Have I ever told you about the time that I was chased by wild turkeys on the greenbelts on a run the day before Thanksgiving? Seriously, I am not making this up. Four years ago I went for a run and got more of a workout than I bargained for when a gaggle of turkeys hanging out by a playground ran towards me down a little hill.
Today at the request of Sam and Soph, I am bringing you my first ever storytime. I have a lot of odd and interesting travel stories (quite a few involve being stalked or chased by birds, honestly), so let me know if this is something that you would like to see again on the blog! I would be happy to share more of my shenanigans with you. Grab your tea and some popcorn because without further adieu, let’s get into that fateful November afternoon…
Birds don’t like me. They can smell my fear and they like to mess with me. I am pretty sure that my fear of birds probably stems from that time when I was flying a kite in Mission Bay Park with my gran and a seagull pooped in my hair. Or maybe the fear didn’t come until much later when I think my friend Jess and I were about to be sacrificed by a flock of seagulls for eating California burritos at the beach.
Anyways, back to The Incident.
It was a crisp November afternoon and my running partner canceled on me. I almost didn’t go for a run that day, but I was so elated with the progress I had been making with my speed that I went out anyways. Running on the greenbelts is wonderful because it is just so… green and full of nature as it winds around the residential areas of town. They run through parks and in a flat town provide artificial hills to run on as the paths have overpasses for the major roads.
The park was near my halfway point, and I noticed the group of turkeys coming into the park from the adjacent neighborhood on my first pass. I didn’t think anything of it; in the two years I’d lived here they were just around. I looped around a few minutes later as I made my way back home and they had made their way into the park on a little grassy knoll next to the path. While they were much closer and I have bird fear, I wasn’t too concerned as I was making my way towards them.
Until the started fluffing their tails, that is.
It felt like they turned to me and got all aggressive. Or maybe defensive, I don’t know. Maybe a gal running to Flogging Molly was too startling for them, or maybe it was their revenge for the typical Thanksgiving meal, who knows. All I know is by the time the path looped next to that knoll, I knew I was in trouble. My heart began to race. I was starting to feel gassed but knew now wasn’t the time for a walk break, so I kicked up the speed to pass them quickly and they ran after me down their little knoll! I looked back and was like “surely this isn’t happening,” but it was. I snapped a bad photo, only capturing one in the frame, and ran some more.
They gave up the chase pretty quickly, thankfully. The next day my Achilles tendon was really messed up. It turns out that running caused acute Achilles tendonitis because I shouldn’t have introduced so many “hill sessions” and I haven’t been able to run since. I always joke about how I was chased by turkeys on a run the day before Thanksgiving, calling my running injury The Turkey’s Revenge.
There you have it, folks: ya girl was chased by turkeys on the day before Thanksgiving and lived to tell the tale! Have you ever been chased by birds? What random and totally out there stories do you have that are so crazy people assume you made them up? I’d love to hear your thoughts & experiences down in the comments!
Let’s go on another adventure together!
*sits down and listens intently while poking Sam with her Sharpie* You should just call this Bird Time with Kal if you have numerous amounts of bird stories, lol.
You poor soul, getting chased around by Turkeys and other birdies. 😂
Bird Time with Kal, lolol. I definitely have like 4 bird stories! I don’t know why they like to mess with me, I am a good person I swear!
But are you? 🤔🤔🤔
*take Sharpie away from Soph while munching on popcorn* This was the greatest. Bird time with Kal is the best time with Kal. 😂😂
I honestly haven’t cackled this much since I did a rewatch of Roswell. LOL. 😂😂😂😂
Glad you enjoyed this storytime and hope it was everything you were hoping for!
*snatches popcorn away* Food is better, Sam. You keep that sharpie
I was once chased by Sheep when I was younger, there was a shephard and we (My brothers and I) wanted to take a closer look, so they ended up chasing us and my brother fell down, but we all lived to tell the story 😛
Oh gosh, I can imagine a herd of sheep chasing people in my head! Glad you two made it out alive!
hehe thanks :’)
Oh my goodness, this is crazy! You really can’t make this stuff up, haha. The closest thing I’ve had happen to me is a dog run towards me during a run, but even it didn’t chase me. I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving!
claire @ clairefy
I wish my imagination were as creative as my life! Dogs can be super scary, glad it wasn’t mean! Thank you, and I hope you had a great one as well.
This is such an amazing story. I’m cracking up hysterically. 😂 Considering it was the day before Thanksgiving, I can imagine why those birds might’ve been a bit defensive … hahaha!!
I’m so glad to have brought you some joy with this story, and I laugh every time I tell it. Just doesn’t get old!
Ahahahaha oh my god 😂😂 Turkey revange, thats right. Stay far away from our Canadian Geese, thoses are meanies !!!
Closest id have is being bit by a swan when trying to feed them … and yep it does hurt xd
I want MORE!! I love story times!! 😘
Oh my GOSH! When I was in Okanagan back in May of this year there was a group of Canadian geese at the lake. My friend and I crept away very quietly… I have heard stories about how vicious those jerks are!
Ouch on the swan bite! I think that would traumatize me for life. D:
LOL! Birds are scary. Turkeys especially. They are massive!
Once i was under attack by a blue tit (of all things) for a day. That bird kept throwing himself against my window and deathglared at me all day.
Birds ARE scary, thank you for agreeing with me!
And what a weird blue tit! Good thing you were protected by the window..