July 23, 2007

Still in the mountians of Utah...

Today was amazing!! I got up at 4:30 to go to work with Barb. It was still dark, but the view of Salt Lake City from the University Hospitol is so pretty! Barb recomended that if I wanted to see the city on my run, that I take foothill to 500S (ugh--500!) and on back to her place.

As I started my run the sun hadn't come up and it was quite dark. I was running behind the hospitol and as I neared the heli-pad I noticed a trail leading farther into the foothills. For some reason I took the detour. Climbing 3/4 of a mile straight up was a challenge, but let's face it, it was much to steep to run. I made it to the summit of one of the foothills. It was so peaceful...as dawn broke I could hear the birds begin to chirp and I saw a glorious sunrise over the mountians. It was so amazing!! The colors seemed to light the sky on fireI wish I was a better writer so that I could describe it!

I headed back down the hill, and now that I could see the path, I wondered how the hell I had gotten up the hill! This was one steep path!! I did make it down safely, with only some dirt and rocks in my shoes. I took my run throught the campus and got a bit turned around. After I stopped and picked up a map I finally found my way to 500S. I crossed to the south side of the street because I wasn't interested in running down the S-curve that I did yesterday. As I was running passed a cemetary, I noticed movement. There, beneth an evergreen tree, not 25 feet away was an eight point buck watching me run passed. I skidded to a stop and hung on the fence a few minutes just staring. I've never seen a deer that close before!! He just seemed so content!

As I got closer to Barb's, I encountered more early morning wildlife. A small flock of either quail or partridges (I'm not a bird expert) came running up some stairs as I ran down them...they were so cute! I also saw an enourmous snail on the sidewalk. He was the side of my thumb! I was worried for the little guy...didn't he know that this was SALT Lake?

This run totally made up for the mess that was yesterday! I'm so blessed to have had these moments in my run! Those 4 miles (except for the one up the mountian) really flew by!