Running Away

My last post was about a joyous running encounter with a few lovely animals. I know I have posted several times about running and animals but I just have to add another. Last week we were at the beach vacationing in South Carolina with Jason's family. It was a lot of fun, but of course,hectic and crazy. I brought my running gear hoping that I would be able to get out a few times and pound the pavement. (I have no idea how beach running works. How do you get out to the wet, hard sand without filling your shoes first with buckets of dry? If you know the secret, please pass it along.) So the first morning I went for a run hoping I could find somewhere to go other then on roads past lots of condos breathing the exhaust of caravans of cars on their way to Denny's. Low and behold at the end of the development there was an old, closed down golf course. Beautiful tall oaks draped with Spanish moss shading a few miles of paved path all to myself. Heaven. So there I was reveling in my aloneness and having a fabulous time when I clued in on the fact that I was running by several small ponds and old overgrown water features of the golf course. I also remembered that one of the differences between SC and NC is that they have large reptiles, very large reptiles that live in small ponds and lakes. Hmmm....my run did not seem so ideal anymore. I still finished and didn't see a single alligator. I don't think I have ever been so observant of my surroundings! I did figure out that the ponds with ducks and geese most likely didn't have a resident alligator, or if they did it was not hungry. I have to admit though if I was an alligator I would rather have a fat bum and thigh then a scrawny duck any day!