We should have listened Jamie. He was looking out for our safety, but of course clarity of reason isn’t one of my strengths when it comes to running. Safety has been a factor in determining our runs… Well at least some of them. I can’t recall which ones, but I did buy a headlamp years ago and also a reflective vest.

The truth is fearless, adventurous running is how I started running. My first runs with Kelvin were pitch black and often icy and always cold. I have no clue how we saw the roads or how the cars saw us. I wised up a little bit since those days. I no longer run the most dangerous streets in Salisbury anymore just for fun (although I have already logged them all) and I will often run well off the road when A car is coming my direction. I think watching numerous drivers texting and driving at 5:40am has convinced me to run well off the road when it is dark.

I can still be an idiot for the most part when it comes to my overall safety. Last Saturday I planned a ten mile run on some newly made trails just east of Salisbury. The trails were made for hikers, mountain bikers, horseback riders, and hunters. Yes Hunters and yes Saturday was the first day of rifle season. Chris, Melissa, and I met at 7am and drove to the trailhead ready to venture out for some nice miles on soft dirt. We met later than normal so we could see the trails, but the darkness wasn’t our problem on Saturday… It was the hunters. We passed at least 20 pickup trucks on the way to our run and it was at that point that we realized the trails would have to wait. No sense in running down trails that hunters were using at the same time… Especially on the first day of rifle season.

Booooom!

We heard that several times as we ran down Laws road and then up Powellville roads towards Powellville. If you haven’t heard of Powellville, you are not alone. The town itself consists of empty abandoned buildings, a double-steepled church, and a VFW building with a huge tank. There is also a small park called Adkins Mill park with a wooden planked walkway that ends in the middles of a swamp. Well it sorta ends. We ran it or at least got through it. It was a welcomed tangent in our run. My bright orange hat, Chris’ bright yellow sweatshirt, and Melissa’s bright pink/orange jacket made us quite visible compared to those we passed in camouflage and their orange jackets. We had a slow steady pace as fo sued on what we had to do to be successful the following week at The Rehoboth Beach Marathon. The rifles were still firing, but at least the only targets we cared about were our marathon target paces.

We ended up doing a twelve mile run and felt a lot better once we were safe on our cars. There’s a lot of times to run and a few times and locations not to run…. We learned on Saturday that Rifle season opening day is probably a good day to run downtown.

We may learn.