Hello Sandy!

In case you haven't heard, there is a hurricane hitting the east coast, as well as Ohio.  Yesterday was a run day for me and today was expected to bring worse weather! So naturally I went running yesterday.  :) I can't confirm that today was actually worse but oh well. I picked the trails that I knew to be open and the ones that are most solid.  I got out of work and headed to Chagrin River Park and found an empty, completely empty, parking lot.  As I started on the trail, I saw from a rainy distance large, black moving creatures. I was totally confused but kept moving forward and what did I find???

WILD TURKEYS! Seriously, there were probably 20 of them just hanging out in the rain like any other day. I wasn't sure if they were friendly or not so I slowly approached the group.  I never realized how big they are until I was literally face to face with one.  This fine turkey just didn't feel like getting off the trail and I had running to do so I just kept going and gave him a nod.  I'm 5 foot even and he must have been up to my shoulder.  

I got in a decent run but I will admit that it was a bit creepy.  These trails are well used and so it was odd to be alone.  Part of the trails run along the Chagrin River so I stuck with doing loops on the wooded trails away from the rising river.  The deer, who are normally ambivalent about human presence  were extremely interested in my visit.  There was one in particular that kind of followed me along on the first loop and then hung out on the gravel path, waiting for each of my returns.  

Twice I heard trees crashing down, no doubt taking other trees along.  After the second one fell closely behind me, I headed to the the paved path that borders the parking lot and finished my run.  Over all I had a good run and thoroughly enjoyed my little personal visits with the animals that call this park home. Tomorrow will be another adventure I'm sure, as it hasn't stopped raining since Saturday here so I'm not sure what trails will be open for runs. 

Be safe everyone!