Wild 10 Miles

Today in the late afternoon, after a wonderful cold front and rain rolled through Manhattan I took out to complete my 10 mile long run.  The stiff north wind wasn't fun to run straight into during mile 4 and again at mile 8, but the cooler weather was amazing.

This picture has nothing to do with my post....I just don't like to post without a picture.  So Collin and his first ring pop makes a nice addition!

 

The middle of my run seemed to turn into a scene straight of Mutal of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.  After I had conquered ChurchHill Road and then the hills in Grand Mere, I was cruising on the sidewalk behind the Hospice House when suddenly overhead (I was right at the base of a 6 foot retaining wall) there was a commotion from above and out of the corner of my eye....there were large objects taking flight...headed right for me.  For a split second I had no idea what the heck was going on until I heard the gobble and recognized the, as a flock of wild turkeys who were startled by me and took off.  They flew literally just above my head and landed down on the same stretch of grass I was headed toward.  Not more than 2 miles later, I was running through Sharingbrook when I watch two large deer dart across  a lawn less than 50 yards from me, out into the street narrowly missing a car headed in my direction...it was a close call but both deer and car were fine with only a few skid marks from the abrupt stop the car made left on the road. 

At this point, I was wondering if Marlin Perkins was behind me somewhere doing commentary of my strange and harrowing encounters with mother nature during this 10 mile long run.  Thankfully the last 3 miles only contained the normal Manhattan wild life of squirrels, small birds and of course the occasional dog behind a fence going crazy as I ran by.