Jogging at Sunrise with the Critters

So, I need to take pictures of my jogging route at some point.

I run right at sun up (or a little after) along a mountain road that runs from my town, Chaguarpamba, over to the next, Olmedo. This route is very rural and winding, with a house or two strewn every half kilometer or so, and a goodly amount of traffic, so as to make it safe for me to run alone (as I prefer doing).

The mornings here usually consist of several phases - overnight, clouds build up in the valley, and around 5am wind comes through and start shifting them about - the clouds remind me a lot of whipped cream at that hour, and right as dawn is starting to creep over the most distant mountains we can see, the clouds are being pushed up the mountain, covering us in fog, and falling back down in a beautiful "whipping the butter" sort of formation.
Dawn comes about and the clouds in the upper half of the valley dissipate around 6:30am, giving us a beautiful, clear sunrise. This leaves the bottom half of the valley hidden, looking like a bowl of risalamande (Google it, if you don't already know what that is) - that's usually when I'm out on the road. Over the course of the next hour, those lower clouds dissipate, and the whole valley gradually fills up with sunshine.

I've only done it a few times, but it's just so incredibly beautiful to run on that road. From the border of Chaguarpamba, it's approximately 11.5 km to Olmedo, which is the perfect distance for my half marathon training - the goal at the end of these two years is to be able to jog/run a 1/2 marathon sin pausa. We'll see how that goes! Right now, 5 km (2.5 out and 2.5 back) is my starter distance, and I'm enjoying it. Because the road runs along the edge of the valley, for at least the first 3 km you can see how far you've actually gone - once I get as far out as I'm planning each morning, I am both proud and distressed about how far I've got to jog home!

Dodging cow droppings and the occasional angry dog is pretty standard on that route. The confused looks I get from the locals as I gasp and sweat... I mean triumphantly jog past their houses amuse me - hopefully over the next two years, I'll get more smiles and good morning wishes in return for mine.

This morning, for a good 20 yards of my run a flock of bright yellow birds that look a bit like large sparrows were flying just ahead of me - fluffing up, resettling, seeing that I was still running towards them and moving another 5 feet further up the road. They were all watching me curiously, but didn't seem to be afraid at all - it was pretty awesome. Reminds me of the time in Acworth when I was running through the woods and a herd of about 15 deer were running in the woods alongside my path, keeping pace with me - it felt very Pocahontas. [insert obligatory 'Colors of the Wind' break]

Another little bird, a fat, brown, sparrow-ish creature also made an appearance along the road - he flew out of some bushes and decided to land on a very long stalk of grass - sadly, it wouldn't bear his weight and cartoonishly bowed down to the ground almost immediately. Realizing that he was too fat for the grass, the bird decided to try... another long blade of grass... and then another. After a few rounds, he settled back onto the fence and watched me run past. That was one of the single most precious things I've seen while I've been here. Watch out, Aurora - my love for naps and list of cute-critter stories may overtake your title in the next two years!