Today the training plan had me doing a longer run effort. Because Thursday is a work day, I decided to run from my house in Menomonee Falls to my work which is in West Allis. The route I had planned was over 11 miles and was a nice mix of some trails, a parkway road and city streets/sidewalks. The plan called for 1 hour and 50 minutes of running, so I knew I would arrive still needing some extra mileage. That was not a problem because I have plenty of “routes” around work to add as much time or mileage as needed! This is how things looked as I left my house at 6am....
It was a perfect, picturesque morning with temps in the high 50’s & little wind. Ironically about 2 minutes after taking the above picture I got into the woods and came within 15 feet of a pretty big deer. I had to cross through this wooded trail in my neighborhood to get to the first paved road on my route and this is where the deer was standing. He stared me down and wouldn't move as I approached him. The only think I could think of was that video from "Amazing Shocking Videos" where the deer is on its hind legs attacking a guy. It seemed like he did not like me infringing on his territory so I stopped 15 feet in front of him (in fear of getting any closer) and I said, “HI”, pulled out my camera, and got this shot….
After taking the picture and a having a 2 minute staring match with him, he finally decided to scamper off into the woods. That was certainly the most interesting part of my run. The remainder of it was smooth, easy and enjoyable. In fact after having a tough day (mentally & physically) last Saturday on the bike, it was nice having a day like today where my heart rate and effort level were very low during the workout. It barely felt like I was exerting any effort and that made me very happy. I felt like I could have gone forever at that pace and that is encouraging indeed! Mission accomplished today.
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