This morning I was out the door of my mom’s house by 6 AM for my run. No big deal considering at home I sometimes run at 5:30 AM. Except for the bears, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, and skunks that I’m sure were lurking in all of the shadows… You see, at home (in suburbia) I run under street lamps and feel completely safe when I have to run that early. It’s probably a false sense of security, but I’m going with it. At home I regularly see other runners and people in cars going to work (just hope they see me). Today I saw a rabbit, and my guess is that if a snarling bear or coyote had come out of the shadows to eat me, the rabbit would have been of very little protection!
Today would have been Dad’s 85th birthday, and considering that before he retired he was outside driving the cows in to be milked by 3 AM every morning, it seemed like a fitting way to start my day. When I was little he told me about seeing shooting stars, hearing coyotes howl, seeing a momma skunk and her babies waddle by, and many other amazing things while I was sleeping snuggly in my bed.
Today I felt a closeness to Dad as I sang “Happy Birthday” to him as I ran up the quite and lonely road.
At 6 AM, the moon lit the countryside up like never before and shone off of the wet gravel road as I ran along. A pretty significant rain and wind storm passed through last night and left some beautiful clouds that I could see as a result of the bright moon. The air was cool and crisp, yet unusually warm at 50 degrees for mid-November… It was perfect running weather.
Looking off to the side of the road, everything was dark, yet I continued my run even though I had no idea what was lurking in the shadows next to me.
Almost an hour later, the moon was still bright in the sky even though the sun was up. I was very happy that I’d spent the morning outside enjoying what Mother Nature had to offer this suburban runner girl!
- Questions:
- What time of day do you usually run?
- Do you run in the country, city, or suburbia?
- What’s the scariest thing you’ve seen on a run?
Oh, Deb – sending you lots of love and support on what must be a very difficult day for you.
Nowadays, I usually run about 6-8 AM, and I run in the city (although sometimes at the reservoir, which is still in the middle of the city but feels like the jungle, if you ignore the sound of traffic on the road nearby). In Singapore, I feel 100% safe any time of day or night, especially in the parks and on the sidewalks. This is one awesome thing about living here. The scariest thing I’ve “seen” on a run was probably when I was living in Rochester, running at dusk on the 4th of July, and I had a van of teenagers “stalk” me down a relatively well-traveled, 4 lane road. I knew I could get help if I needed it, but I couldn’t decide if they were just messing around, or if I really was in danger (ie, should I turn around and ream them out myself, or run into the next shop and call the police). Still, the whole incident kinda creeped me out.
Thanks, Holly…
That’s a tough call on deciding what to do under those circumstances. I think I would err on the side of caution and ignore the van of teenagers if there was a safe place to escape to until they got bored and drove away.
You are braver than I am! I usually wait for the sun to come up because I live in the wilderness and I can’t get over the thought of what might be lurking in the bushes! It is really great to see all of the wildlife that early in the morning though! Scariest thing I’ve seen would have to be a tie between an angry dog NOT on a leash and a work van that had just yelled at me, later pulled over on the side of the road as I was making my way home (I immediately turned back around to finish my run in the OTHER direction & called a family member to come pick me up!)
I would have totally freaked out to see the van pulled over after the passengers had yelled at me. Good call… I would have done exactly what you did.
What a sweet run 🙂 Now you know how i feel running in the AM!
My mom has a treadmill I could have used…
Sounds like a great run and I bet your Dad was right there with you. Not sure I’d be brave enough to run in the dark in the wilderness. It’s scary enough running through suburbia. LOL
🙂
What a great way to start the day to honour your dad on a big birthday!
On weekdays I run right after work but weekends it’s always first thing in the morning!
Scariest thing I saw on a run: a mama bear with two cubs; I hightailed it out of there!
I would love to see a momma bear and her cubs, but only from a car window!
Exactly! Because of that I didn’t run again that summer (I was working in the states) and consequently gained a looot of weight!
I am an early morning runner as well, but I can’t say that I would do it by myself in the woods 🙂 You are braver than me! I had a squirrel almost attack me when I spooked it once!
HaHaHa!!! The Cruisers had a similar squirrel incident! 🙂
Very nice birthday wishes. Very sweet! I always run after work and now that it’s dark early, I run in the dark all the time except for weekends. It can be creepy but I think it’s very peaceful too.
I agree; it’s so peaceful running in the dark!
I am glad you were able to go for an early morning run on your dad’s birthday to have some alone time to think about him. I’m sure that helped on what must have been a very trying day. You are one brave lady! I usually run in the afternoon/evening because I am scared of the dark and of the creatures that lurk in it.
The scariest thing I’ve seen on a run was a black bear up in a tree as I was running by myself recently on a Saturday morning long run. It was scary, but at the same time he/she stayed up in the tree and was probably as scared as I was.
I do have to say a momma skunk with her little babies following her in a line is one of the cutest sights to see. Especially when they all have their tails up in the air! I just don’t want to get near their stink 🙂
Or for Hank to go near them (skunks)!
Very true! I never want to go through that again.