John Dick and Turkeys

Well, the first long run of the year - the John Dick 50K - was last weekend (Feb6th). I have been doing this run for three years in a row now. The race/run is held on the trails around Scuppernong near Oconomowoc, WI. Since it is early February in Wisconsin, that means you are running on snow/ice/slush or a mixture of all three.
This year, the conditions were pretty good. We had gone a stretch without fresh snow so I was worried it would be too icy but we got a few inches of fresh stuff on Tuesday before the race so it worked out pretty good (although there were sections where the ice slick was showing through the snow). It was about 20F if I remember correctly and we had sun shining through a light cloud cover. It never got too warm or too cold. I started running with my buddy Tom Schlaefer and got a few laps (the course this year was 5 laps of a 10K course) in before I started struggling. The course has one aid station manned and an unmanned water/gatoraid station at the other end of the loop. I have always had trouble getting a base of sufficient miles over winter here in Wisconsin so this race is always a bit of a struggle. At the same time, it is fun to see all the local runners: Robert Wehner (RD), Tom Bunk, Mary Gorski, C. Crawford, Julie Treder, etc.. Great job to Robert and the Badgerland Striders for the event.

Anyway, the last few miles were a struggle but I finished in 5hrs and change.

I had a bizarre experience last week on a morning run. I passed a group of turkeys on a city street and I turned around to look back and saw one of them jogging after me. Another turkey flew out of a tree and joined his pal in chasing after me. I wasn't near any females or chicks so I was unsure what they were doing but sure enough, they started catching up to me. I stopped and faced them but they had no intention of stopping. They were looking at me with these dead eyes and I proceeded to try to back away and wave my arms to scare them off. They were not the least bit afraid of me. I was kicking snow and ice chunks with little effect. This went on for about 100 feet and I was wondering what to do about this. I know turkeys have pretty sharp spurs so I didn't want to turn my back and run for it. Finally, I was able to create about 15 feet of space by throwing ice and I sprinted down the road and lost them. That was pretty weird. I have run by group of turkeys for years and never seen them act aggressively in the past????