Murder of crows

At about mile 9 the over whelming sound of crows seeped through my earbuds and above the sound of my audiobook. Sure enough as I pulled up to the corner of an intersection, hundreds of crows could be seen high above the tops of a grove of neighborhood tree. Some flying about. Other sitting in the branches. All of them caw caw cawing in a terrible racket. I stopped to witness the sight. I've seen them about town before, but this is the first time during a run I experienced the sound in its full magnitude. It felt marvelous to see these birds congregating. I am confident the neighbors may have thought otherwise. 

Today's long run called (or cawed) for 15 miles. I started well rested which goes toward making the run more bearable both physically and mentally. Getting out of bed a bit later also meant that by mile 10 or 11 the sun began to come up to illuminate some beautiful cloud cover. Getting to witness the dawn, no matter the number of powerlines, houses, or streetlamps in the way is always a special treat. It is something special to see the light start slowly as a glow in the east and then start to fill in the sky with all manner of colors. My headlamp went out around mile 5 so having the light made me a little more comfortable on the road as well. 

Like all runs, the real discomfort didn't come until about 3 miles to go. That is the point where my mind starts to rebel and I have to fight through the "Am I going to make it?" thoughts even when physically of course I can. I've already made it 12 miles. What's 3 more? A little 5k? Anyway with winter melting away this morning, I wanted to stay outdoors as long as I could and would have run another 5 miles (albeit slower) if the plan called for . In addition to the crows, the song birds came out for the first time in recent memory. 

Spring is on the way.