Doing Battle with Winged Critters – MT WK3 D7

Usually the day after a rest day, I have a good run…well today was no exception. Yeah, I had a pretty good run down to Pepin and back up Philbrick Hill. Nope, I didn’t set any course personal bests or cruise to any land speed records, it was simply a good run.

Let’s back up a little.

Mary went over to SD2’s walk the dogs with her, so Bennie and I were left to figure things out for ourselves. So I let him decide on where to go this morning – mmmm big mistake.

He wanted to head down-back, which is usually my preferred place to take him. Unfortunately, last night it rained quite a bit – nope it wasn’t muddy, but those flying critters that want to suck your blood were massed to attack

They were pretty good on the way out to the bog, with just a few scouts drawing blood. However, the skeeters, horse flies and other winged arseholes, had lined up in battle formations in multiple ambush and skirmish sites coming back from the bog.

Enough that I was not in any kind of mood to talk with the farmer at the end of the road for long when he stopped in his truck to talk with me. I think he got the idea when I started slapping myself in the face, legs and anyplace else that there was exposed skin. He laughed and drove off.

Stopping in that area was not a real option if you didn’t want to give a pint of the red stuff.

Bennie and I were both bursting through the battle formations and nursing the wounds inflicted by the winged enemy as we passed each of their ambushes or battle lines. Needless to say we didn’t waste any time coming back and might have moved a bit faster than a walk at times during the retreat from their territory. He didn’t complain and I didn’t either.

After we got back to the house, I checked him over for unwanted passengers and crushed a couple of skeeters that were too full to fly off. Then I put a little rubbing alcohol on a couple of spots that had been savaged more than once.

I have a feeling we will let the beasties down-back have their territory to themselves for a few days before we attempt another invasion. I should have known better than to walk to a bog, in shorts, right after a good rain. Next time we will be better prepared. 🙂

With all that excitement, running down to Pepin was pretty anti-climatic. The run started out pretty slowly as I ran in the Pegasus 33’s and changing to those shoes seems to have more of an adjustment in my stride than other shoes in my rotation. However, once I got going down the hill, I found a good stride.

Down on Pepin I just ran comfortably and noticed that they have started to extend the road down there again, so the course will be a bit longer in the future, not a bad thing once they get done getting it done.

Coming back up Philbrick Hill, I was proud of myself. I maintained a nice effort and didn’t get totally into a old man shuffle that I usually end up with on that hill, so that was nice.

I did pick it up a little during the last mile, but nothing all that much and finished nicely, but not with anything special for a time. At least I didn’t have to do battle with the winged formations of critters to finish the run.

The rest of the day was pretty much a rest day. It seems that I am a bit worn-out/down from the week and needed the extra rest. Although I did stop our Gnome from escaping this afternoon.