Lunch- 7. Tired, didn't even try to join some of the others for a workout.
PM- Supposed to run in the mtns but everyone bailed and I wasn't feeling great, so I just ran on the trails behind my work. Did one 6 mile loop, then was headed out again. At the 7 mile mark, I stumbled onto 4 turkeys. 3 ran away, but the male puffed up and strutted. I backed off, but he charged me. I hurdled a fence and ran down the trail, with the turkey in hot pursuit. For 3 full minutes- seriously. He chased me for half a mile. I snagged a 4 foot branch along the way, and had to take a few swings to keep him off me. Finally, he stopped his pursuit.
At that point, I decided to circle way around through the trees and thick, thorny undergrowth back to my trail. After about 4 minutes of carefully picking my way... "gobble gobble!" Thomas the Ticked-off Turkey, the Spawn of Satan himself, was just meters away and in full pursuit. I had no choice but to run full speed the other way, using my arms to shield my face from the thorns as best I could. I somehow stumbled into a herd of deer who scattered, but the turkey followed for another 200 yards. He finally left me alone. I found a .75 mile section of trail to run back and forth on the rest of the run, with my heartrate finally slowing after several miles.
Post-run, I can count at least two dozen scratches on my legs and my shirt is snagged and torn in at least 10 places.
In related news, turkeys have now moved above mosquitoes and canadian geese on my "least-favorite animals" list. I've had a few run ins with this turkey, but this was by far the worst. I hate turkeys. Just wait till Thanksgiving.
Finished with 12 miles. And yes, I'm counting some of it as speedwork.
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