Nature Gone Wild

Did you know that wild animals are wild? And, apparently, they don’t necessarily care for humans. Now that spring is in full force, the animals are out and on the attack! On Monday, a friend and I were politely minding our own business while running around Medicine Lake when we ran into a ginormous swarm of gnats and other mysterious black bugs. It was like a scene from the movie The Birds. It was a huge cloud of bugs that felt like rain pelting us as we tried to get through it. I had to pull the collar of my shirt over my mouth and nose to be able to breathe. It took us a full mile to get out of it and I felt a little traumatized for the rest of the run.

On Wednesday’s run and Thursday’s bike ride,we were greeted by the gentler side of nature. We saw a turtle, some turkeys, a pheasant and swans and none of them seemed to be out to get us. It was great to get back outside on my bike again. I have a new saddle and peddles and so far they both are working out great.

Nature was back with a vengeance today. We were running along a bike path and a goose was on our left and a lake was on our right. The goose started hissing as we approached but it stayed put. The second we passed it, it chased after us, hissing and flapping it’s wings. It took off and hissed at us as it flew overhead. I was screaming the whole time and praying that it wasn’t going to poop on us. That shot my heart rate right up there.

Mike nicely pointed out that maybe this was simply nature’s way of telling me to run faster. Thanks for that positive outlook, honey. Despite the onslaught of attacks, I had a great week of training. I lifted twice at the gym, ran 34 miles and rode 18 miles on the bike. Add in the two visits to the sports medicine doctor who is helping with my foot/hip/flexibility issues and it’s a wonder that I had time to keep the kids alive this week. Live they did and I even cleaned the house a little, too.

Everyone had great suggestions for races to add to my schedule. To me, racing is the party that makes working out worthwhile so I wish I could do them all. After looking at the family schedule and available races, I’ve settled on the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon on May 2nd. I’ve never done this race before, partly because it is usually the same weekend as Fargo which I’ve done the last three years, and partly because I heard the course was brutally hilly. Thankfully, it looks like they have pretty cool t-shirts and it is the 30th anniversary of the race so they are promising a great event. Even if the hills get me, it will be a great training run for the Minneapolis Half just a month later. Really, though, for this race it’s all about the t-shirt.