Tuesday, July 19, 2005

The Otter Day


It was a beautiful morning this monring, although it was still humid! The wind was at 5 kts from the east and the temp was 74*. So it made it a very pleasant morning to run. I did my 7 mile loop through the woods. I'm still a little tired from my weekend so I took it easy just trying to keep my heart rate in zone 3 while maintaining a 8 min pace after my first mile warm up.

The 7 mile course takes me through the woods for about a mile. The developer of our community had an agreement with the state of Florida to maintain as many natural areas or preserves. Our community is bordered by a State Park and protected wetlands. So rather than develop all of the acreage in our community there are many preserves and natural areas. One of these is a mile long path that meanders along the Estero River as a natural buffer and provides an eco system that helps to maintain the fresh water in the river. The trail was a little muddy this morning because of our daily rains but if your careful while running you don't get to muddy.

The path ends with a series of "s" turns to a final bridge over a small babbling brook then up a short flight of stairs to the parking lot of our communities boat launch, fitness center, river club restaurant, and community pool.

It was here as I came around the bends that I stopped short because there were 4 otters playing on the path! Perhaps I made to much noise coming down the path for when they saw me they all slipped quietly into the brook and swam off. I wondered if they could teach me to swim as gracefully as they swim!

I stopped at the fitness center to get some water and continued on to my house thinking of otters!

I plan to swim at lunch time and prehaps hit the weight rom on the way home.

5 comments:

:) said...

Those are too cool. The only thing I see around my house is buzzards...oops I mean mosquitos.

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

Otters are so cool! I correspond with a guy in the UK who works with otters at a wildlife conservatory. He sometimes sends pictures and they're so cute!

Not much wildlife here in Houston. Just cottontails and armadillos. I saw three coyotes at the park one night, though. They were all together and it kinda worried me. One coyote is one thing, but three? Don't they hunt in packs...?

Nancy Toby said...

Woo, I don't think I have ever seen otters in the wild except perhaps at the Monterey aquarium. They are amazing. We get muskrats around here, that's all.

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