Ten Miles at Slaughter Beach

I ran about ten miles at Slaughter Beach.  We parked at the boat launch and I ran Lighthouse Road to the Dupont Nature Center, back to the boat launch and around the parking lot a bit then to Slaughter Beach and the length of Bay Avenue and back.  I had no idea it was that far. 

I love this view from Lighthouse Road to the Dupont Nature Center. 

I got my first good look at a diamond back terrapin. 

The wildflowers along the marsh side of Bay Avenue were gorgeous. 

It was a good day.  We walked the Dover AFB golf course later that day so all told, I did 16 miles for the day.  

Beautiful Run

 A beautiful day.  A nice run.

Sometimes I double back along the trails to see things from the opposite direction.

A Nine Mile Slog Jog

Yes, I know the sign says half mile scenic loop and yes, I ran that.  Who wouldn't love a run on Goat Island?  But all said and done, I ran nine miles yesterday which included that half mile goat loop. I ran the riverwalk trail in Milford too, and saw a Black Crowned Heron huddled just off the riverwalk bridge.  I was surprised because I hadn't seen one of those since Florida several years ago.  The heron looked cold, if that's a thing, to be able to see that.  I was all layered up. The sun was out and it wasn't crazy windy but it was not much above freezing. So why don't I have a picture of the Black Crowned Heron?  My phone battery ran down to 10% and it wouldn't take the picture.  I swear.  And I had charged it before I ran.  It was 60 or 70% charged when I took off.  It must have been stuck on and picture mode or something, in my pants pocket, as I was running.  Plus I took a call from my daughter while on Goat Island.  But still, wtf? The universe was conspiring  (or Apple) to ruin what would have been a great picture of that heron because it was less than five feet from me just watching me.  

Below, the bridge going out to Goat Island. Goat Island is a sweet little trek with really nice boardwalks and bridge walks through wetlands.

As with many small towns in Delaware, Milford, on the Mispillion River and close to the Delaware Bay, used to build ships.  I ran past the shipyard on my way to Goat Island. 

After leaving Goat Island, I ran the town's riverwalk.  The little theater, shown below in the picture on the left side of the Mispillion River, appropriately named the Riverfront Theater, is host to the 2nd Street Players. It has a good reputation from what we've heard.  Many of the local actors try out and act in the  live theaters up in Sussex and Kent County.  There are several, happily.  We haven't tried out the Riverfront Theater yet.  Soon, I hope.  We love it when the arts are big in the small town communities. 

And speaking of the arts. The town's riverwalk has these miniature painted wooden boat replica's spaced here and there.  Charming.  This is the one near the Riverfront Theater.  The quote on the starboard side is appropriately from Shakespeare: "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players."

This picture of the theater-themed boat is the last one I was able to take before my phone refused to cooperate.  I had no idea the battery was so low.  I was so bummed.  the heron would have been a gorgeous picture.  I may have to run the Riverwalk again to day on the oh-so off chance that the heron is nearby. 

Brrrrr...A Cold and Windy Run

It was cold as (____) and windy as (____) but I got it done.  I was layered up.  My calves felt like they weren't working quite right.  They were mooing in protest.  OK.  I know.  That was dumb.  But I am not taking my runs or myself all that seriously these days.  Unless you count that I am serious about just doing it, just getting out there to give my fork a run for the money.  It felt good to run even though it was cold.  It was a good day. It was a seven mile slog-jog.

Tiny twigs filled a portion of the trail, washed in from a recent rain.  I love the delicate arrangement of these, like a really tough puzzle that nature completed. I wonder what a small fabric art piece would look like inspired by this twig puzzle photo.  I wonder if I could make the textures stand out to give it interest or to stitch in outlines of the twigs, even the tiniest.  

Child's Play

A wet, cloudy morning.  Who cares? Get outside!

Run like a child!  Remember how it was when your body moved to respond to the joy you felt without thinking about it.  As an older adult, ahem, I do have to think about it a bit.  Where I place my feet while trail running is a lot more important than it was when I was a child running in a field or pastureland on the farm where I grew up.  But let that joy well up in you again.  Get back in touch with that child in your heart and look around you.  See the beauty.  Feel the amazement of a body that can mobilize your enjoyment of the world in person.  Let go of some of your rules on scheduling and training.  Call it a fartlek or fun run.  Whatever.  But go out and have fun.  Stop and take pictures along the way.  Bend and examine moss cozying up with tree roots and think to yourself how that is an amazing work of art.  

 

See the mouth on the "fish" above.  It's open and ready to swallow food.  And below, the "fish" has an eye top right where the leaf starts to curve downward. Ive' named these the Great Spotted Fish Leaves. 

Flowers are blooming.  I found them on the edge of the woods.  I was surprised.  Charmed.  I bent to examine them.  The run will continue.  Why not take the moment to enjoy life to the fullest.  Everything else can wait for now. 

As I trotted about I remembered a quote that I've seen attributed to Golda Meir but also much older, a proverb attributed to gypsy societies, "The dog that trots about finds the bone."  I love that because as I've been free to roam North America the last several years, I experience many things.  I see wonderment everywhere in nature.  Beauty tucked away in small places you'd miss if you weren't out there trotting about, moseying around, putzing here and there, wandering.  

Above, a little pond in a wetlands area.  Below, a toppled tree seen from below.  Now tell me. How many times have you seen the bottom part of a tree?  Really.  Think about it.  Of all the trees you've seen in your life, have you thought about what they look like from below?  Where here is your opportunity.  This one is a bit vintage.  I think it looks like a whacky dark star.  I think it is a beautiful sculpture. 

And below is the water.  Reflections of the trees in a marshy area.  In this area barred owls talk back and forth about what meals they may be cooking.  Woodpeckers move up and down the trunks of trees and out onto limbs, jackhammering when they find a good spot. Turtles are starting to emerge from the muck. Frogs to be frogs and make that rubberband sound that amuses me in addition to the croaking sound we associate with them. Or better yet, the mating sounds that we first thought were ducks quacking.  The first time we heard it we headed toward the pond where the sound was emanating. When we arrived there was nothing there...or so we thought.  But then we started to notice frogs.  How cool we thought.  But what happened to all the ducks that had been here?  We'd not seen them flush.  So after a bit we walked on.  Then we again heard the duck quacks starting up.  An uproar of quackers.  So we returned slowly quietly, staying just far enough away to look in.  And that's when we realized they were frogs. Dozens. Hundreds.  And we saw them mating.  Sorry, but it was funny.  Weird.  Cute.  Frog sex.  Frog reproduction.  Why is that a taboo thing?  It is not.  It is life happening.  The carrying on of nature into the future.  We loved it.  It is one of my favorite wildlife memories.  I have that treasured memory from trotting about.  Adventuring myself.  

So this run was just about 6 miles all told.  I picked up some "road kill" on my way back from the trail run part of my journey.  One item was a faded yellow plastic basket that was small enough and light enough for me to carry it home as I jogged along the highway.  Another was a partly eaten dog toy apparently dropped from a dog's mouth out a car window.  It was the remainder of a fuzzy green cloth tyrannosaurus, I think.  The head was torn off.  I picked up the tyrannosaurus thinking I'd wash it, of course, then maybe harvest the green fuzzy part for a miniature fabric art project I want to do where I create a fiber image inspired by one of my nature photos.  So the picture of the moss and tree roots above in this post is what I want to duplicate.  As for the yellow plastic basket, I picked it up partly because it was garbage that needed to be recycled one way or another: either through official home waste recycling or recycled into another life of use.  I thought I could wash it and use it in my kitchen cupboards for storing my juicing accoutrement.  But as I ran home carrying that basket, it began to crack here and there, it was so brittle from the sun and time.  But hey, even though I carried it a couple miles home, it became a great way to later transport the wet, nasty headless green tyrannosaurus dog toy that I hope to upcycle into a work of art. 

Life is good.  Go for a run.  Run like a child.  Don't compete with anyone.  Don't even compete with yourself.  Don't train.  Just run.  Have fun.  Sightsee.  Look about.  Explore.  Be you.  The you you could be.  

After a Long Hiatus

And so I resume the capture of my running experiences.  I'm here to tell you that you can not outrun your fork.  But I also know it helps to try.  Primarily I'm resuming a steadier practice of running, well, I call it slog jogging or sightseeing while trotting about.  It's more important to me to be outside enjoying nature and to stop to take pictures or to examine something or to pick up "road kill" meaning interesting pieces of rusted metals that have fallen off trucks or trailers, or other interesting trash like baby pacifiers trying to return to nature.

So lately I've had some beautiful runs.  I'm shooting for 6-7 mile runs. I love it when I can combine road running with a trail run.  I prefer to leave from home and do different loops but I will do an out and back occasionally or we will load up and go somewhere for a particularly beautiful or interesting area. It could be a large city, a beach town, or meeting family or friends for a run.

This, below, is from yesterday's run where I added a new loop to my repertoire.

Last Friday it was foggy in the morning.  I love foggy days.  And these pictures, below are from one of my favorite slogs.

I usually have the urge to take pictures that don't include man-made structures (other than trails).  Trails are special.  Wild animals make the and use them too.  They just have a special magic, an invitation to an adventure. But the power lines lit by the sun in the fog, the muddy boat launch into the fog...

The contrast of the red diamond signs.

I love spider webs in the fog.  You see them everywhere.  Without the fog weighting them slightly and making them look like they are tiny diamond nature necklaces strung about in the wild, we wouldn't even see most of them.

It was a good day to to run.