A run with Deer, Hills and Mara

Last night the hubby, Mara, and a friend of ours (K) ran for 80 minutes on the hills of Stage Coach road.  If you haven't run Stage Coach road, you don't know what you are missing!!  The scenary is amazing, the terrain is challenging and there are very few cars on the road!!

Our adventure started as we were heading down 13th street toward Stage Coach.  We saw lots of flashing lights in the distance and I said, "I bet someone hit a deer.  I have seen a lot of them down in the river valley lately."  As we proceeded down the bike path along 13th street, we were warned by a police officer that there was a deer on the path ahead.  Someone actually did hit a deer!!  When we got to the dead deer, Mara wasn't really sure what to do.  I told her to "jump" over it and I was shocked that she actually did and didn't try to smell it.  What a good girl!!  :)

As we turned onto Stage Coach road, we encountered our first of many hills.  K made the comment as we got to the top that it was tough.  This was her first outdoor winter run.  Not only is the terrain challenging, but we were also running on gravel that has been snow covered.  The hubby and I both have Yak Traks that we wore, but K doesn't have any, so she was running in her running shoes and was slipping a lot.

It turned out to be a beautiful night for a run.  The sky was clear, so the moon gave us plenty of light to see where we were going.  There was some wind from the west, which made for a little challenge at times, but the hills were the biggest challenge.  We just kept talking and running and forgot about most of the challenges in our path.  As we finished the Stage Coach tour, we got to encounter the deer again.  The officers and fire fighters moved it off the path, but it was right next to the path.  This time Mara decided she was going to smell it...crazy girl!!

After crossing the bridge and turning into the park, we let Mara off leash while we finished the last mile of our run.  She loves to run off leash!!  It was fun to get to see her leap and bound through the snow!!  It is amazing how much energy she still has after completing nearly 9 miles of running!!