Running in Wyoming 3: Where Rabbit and Antelope Play

Run: 6 miles in :49:13 min. @ 6:30 a.m. (Mountain Time)

Heart Monitor Data: 677 cals, 83% MHR avg., 89% MHR max.

Weather Report: Mostly Cloudy, 74°F, 27% Humidity, Winds: WNW @ 12 mph, gusting to 17 mph; feels like 74°F.

Not everybody is a "morning person," and I have found over the last few days that I may be the only one staying on the ranch that is, so I've begun to use this time doing things that don't interfere with vacation plan-type activities, such as checking e-mail and running. This morning I did both, and while not every person is a morning person, quite a few animals are.

This morning I went out onto the gravel roads to run a light 5-6 miles. For me, the difficulty running in Wyoming is not in the elevation (although its by no means "easy"), but in the view... while you may have observed that most people in cities, like mine, walk with their gaze directed down or forward, I find myself, here, walking and running with my head raised to the everpresent blue skies and clouds. (The rhythmic "tchk-tchk-tchk" sound of my footstrike kept me focused enough to stay balanced.)

This morning while running, I came across a small jack rabbit hiding in the sage by the side of the road. I watched him watch me as I passed, at which time he took off over the plains. Likewise, while coming over the final slope of paved road, I came upon two antelope about a hundred feet away standing next to one another and looking over the horizon. When they heard me coming down the road, they split: one staying put and the other gracefully bounding across the road, finally resting in the middle of the the gravel drive I was to turn down on my way back "home."

I made the final turn left toward home and the antelope remained there very still, his gaze follwing me as I slowly plodded toward him. When I was about twenty feet away, he darted to the center if field (presumably a safe distance from me) and stood quietly. It was strangely magical to encounter these three plains creatures and to have a quiet moment of eye contact, that might be romanticised by this writer to mean much more than was probably intedend. Following the encounters, as I made my way up the last hill, leading to the driveway opening, my mind drifted to thoughts of totems, familiars, fields, sun, wind and clouds... tchk-tchk-tchk-tchk-tchk-tchk...

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!