I despise squirrels. They are such pests in our backyard. Every bird feeder I have ever owned became a squirrel feeder. I even installed several different anti-squirrel devices – to no avail!

The buggers even put my life in danger once. A few years ago, I went out onto the deck to grill some hamburgers. I turned the gas knob on our propane grill, and was about to hit the start button… but something just didn’t sound right. So, I turned the tank off again and inspected it. Turns out a squirrel had chewed up the gas line on our gas grill leaving a huge hole in it. YIKES! After that incident, I considered buying the Rat Zapper Ultra to get rid of them. In the end, I decided against it. I just didn’t have the heart to do it, even tho…
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Today’s blog reminded me of squirrel traps. You’ll see why in a moment…

Running is going well. I decided NOT to do every run on the Hal Higdon 10k running plan, as it was hurting me too much. I just can’t run every day. Still, I am improving in tiny increments…yay! I think all the things I have been doing in my running the last year are finally coming together. I will post a recap of all those things later this week.

I ran my 9 mile long run today at a pace of 10:30, which was a PR for this hilly route. My average HR was 145 bpm, a zone 2 run. I have always wanted to be able to do my long runs at a pace of 10, while staying in zone 2, so I am getting closer. I finished this run thinking “I am a great runner”. One of my strategies is to keep telling myself that.

I think, therefore, I am. 🙂

During this workout, I was running down a steep hill, trying to focus on fast feet, and thinking about not ‘braking’ with each step. I was in a really great running groove, when a squirrel darted out from the woods and ran right in front of me. I almost stepped on him, but then he did a 360° and scurried away. Stupid squirrel broke my concentration! At least I didn’t trip.

I searched http://www.tinypic.com for a squirrel picture to put here, and found this one. Not exactly what I was looking for – Ewww! Squirrels dart out in front of me alot while riding my bike, and I always wondered if this could happen…