Scarlet Tanager

Today I went running up at Raccoon Creek State Park. I decided to run the Eastern Loop twice - once Clockwise and the other Counter Clockwise. It would give me 19 miles of good trail running. I decided to do two loops of the Eastern Loop instead of the loop of the whole park. The western part of the trails are not as hilly and in places the trail is covered in weeds and briers and is often very muddy in places.

I felt very good throughout the run but did start to tire a little at the end. The trail was the most crowded that I have ever seen it. On my return lap I ran into eight hikers in five different groups. Previously I had never seen more then three people. The amazing thing about this run was my split times. I ended up doing the first lap in 1:541.16 and the second one in the other direction in 1:54.23 - only 7 seconds apart.

I also saw a bird that I had never seen before. As I was running through a stand of old pines, something red fly past my face. It was almost close enough to reach out and touch. I thought that it was a Cardinal but when it landed I saw that it was too small to be a Cardinal plus it had black wings. It was a Scarlet Tanager. I had seen photos of them before and knew that they were in this area but I never expected to see one. It is a very beautiful bird and wasn't very afraid of me. I was able to walk within ten feet of the tree that it was on before it flew away.