Its Hard To Leave

at the starting line.

Today, we had a 50K trail race down in Massachussetts.  It is necessary for me to get some trail miles if I am going to run the 100 mile race just one month from now.  This winter, with close to 11 feet of snow and record cold, made it very hard to train on anything but roads, and some days it was hard to get out there at all.  Road running is a completely different animal than trail running.  Today's outing proved that the lack of trails this winter has left me woefully unprepared for the 100 miler.
It has been a beautiful day though, and so nice to be out running with Steve and some friends.

However, a part of me was still here on the homestead all day.  I was worried about the situation for the chickens and chicks.  It was still dark when we needed to leave this morning, and I did not think it safe to let the hens roam free.  That meant they needed to stay in the run, which is where the chicks are living. I have not mixed the flocks yet, and grown chickens can bully young chicks, and even hurt them under some circumstances.
I hoped it would be ok, but it was on my mind all day.
There was also the new goslings, the dogs out in their pen all day, the canaries, the seedling plants in both the cold frames outside and inside under the lights.  Heck, even my sprouting trays require attention.  So all these things were tugging at my thoughts all day long.
So much so that I decided to bail out of the last five miles and come on home.

The end story is that nobody died, nobody was seriously injured, but it wasnt ideal...there were a few things amiss.
When you take on the responsibility for an animal, you really are  committing to doing the very best you can for them.  I didnt like feeling  as if the critters got second best care today.  And the garden starts are at that stage of really needing monitoring constantly.. they are critical for our garden .

It is tough when two worlds collide.


PS. I meant to say yesterday that we DID find the missing hen.  I dont have a clue where she was hiding, but she survived the night alone And is back with the flock. 😊