Spring Thoughts

I ran the trails at Shawnee Mission Park yesterday morning and they are gorgeous right now. I hadn't been out there since November, since they close the trails when it's real muddy to prevent damage. These were my first trails when I started running.. and I really like them, so I was super excited when I called and found out they were open again. My husband & I have a deal, when I run trails by myself he has to know where I am going, how long I'll be gone and I have to call him when I get back to the car, so I told him I'd be gone for a few hours and set off. The last time I had been there the trees were bare and everything was very brown, yesterday everything was such a gorgeous shade of green. I saw a million deer and even had 2 that refused to run away from me.. I talked to them and they just stayed hanging out about 200 yards away, it was pretty crazy! I rescued a turtle that was "cruising" down the trail.. I moved him to just off the trail since I've seen how fast the mountain bikers bomb down the trails. When I picked him up he hissed at me and tucked everything in, but then when I set him back down he kept on meandering down the trail. I wish I had brought a camera!
The run was really a measuring stick at how far I've come since November... the loop seemed much shorter and easier.. and those hills that seemed pretty big to me then, just looked like a slight incline now, and it made me feel pretty darn good. I did 6 miles and then called my husband to tell him I was done and he freaked out... "It's only been an hour.. what's wrong?" I just felt like doing 6 miles... "but are you OK?" It totally cracked me up! Since I'm not training for anything in particular right now, I'm just running to what feels good. It was kinda freeing to head out without a single thought as to how far or how long.