A decent double...

Sunday, March 06, 2011

“Wow…there’s a deer out there with big antlers,” I heard Ash call from the family room as I sat at the dinner table. I bolted from my chair and headed for the family room. I’d just been showing off my antlers to the family, but told them how there probably weren’t anymore to be found since the animals and insects would be devouring the ones that I’d missed on the forest floor. Yet here was Ash claiming she could see a deer in our back yard…with antlers on its head.

I pushed her aside and looked out the back window. Sure enough…three deer. One with a full, big rack, one with only one antler and one with none. I grabbed my boots and camera and headed for the front door. I planned to sneak around to the back through the neighbors’ yard to try and get a picture of a deer with one antler…something I’d never seen before. I walked down the sidewalk, up their drive and along the side of their garage until I reached a point where I could see one of the three feeding from the corn stand in the back yard. The deer picked up its head when I clicked my first picture and it was the one-antlered fellow. I snapped a couple of quick shots as he turned and bound away.

So…I guess some deer are still carrying their antlers and I’m going to be continuing my search. Holly can’t figure out why I want more antlers, but Jason reminded her of the song from ‘Beauty and the Beast’ sung by Gaston about “…I use antlers for all of my decorating…”. I could make an end table…or a desk…or maybe a $3,200 credenza. Anyway…I’d find something to do with them.

I’d started the day with a 33-minute run in the Metropark on the newly fallen 2 inches of snow. The trails were soggy underneath, but the footing was good. My achilles ached on and off during the run, but I had to get through it if I was going to be ready for the birthday triathlon. When I returned home, I went straight to the trainer and hopped on for a 1-hour ride.

I know the biggest challenge on the birthday triathlon will be the ride. Fifty-six miles will take me over three hours and if all I can do is a lot of trainer rides…without hills…well, I’ll be hurting. I figure to do the kayak first and follow that with the run, saving the ride for last. I know I can push myself through things and I’ll feel like crap after the ride…so I want it last. John has agreed to join me and I’m shooting for the Saturday before so I have some options if the weather heads south.

Looks like I’m back to the hiking trails tomorrow, though. Still so many antlers to be found…

Run duration: 33 minutes. Bike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm running, 130 bpm biking.
Calories burned during workout: 560 running. 900 biking.