momma got ran over by a reindeer...

as i've said before, my parents have recently become runners, participating in 5ks and running at least 4 times a week.  usually they run at the gym on the utsa campus (my mom works for the school), but since classes are over and the school has shut down for the holidays, they've had to find an alternative.  

my dad works near a park that was recently built and has a nice running trail.  my parents have been going there for the past week, and usually try to get there before it gets too dark.  my dad's pace is faster than my mom's, but for the most part they don't run with too much distance between each other.  my mom is worried about bobcats in the park, or that someone could grab her if dad gets too far ahead, without him knowing, so she tries to keep up with him, and he is always looking back to make sure she's okay.

on wednesday they were running a little later than usual, so they decided to keep the run short, but didn't want to not run at all, even though the sun was very low in the sky and in some areas there are so many trees along the path that it can be quite creepy.  

as my mom was running, she could hear rustling in the bushes around her, very quiet.  she was worried that it might be a bobcat, but kept running, staying as close to dad as she could.  she and my dad ran for fifteen minutes one way, and then decided to turn back, since it was getting so dark.  when they turned back, my mom said the rustling started to get a little louder, but she wasn't too much concerned, because dad wasn't too far ahead and he kept looking back for her.  

at one point, it got quiet and then all of a sudden the rustling got very loud, so much so that my dad turned around to see what it was.  my mom took one look at my dads' incredibly concerned face, realized that he had started running back towards her and booked it.  neither of them spoke as they raced the rest of the trail to the car, and it wasn't until after they had stretched and gotten into the car that my dad calmly said, "there was 6 or seven deer stampeding towards you."

my dad said that when he turned around to see what the noise was, he realized that was he thought was a bunny earlier, was actually a resting deer, and that the deer had all gotten up and started stampeding after my mom.  when they saw him running towards them, they split into two groups and ran in another direction.

my mom legit almost was stampeded by deer, three days before christmas!!