i startled a deer who startled me..

I arrived at the Arabian Mountain Trailhead promptly at 7:00am. A friend of mine was already there, waiting for me in her truck. She met me there so we could take a couple of pictures for my 40 mile run project and maybe a little video too.

The trailhead was very quiet and the small parking lot very sparse…I saw only 2 other parked cars besides our own. How different this trailhead is from Silver Comet Trail in Smyrna…by 7am, it is generally FULL.

My friend graciously waited for me while I put my feet to the pavement and ventured off into unknown territory. Like the Silver Comet Trail, this trail is also paved and surrounded by lots of trees and beauty. Although it is surrounded by houses, you cannot see them from the trail and therefore it feels pretty secluded and peaceful. Today, that felt very welcome after a very busy & crazy week, but I can see where running out there in the late evenings or rainy days might not feel so safe…

As horribly staggering as the humidity is at 7am, there is also something very quiet and still about it…there’s a stillness in the air that is unmatched by any other kind of weather condition. It’s really quite stunning and one of the reasons why even though i bemoan the heat & humidity while training, i do find it beautiful and romantic. I could HEAR the stillness…along with an occasional ruffling or rummaging of critters in the woods.

Somewhere between Mile 2-3, I saw a deer up ahead on the right hand side of the trail. The deer stopped chomping on the grass and looked up at me….now, i know most people aren’t afraid of deers, but I was a little unnerved to have one soooo close. I mean, it’s not like they are the kind of animal you can just go up to and pet or something. As i ran closer and closer to where the deer was, i fully expected the deer to run off. Nope. And there I was no more than 2 feet away from the deer. We looked at each other. I did have the thought; will the deer attack me?

I kept running. Deer kept doing it’s thing.

Um…the trail…was hard. Virtually no flat parts. All uphill/downhills with turns….

I planned to run 6 miles, but somehow on the return route, i managed to make an errant turn onto one of the trail offshoots and didn’t realize it until about 1.5 miles afterwards. I was worried about my friend waiting for me…thinking she might be worried about me since i was not going to be back when I said I would…i mean, maybe she was thinking, “Did Angie get attacked by a DEER?”

I did find my way back to where I started. The good part about the detour..instead of running 6 miles, it was 7.36 miles.

Gonna be big, long run day tomorrow! Wish me luck and thanks a million times over for all the support.

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