Saturday Run, Beaver Spotting!

Yesterday I was actually dreading this mornings run, this week we added on two days so we're running 4 days a week. It feels good to run, but yesterday I just wasn't up to it. Luckily when I woke up this morning, I knew it was what I needed to do. I'm so close to that 'sweet spot'... that spot of waking up and my body TELLING me "You need to run". It's a good feeling. I'm a huge fan of Sue Grafton, I have all her alphabet series books (oh wait, has she ever written anything else, that thought just crossed my mind) anywho, so I have A through U which is the one she most recently wrote, U is for Undertow. Okay sorry off track, my point is, in those series the private investigator, Kinsey Milhoun is a runner. She runs EVERY morning and I have always admired that about her. It is such a great way to start your day!!

So we ran, it was a chilly morning. I didn't bring Harpo because I wasn't sure how packed a Saturday morning would be. Turns out there really weren't that many people out, we did see a few of the usuals, which was interested because our weekday run is at 6:30 and today we went at 7:30. But the cold might have kept people away. We did break out the gloves, I'm not sure what the temp was, but once we got around the south side of the lake, BRRR was that wind a blowing, it was a workout in itself to keep up the pace with the wind knocking us down.  We finished faster than before, finishing the 5K in 35 minutes! We had been sitting steady at 37, 36.5 minutes.  The pace started a little slower than I am used to (I was almost to 30 minutes last year) But I think it's nice, it's more enjoyable when I'm not feeling like I am about to die the whole time. And this way we can work our way up to 30 minutes.

HRM Readout
43 minutes
Calories: 482
Max HR: 192
Avg HR: 172

A few weeks ago my HRM read a max HR of 202! I totally think that was a fluke in the HRM's part.

So I was dropping Sally off and backing out of her driving way when I looked to my right and saw this crazy brown blob waddling in the grass. At first I thought it was a cat or something, then I looked again! IT WAS A BEAVER!!!!  Holy COW! So I shout at Sally to stop her as she's running up to her front door and frantically grab my phone to take a picture:

He was walking right towards me, it was insane. I'm in the driver's seat and this picture was taken looking out the passenger seat. He starts to head for my car and I think he's going to go right under it so I'm waiting on the driver side to get a picture of him right below me. Well he decided to go 'around' my car, he was still under my car but behind the back tires.  Then he waddles through the puddle.

It was so funny, by this time, Sally got Zack (her hubby) and his father who is visiting and we're all watching this beaver just waddle about on a Saturday morning stroll. Then Rossalyn (their daughter) and Zack's mom come out, everyone's in their jam-mies by the way. It was too cute, we're all watching this beaver. He's in the puddle gliding on his belly. Then he just keeps trotting along through the other neighbors front yard. It was so weird.  Highway 100, which is a pretty significant highway, 4-6 lanes, is right in front of their house, so in that first picture it is immediately to the right of their road. I do not know what a beaver is doing there, but it was a great experience!!