I despise squirrels. They are such pests in our backyard. Every bird feeder I have ever owned became a squirrel feeder. I even installed several different anti-squirrel devices – to no avail!
The buggers even put my life in danger once. A few years ago, I went out onto the deck to grill some hamburgers. I turned the gas knob on our propane grill, and was about to hit the start button… but something just didn’t sound right. So, I turned the tank off again and inspected it. Turns out a squirrel had chewed up the gas line on our gas grill leaving a huge hole in it. YIKES! After that incident, I considered buying the Rat Zapper Ultra to get rid of them. In the end, I decided against it. I just didn’t have the heart to do it, even tho…
Today’s blog reminded me of squirrel traps. You’ll see why in a moment…
Running is going well. I decided NOT to do every run on the Hal Higdon 10k running plan, as it was hurting me too much. I just can’t run every day. Still, I am improving in tiny increments…yay! I think all the things I have been doing in my running the last year are finally coming together. I will post a recap of all those things later this week.
I ran my 9 mile long run today at a pace of 10:30, which was a PR for this hilly route. My average HR was 145 bpm, a zone 2 run. I have always wanted to be able to do my long runs at a pace of 10, while staying in zone 2, so I am getting closer. I finished this run thinking “I am a great runner”. One of my strategies is to keep telling myself that.
I think, therefore, I am. 🙂
During this workout, I was running down a steep hill, trying to focus on fast feet, and thinking about not ‘braking’ with each step. I was in a really great running groove, when a squirrel darted out from the woods and ran right in front of me. I almost stepped on him, but then he did a 360° and scurried away. Stupid squirrel broke my concentration! At least I didn’t trip.
I searched http://www.tinypic.com for a squirrel picture to put here, and found this one. Not exactly what I was looking for – Ewww! Squirrels dart out in front of me alot while riding my bike, and I always wondered if this could happen…
I stepped on a squirrel yesterday while running and it did not survive.
that banging on your spokes must drive you nuts
Great blog. The finman was outed and banned for NAS events for one year but wasn’t banned by USAT. Go figure. Oh well – he knew what he was doing was wrong as he is a coach and gives advice to others on his blog.
Anyway – great blog!
Mike
Do you take IOU’s or do you prefer to send me money through PayPal for coffee? And poor squirrel! At least you didn’t get bitten by it! btw, I got bitten by a dog…
Well… at least you run where squirrels are.
My most likely encounter is a Black Rat 🙂