During a recent run around Half Moon Lake in Eau Claire my training buddy Dave suddenly stopped and turned around to pick something up off the trail.

“Did you find some money?” I asked him, as he bent down.

“No,” he replied, as he stood back up holding a tiny turtle.

“Holy cow, is it a baby snapper?” I asked him, as he carried it over to the grass by the lake.

“No, a sun (painted) turtle,” he replied, as he set it down in what was a much safer location than the busy running, walking, and biking trail that it had been on.

“What a good guy,” I said to Dave, as we started back on what turned out to be a 9-mile run. “You did your good deed for the day.”

The whole thing reminded me of two things in particular–what a good guy Dave is and how running often gives us a chance to do good deeds for wild critters like turtles.

Several times, for example, I’ve stopped traffic for a mother duck leading her flock of little ones across the road.

At my family’s lake place in northern Minnesota, I’ve also picked up turtles off the road so that they don’t get squashed by a car.

On a darker note, it’s long been my practice to move road kill off the street whenever I see it during a walk or run. Seeing a road-killed animal is sad enough. Seeing it continually get run over is something that I try to prevent whenever possible.

The chance to enjoy nature and see wild critters is one of the many things that I enjoy about walking and running outdoors. The chance to help them out from time to time only adds to the enjoyment.