sweaty mess when I'm done.
dc - sorry about the toe. Pool running might not bee too bad.
QOTD: In out little 10 acres of the world, we have squirrels, cats, bunnies, and deer. Groundhogs seemed to be gone this year, and haven't seen any snakes yet. On the trails, turkey and deer and a few snakes. No bear or fax sightings yet this year. Plenty of flies and gnats.
“Paralysis-to-50k” training plan is underway!
running under the BigSky
dc - sorry on the toe. I think all of us can sympathize; sucks to have to quit running- try to take advantage of as much cross training as you can- helps with your sanity
bike to work, otherwise a SRD- hot as hell here, 12-15 degrees above normal
qotd: our deer/elk populations look to be in pretty good shape- have seen a fair number of twin fawns/calves; mostly due to a pretty mild winter. there is a lion floating around our local trails (not coincidentally with dense deer populations). I haven't seen him (her?), just tracks- with me now running at dawn the odds go up- so have to stay on my toes
2023 goal 2023 miles √
2022 goal- 2022 miles √
2021 goal- 2021 miles √
16.4 miles on the state game lands trails. It was one of those runs or I'm in a happy bubble the whole time!
QOTD I saw a turtle, a snake and lots and lots of spiders and webs across my face.
Sue
Perfect titled since I also spent 3 am to about 5:58 am wide awake...then a deep sleep for 2 minutes before alarm went off...than couldn't get up. Then fall asleep again...sooo I am going to cheat on my dogs and meet the group after work for a run, most likely 9 miles.
QOTD: moles fucking moles!!!! you can treat a yard for grubs, SS??? Isn't that why I have so many moles? Seeing deers on the runs.....there was a skunk that was greeting us on top of MF hill but he seemed to have moved on.
runtraildc: bummer....but still enjoy the break. You have extra time to work on something you have been putting off.
MT: Lion reminds me of my dram last night where 4 lions were approaching on us. I was going to hide in the bush and decided to head for the car, leave the person I was with and not look back incase the lion was about to jump me. Can't remember how that ended.
muppy: love bubble runs...
05/13/23 Traverse City Trail Festival 25K
08/19/23 Marquette 50 dns 🙄
The Xray tech told me I needed to come up with a better story, but I slipped on my basement steps and wrenched my 4th toe, apparently breaking off a little piece where the biggest toe bone comes up to the metatarsal bones. Since it really is in an odd place, and only feels weird/tender in the upper ball of my foot, there has been very little pain, Jamie. It's humbling to be taken down by basically a chicken bone.
Runtrail - Sorry to hear about the foot actually being broken. I have two chips floating around in my ankles from bad sprains/avulsion fractures. So far hasn't caused me any problems. Hope yours don't either.
LB2 - Was thinking about you on my way home from work this morning. Turkeys galore. Along the road, on the road. Could have hit several with the car.
Xtreme - DW has a birdbath in the front yard with a wooden cardinal sitting on the edge. Not uncommon to see a real bird sitting there looking like it's talking to the fake one. Most likely just getting a drink.
Jamie - I hate feral cats. They really can do a number on wildlife.
Gator - Mr Jangles looks very intelligent so I'm sure he's right, you need to keep taking him along for protection.
wcrunner - Seems like possums are always ending up as roadkill. Must be because they try to feast on so much roadkill themselves.
AT- Deer is one thing I don't have. I'm surrounded by fields with very little woods. Been kind of wishing I would have taken my land and put it into trees when we moved here. That would have provided me with some hunting space and might have been able to use the trees for a retirement fund.
Warden - Fawns are something I have not seen at all. Sometimes I'm wondering if the doe are jumping out in front of me to divert attention from the fawns.
Muppy - I hate those spider webs. Hit one a couple of weeks ago that was so strong it seemed to slow me down.
Queen - Like they say, you don't have to outrun the bear Lion, you just have outrun your friends .
I haven't seen any in quite awhile, but I haven't really been looking for them. I'll start back next week. I have a few longer, evening runs after work on some places that have good numbers of turkeys.
I also slept in this morning because I had a restless night sort-of sleeping. I hope to get in 5 mi after work, but I'm not sure. I seem to be sick again - I have no f'ing idea what is going on lately. Frustrating.
dc: sorry to hear about the foot, but at least you know what it is now.
qotd: don't see much except birds and squirrels. I have seen some Korean mule deer-type things and goats in the past. I think the goats are let free by local farmers and then rounded up later for "processing".
tbd.