HAPPY 4TH OF JULY! Picnics and spending time with friends and family is wonderful! Do not forget the parades. Love a parade! It is all fun and games until the fireworks. They make me crazy! Why do they have to be all week long and until late at night? Ugh messing with my early wake up routine.
Y’all need to stop. For an hour on the fourth at night is fabulous then hush! I need my sleep. Some of us need to work out in the morning.
I absolutely love sunrise runs. I find my serenity for the day there. Not only do you get to see the beautiful sunrises, but the adorable creatures are out then. I have seen a plethora of animals on my runs. From does, raccoons, foxes, beavers to skunks and a couple of scary bucks. I feel like I am a princess in a Disney movie. Cinderella has nothing on me. I used to live by the Olentangy River, so I got a great show there in the morning with all the critters that live there.
Now when I run, I have Cuyahoga Valley National Park down the way. Amazing the cranes and herons down yonder. Oh dear, I just read there are black bears this might get interesting. Not that they attack but I would try to pet it and then someone will film it and I am in a stupid viral video. Ugh
Another beautiful place to run in Ohio is Batelle Darby Creek. The trail is flat in parts that go through pretty fields and other parts are wooded with ravines. However, what makes it a fantastic place to run in the AM is the Bison. Oh yes, I have run with the Bison. The baby bison loves me. Mama bison not so much. (Grateful for the fence between us.)
Ok so when doing an early morning run, I do for real consider safety. I try to keep my runs where there are other people. Most trails that I run have others training on them as well. I have had more than one track team pass me, elite runners and other slow turtles like me. Best advice I can give is to listen to that little voice in the back of your mind. I have turned around and rerouted due to that voice. You just don’t know.
Snapping Turtle laying her eggs.
The coolest time was in Columbus a week before the Columbus Marathon and the elites had arrived. Getting to watch and speak with the Kenyans was super cool. Like I was hanging with rock stars, and they were super kind and polite unlike some rock stars…
However, if you have had a great run and are completely drained you may find like Dorothy there is no place like home (except for those nasty ice baths hate those things.)
Be safe out there!