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December 07, 2005
Rats!
It always puzzled me that I had never come across rats while running on the lake path. The environment is, after all, perfect for them: near water, and near lots of little recreational areas that generate edible trash. However, while I saw numerous rabbits and squirrels, as well as the occasional chipmunk, I never bumped into a rat, even while running at night (I frequently used to startle them when I ran at night in Central Park). Then, a few weeks ago, while I was running one evening I had to hop over two rat carcasses, then later that same run a live rat scampered across my path. I was completely flabbergasted because, having never encountered one before, I had just assumed that there was some strange reason why there were no rats living near the lake.
I've seen rats while running at night a few times since then and finally have come to the conclusion that for some reason they don't come out until the late fall (I was injured in the late fall and for all of the winter last year and that must have been why I never saw the rats). This morning, a morning described by the local television stations as "dangerously cold" (the alarmist nature of local news amuses me... and I feel I can make fun of it, since I worked in local news for several years), I was running along and saw something lazily blowing across the path up ahead. I couldn't tell from a distance whether it was an animal or a leaf, but finally concluded that it was a leaf as it appeared to come to rest in the snow on the other side of the path. As I ran by, I checked and, indeed, it wasn't a leaf but a rat, digging in the snow. I had to wonder what had him out in daylight on such a cold day (I figured it had to be a male rat, because a female rat would probably have more sense... then again, I was out there running, which is a blow to my theory, though maybe not fatal). Perhaps his wife got mad at him and kicked him out of the nest.
I also saw, as I was finishing up my run, the tail-less squirrel who lives somewhere near my building whom I've become attached to. I was happy to see that he looks nice and fat for the winter. Sadly, I didn't see any quaker parrots. They stay all winter, don't migrate, but it was probably too cold for them to be out and about. I consider parrot-sightings good luck. Not that I'm superstitious or anything.
I ended up doing 8 this morning, probably pretty slowly. I didn't time it, but it felt slow -- all that clothing, plus I always find it harder to breathe in the cold. I have my winter runner's cough going. I was once asked if I smoked as I was coughing away. I gave my questioner my best imitation of a withering glare and explained that no, I did not smoke, I ran.
I did another 4 this evening on the treadmill -- 3 at 7:30 pace and the last mile at 7:00 pace. I kind of like these short evening runs on the treadmills. I find it hard to really get moving outside when it's cold out, so it's nice to be able to do just a short run somewhere warm where I can stretch out a little. I'm planning on doing 12/4 again tomorrow, then I'll have 10 to divide up between Friday and Saturday.
Posted by alweiss at December 7, 2005 10:16 PM