July 10, 2010: The Crepucular Hour

For a lot of reasons, I got a late start on my bridge run today (game of golf, giant hamburger at Ray's Hell Burger, scorching heat and humidity). It was 7:49 and getting close to golden hour when I finally left the house. I didn't make it more than a mile before I spotted 3 deer, all with serious antlers. They were just standing there, maybe 50 feet from the trail. As I walked up to try and snap a picture a guy came by on a bike and scared them off. Luckily I got another chance.

Maybe half a mile further along the trail, I came up on another 3 deer. They must have been younger because their antlers were smaller (I could ask a veterinarian about the science, but I think he'll just make fun of me). I think I was more afraid of them than they were afraid of me. I was able to get pretty close, but the silly iphone camera wasn't doing me any favors - they look so small in the picture. This all reminded me of an old episode of B-Side about the crepuscular hour. This is the time, around dawn and dusk when animals get more active.

I was definitely running in the crepuscular hour tonight because on my way back from the bridge I passed another 2 deer. By then it had gotten pretty dark (that's what happens when you start late and then pause to take pictures of deer and bridges). I looked over and the deer were no more than 5 or maybe 10 feet away. At that point I decided I had better start running faster.

By The Numbers:
Time: 7:49 PM
Temp: 90-ish
Miles: 5.8
Total Time: 59:27
Pace: 10:15 - not bad given all the deer watching

In other news...
Last night I did the Rockville Twilight 8K race and it went better than expected. I figured I would run 9:15 miles, because that's the best I had been doing on training runs. But I guess I turned it up for the race.

I completed the race is 44:29 (according to he chip, my GPS was more charitable), meaning I had an 8:57 pace. Miles 1 and 5, I actually had an 8:35 pace, and I totally passed a bunch of people as I sprinted to the finish. There were a lot more hills out there than expected, which makes me even happier about the outcome. In my age group I finished 40th out of 197. For women overall I was 234/1128. I'll gladly finish in the top 25 percent anytime.

Mileage for the week: 21