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...not sure how the situation started, or how it spun so far out of control, but here is what happened...

It was a typical group training night last Wednesday. The team met, there were some announcements, a mission moment, the cheer, and we were off. This night's workout was the second installment of "Kenyan Outbacks". I actually like this particular workout and was looking forward to doing my best despite the extreme heat and humidity. First one, run out 20 minutes at LSD pace, return to starting point in 16 minutes. The first one went fine. I didn't make it back in 16 minutes but I was just a bit over. I guess that is the whole point- to "go out slow" and to really monitor your pace. Next one, run out 10 minutes at LSD pace, return to starting point in 8 minutes. So I ran slowly out 10 minutes, so slowly in fact that I almost tripped over a baby bird that was lying on the path cheating death. I stopped in my tracks, much to the chagrin of my running partner, K-Dubs. We looked for the nest. We looked for a mama bird. We looked for the candied camera just waiting to see what we'd do. Nothing. We debated about what to do with the feathered finding. I will tell you honestly that K-Dubs looked at me with a look of shock and horror as I picked up the baby bird. I think she also turned a bit white in the face. However, we both remembered our dear friend Sundog telling us that the smell of a human on a baby bird has no bearing on whether the mama will come back or not. I figure she would know- her mom works at the Raptor Center and is a serious bird person. I think I actually asked aloud, "what would the Sundog do?" and then the ball rolled...

Baby bird in hand, we ran back a mile or so back to the starting point. Needless to say we didn't make it back in the desired Kenyan outback time. Oh well. More important issues at this point! Save the bird! By the way, YOU try running with your hands cupped in front of you trying to be still! I thought I knew my plan of attack. I would put my new feathered friend in a dixie cup and drive it to the wildlife rehab center at the university. This was the awesome plan and off I went leaving my Popsicle eating, water drinking teammates by the cooler. I drove around the entire east and west banks of the campus and couldn't find the building. I also had trouble maneuvering the wheel one handed as I tried to keep the bird from leaving the cup on my lap. After quite some time, I started to look for some people that "looked helpful". I knew I couldn't go wrong with some young, cute, college coeds. I pulled over and asked two young men (freshman maybe?) if they could help me find the wildlife rehab building. They immediately got on their phones to find an address. I was not able to do this one-handed on my own phone, as I had the bird...

They found an address as my clock read 8:30pm. ROSEVILLE???? As I profusely thanked the coeds, I squealed my tires and was back on the road to saving the baby bird. On my way "out of town" I got turned around a couple of times and landed in some questionable areas of the city. Dodging a number of police cruisers, j-walkers, and highly intoxicated grown-ups, I took some deep breaths and continued on my mission. Cursing the bird, and myself at this point, I felt like cutting my loss and tossing the bird out the window. But just then the bird looked up at me and CHIRPED! Ok, so I found the highway and headed to Roseville.

As I entered the on-ramp, the sky opened up and torrential rains started coming down. This was most likely retaliation for thinking I may throw the bird out the window. It was seriously raining so hard that most people were pulled over on the side of the highway to wait it out. Like a lemming, I pulled over for a few minutes but then remembered that I was paying a sitter $10/hr at my house so I had to continue on. After hydroplaning a handful of times I finally got to Roseville. I found the "Wildlife Rehabilitation" building and pulled into the parking lot, which was full of cars. Promising! I quickly parked and RAN through what WCCO radio called a "severe thunderstorm warning" to the front door. Anyone want to guess what I saw? Yeah, that's right. A note...

"We are currently closed. Our hours are from (whatever time) to 8:30pm. If you have an animal to leave with us, please take it home, place it in a dark and quiet spot, and return in the morning during regular business hours. Please do not give the animal anything to drink or eat". The sign must have read my mind because when I continued reading it said, "Please do not attempt to access this building. The building is under surveillance". So I was a half hour late. REALLY????

What did I do? I found what I thought was a "dark and quiet spot" (despite the roaring thunder and sheets of rain falling from the sky), under the protection of the front walkway, under a bush, and left the baby bird there inside the tipped over dixie cup. I looked back a couple of times as I walked to my car hoping for some sort of sign that this bird would be alright. I didn't get one.

I really hope the bird made it. I'd like to think it did.