Woke up at 3:40. Poked my head outside and saw a slight drizzle coming down. I decided to head to the rec center to wimp out on the treadmill. However.... My electronic key worked fine getting in, but I set off the alarm and high-tailed it out of there. The problem is that the alarm is reset to for day light saving time, but the electronic access isn't, so they are an hour apart. All winter I could get in there at 4 a.m., but now it looks like 5 a.m. is when the alarm disables. Oh well, just another reason to keep me away from those dreaded machines.
So, instead, I put on another layer and decided to run on the Jordon River parkway, starting at Utah Lake. This is a paved trail. With the rain, the real trails would be a muddy mess, so this would be better and I was glad to be away from the streets and homes. I didn't have to use a flashlight because there is nothing to trip over. I was enjoyed running in the dark along the Jordon River. This is a popular running route, but of course at this time in the morning, I had it all to myself. I reached the point where they are constructing a new huge bridge over the river, for the eventual new parkway to the freeway. I dodged the fence (noticing that many have done this before me....worked my way across the contruction area, and dodged the fence on the other side, and was back on the paved trail.
One fun feature of this run was that I kept startling wildlife. First, I heard a huge noise on the river. It was a flock of geese that I startled. Next I head a big noise in the brush, probably a deer, but couldn't tell because it was dark. I next noticed some big critter running in front of me on the trail. I was hoping it wasn't a skunk, it wasn't. I crossed under Lehi Main Street SR 73, crossed the Willow Park, and continued along the river until I reached 9600 North. Then I turned around and headed back.
As I reached the construction zone, I knew I would need to turn on my light, but the chain link fence across the trail arrived sooner than I expected. I bounced off the the fence....boing! Thankfully, the fence wasn't tight, just a temporary fence, so I did actually bounce and didn't get hurt. Pretty funny. I crossed back over and made it back to my car. I ran the 10 miles in about 1:45.
I had a good time running in the dark. When my work moves to Riverton later this summer, I look foward to long runs into to work along this route.
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