After the storm

I knew it would be sloppy.  I thought it might be fun.  I set out on a 5 mile hike/jog in Forest Park today as the day grew old and the sun was on the decline.  I really just wanted to get out and move some so I hit a trail that Di and I have walked many times.  Right away I knew that the last storm with snow, rain and high winds had had its way with the landscape.  A large maple spanned the trail about a quarter mile in.  Up and over.  No big deal.  Lots of puddles and mud and slick surface.  I’d walk and then jog for a bit.  I’m not a jogger but it felt like the thing to do.  Tomorrow will tell me if that was a big mistake or not. About 2 miles in I saw a guy standing on the far side of a mud slide that covered the trail.  It was about 30-40 feet wide.  The guy’s Husky dog was trying to figure out how to get across.  The guy, with mud marks up to mid-shin, yells at me “it’s pretty deep”.  The dog is all confused.  While it wasn’t what I’d planned I figured that the last thing I needed was to dive into a flow of mud, twist a knee, ankle, joint or just wallow around helpless.  Age does that to you I guess.  That and a dog that seemed to know a lot more than his owner.  I just turned around and began a slow jog out the way I came.  No loss.  I still got about 3.5 miles and an hour of being “out there”.  I stopped several times on the way out to snap photos with the phone.  Home, safe, new images and a bit of exercise.  Not a bad way to end a Monday.

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