I'm Going to be Sorry in the Morning...

Today's wind was forecast as 32 mph, with 45 mph wind gusts.  A whole weekend of wind.  Ugh.

This afternoon I finally announced to the cats and that Spouse o' Mine that I had had it: I was going out for a short run.  I would run down to the bridge and check on construction.  Run down, with the wind at my back, and walk home, into the wind.  That was the plan!

As I walked out the front door, I said, "You know, if it's not too bad, I might just go all the way around the section."  And I went out.

The first mile was fairly simple.  A 32 mph wind really does the work, as long as I could pick up one foot and then the other.  It was so simple, in fact, that I decided to go the whole way around: 5 miles.  I knew the easiest part was behind me, and there was going to be some walking going on in my run.  I won't bore you with a blow-by-blow account of my experience, except to say that miles 2,3, and 4 were challenging.  I couldn't hear much, my eyes went from dry to watering and so on, balance took on a new meaning while running straight into the wind with one hand on top of my head (to keep my cap on), and even moreso when I ran up and down the hills with one hand on my head.

The last mile, coming home, was half & half: walk and run.  It felt easy after the previous bit, in part because I was following a treeline which sheltered me somewhat.  There were robins all over the trees!  It was amazing.  About 1/4 mile from our home, I looked across our pasture to see all these robins flying around, and right smack in the middle of them was a giant bird with a snow-white tail.

A bald eagle.  In our pasture.

I had to run!  I had to show that Spouse o' Mine the big eagle!  Was he outdoors?  I called out as I lurched along like a derelict, "Are you outside?!"  "Are you outside?!"   "Are you outside?!!!"

He was not outside.  And by the time I made it to the house, went inside, and garbled something unintelligible about "big eagle *breath* white tail *breath*  big flying low *breath* so big" and ran back outside, the bald eagle was headed down to the river, away from our house.

I guess the upside to my afternoon, in addition to seeing a pretty eagle, is that I got a final, albeit staggering, sprint in.