More DON'Ts when running...........read and believe!

DON'T #3:  When someone who lives close to you starts a conversation with "I have a game camera and we saw (insert name of wild animal with sharp teeth here), say STOP! Actually, this person didn't start the conversation with me, but with my mother-in-law. She let me know a bear, or what looked like a bear, was spotted on the game camera. I do know some bears have been sighted in this area. I know there have been rumors of panthers and stray golf carts riding up beside houses and strange trucks pulling up in driveways in the middle of the night. Coyotes have been sighted, wild boars have been shot, and snakes run over. Big Foot has also been sighted in this area. Dangers lurk everywhere, but don't listen when someone points them out to you or else you will never leave the house. I refuse to be trapped by fears of being ripped apart by a wild animal.

DON'T #4:  Don't look at roadkill when you run. I had to run alone on my long run this week, which meant I had to run on asphalt. One driveway over I saw something dead in the road. It looked kind of large to be a cat.  I thought, "Whatever that is, I hope it doesn't have a friend."  I continued on, because in training for a half-marathon I just can't stop! I have limited weeks to get ready. I didn't think about the roadkill until this week.   At supper with my aunt and uncle we were talking about a "stoe-ry" that has been told, and I'm not sure how exaggerated it is, about this family on the next road that bred a bobcat with their female cat just to see what would happen. Steven  somehow ended up with one of these offspring, and it was bigger than a regular cat...taller than a beagle is what I've been told. Lucky was this cat's name, and Steven says it looked like a bobcat with pointed ears and facial features.  Legend goes this was the baddest bunch of cats around.  When they mentioned "bobcat" I asked them if they knew if a bobcat had been ran over around here lately and I explained about what I had seen in the road.  They confirmed what I worried about...IT WAS A BOBCAT. Probably left over from this bad bunch of hybrids from years ago......I wish I had never looked.

DON'T #5:  Don't run in the city. It has to be so boring.  I've never run "in town," which is what us country folks call the nearest town where we go to grocery shop, pay bills, and go to school, so I really shouldn't make this judgement.  In contemplating running "in town," I just can't imagine not looking for snakes, or for the trails they leave in the dirt. I don't know how anyone could run without playing ninja and trying to kill deer flies or horseflies.  And this would never happen "in town"....running by a pile of hog entrails someone dumped out in the woods, and all of a sudden huge vultures swoop around wanting to eat them at the same time you are running by. All I could think of was the horror movie "The Birds" and of course this happens right next to the scary woods. Not cool.  If you've never been up close and personal with vultures, they are GIGANTIC and strong--it was amazing the sound their wings made as they flapped in the wind. I imagined one knocking me out and me being roadkill. Where is Jack Hanna when you need him?????

Hopefully this completed list of DON'Ts helps you as you begin to run. If I have any more crazy experiences, and I'm sure I will, I will share them with you so you can be prepared for anything!