I was having a heck of a time dragging myself out the door. We've begun the serious packing/cleaning so my exercise room is a disaster. Then it was windy and rainy and I really didn't want to go out in it. But I managed to force myself out the door (that's always the hardest part) and once I got moving I decided to do a run I haven't done in a while. I decided to run in the park where this journey really began. So I headed off. I was also dragging and since I hadn't worked out all week I told myself I could run or walk or both or neither, whatever. So I started walking. By the time I hit the park entrance I was ready to run, so I did. I ran for a while, then I walked back along these 1.5' x 1.5' x 10' concrete pillars that are laying on the ground (I walk on top and balance like when I was a kid - this always makes me smile and I have no idea why). A rain squalll came through and I got soaked and I decided to run somemore and then I was walking for a while. I was really enjoying the park since I hadn't been there in quite awhile. Used to be that was enough for me, the park is a 1.2 mile out and back, now it's pretty much too short. I did notice a couple of things while there; 1) lots of people run in this park now. Used to be I was the only one; not anymore. 2) The drainage in this parks sucks. There is still standing water in the park from the heavy rains we had a week and a half ago. 3) There are lots more birds in the park then there used to be, especially this one:
This is the native Hawaiian stilt, also known as the black neck stilt. I could give you a long history lesson of the hawaiian islands (boring) but suffice it to say that once the islands were discovered many of the native birds were lost or seriously endangered due to disease, predators, humans, etc. Well, these guys seem to be making a real comeback. They were all over the park eating today. Of course, they are wetland birds so the park being saturated probably is what attracted them. Anyway, it was cool.
That was it. That was all I managed to do all week was a 40 minute walk/run in the park. Oh well!!! I have to run to work for a short time, then run some errands, then come home and do some more packing. Since my home workout area is seriously destroyed, I'm planning on hitting the Y every single morning from now until we move. I have a tri in 2 weeks.
This is the native Hawaiian stilt, also known as the black neck stilt. I could give you a long history lesson of the hawaiian islands (boring) but suffice it to say that once the islands were discovered many of the native birds were lost or seriously endangered due to disease, predators, humans, etc. Well, these guys seem to be making a real comeback. They were all over the park eating today. Of course, they are wetland birds so the park being saturated probably is what attracted them. Anyway, it was cool.
1 comment:
It's depressing what humns/mongoose have done to the native avian populations of the Hawaiin islands. Used to be something like 240 species of native birds, now there's about 9? Amazing. Mongoose were brought in to eat the rats on the island but they are diurnal and the rats are nocturnal. Ah, didn't they study these animals before making that decision. But, hindsight in 20/20. I'm sure we are making management decisions today that may be wrong (ie genetics). Sorry for the rant.
Benny
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