Three Times... Lucky?

A few months ago I was out running the dirt roads around home with Jake when a neighbour pulled up to me in his truck and said there was a bear up ahead. He said it had been digging around in the garbage. He'd chased it away and it was probably okay, but I decided to turn around anyway. I was a little bummed that I didn't get to see the bear, but I really didn't need to risk Jake becoming bear dinner. So home we went. Strike One.

A few weeks later, Jake and I were out running again. We came across a lady out walking her dog and she stopped to warn me there was a bear up the road. She figured it was okay, that she'd seen him run up deeper into the woods, but that I should be aware. This time I didn't turn around, I kept running and hoped that maybe I'd get a glimpse of the bear. No such luck. Strike Two.

I had to laugh at myself. Did I really want to run into a bear in the wild? The last time I'd seen one in the wild I was up at Apex (for Ironman Canada) last year. He was at the side of the road and I was safely strapped into my seat in the car as we drove past. He was an absolute beauty. Standing face-to-face with only my feet to get me to safety in the event of a charging bear didn't really seem all that appealing. Though, I'd probably be okay with Jake -- his barking would probably scare the bear away. But what if it didn't? Jake is a brave little soul, but I doubt he'd be much of match for a bear.

There hasn't been anymore sightings of our neighbourhood bear since then. I heard that animal control was going to relocate him further into the mountains.

Since my adventure in running at the Trespass Trail Challenge, I've been running more gnarly trails every weekend. My favourite starts from Chautauqua Park in Boulder on the Mesa Trail and then connects onto Bear Canyon and Bear Peak trails. It takes me about two hours to run/hike it and I have yet to reach the Bear Peak Summit. I love it though, lots of ups and downs, unstable footing -- trees roots, granite rocks, boulders... it's a totally rocking lung and quad burner.

A couple of weeks ago Jake and I were out on the trail and made our turn around a short ways up Bear Canyon. It was scortching hot that weekend so I was sharing water with Jake out of my bottle. I stood up to take a swig myself and noticed a funny looking branch hanging in the tree above. It was at an odd angle so my first thought was that it was a broken branch. I quickly noticed the end of it was a darker diamond shape and my second thought was that it was a snake. It wasn't. I took two steps down and realized what it was. It was a deer leg from the shoulder down. There was still fur in it so it was somewhat recent. Hmmm... I was in mountain lion and bear country, so decided it was time to get our butts back down the mountain.

Today we were up there again having a great run. I hit the same mark (the deer leg) as last time faster and decided to add another 15 minutes on the climb. Up and up we went over lose rock, sharp jutting granite rocks, boulders, and stepped tree roots. I heard some rustling in the bushes and didn't think anything of it. I heard it again, but this time it was louder and I thought to myself that it sounded a little bigger than a bird or rodent. A little further and I saw the bushes moving. I stopped and there he was... a bear! Sleek black coat, fuzzy round ears, maybe waist high to me at most, and only 20-30 feet away.

The first thing I did was scope out the trees closest to me for ease of climbing. I immediately dismissed that thought though -- bears can climb. I think. Anyway, he really didn't see us, but he certainly heard us when I said, "Turnaround time, Jake. Right now!" Didn't even stop for the two of us to have a swig of water as planned. I started running and thought, should I run from a bear? Maybe it was okay since we never made eye contact. I looked over my shoulder to see Jake standing perked up at the edge of the trail, one paw in "point" pose. He was curious and wanted to check out the bear. I yelled at him a couple of times to get him moving. Finally he came and were off at a very nice running pace -- even over the rough terrain. I relaxed pretty quickly though, yelling at Jake probably scared the bear off. Still, it was probably a good idea that we were heading back down the mountain instead of further up "bear canyon".

I finally got to see my bear in the wild, though I don't think I'll run the full Bear Canyon/Peak trail without Jake along. I'd freak myself out up there alone. ;-)

31 July 2005

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A Season Revised

I’ve made a decision. It’s been in the works for a while now and really comes as no surprise. This has been a pretty tough year for me with so many changes, injuries and stresses, and my training has suffered. I am far below where I should be to be racing an IM in a couple of months and the pressure I’m putting on myself to get my training back up to par doesn’t help.

A friend of mine keeps telling me not to worry, that I have so much base that I will bounce back fast. Perhaps, but it’s been three months since I’ve had any quality or consistency in my training. That’s a long time to lose fitness.

I was out running the other morning and it suddenly dawned on me that I have a 1/2IM coming up in five weeks. I’ve been so distracted that I hadn’t realized it was creeping up on me so fast. I think you can fake your way through a half ironman, but not an ironman. I don’t think I want to try and fake it through an ironman either.

So I’ve made some changes to salvage my season this year. I want to have some fun and stick to local races. The fun makes the training better and the local keeps the budget in check. So instead of a half ironman and an ironman this year, I’m going to do two half ironmans and then some fun trail running races. More races but shorter distances.

It took seven months but I finally admitted to myself that this is going to be my one “non-ironman” year after all. I’m not out of it altogether though, I’m signing up for Ironman CDA 2006.

I’m excited again and looking forward to some fun runs out on the trails. :-)

3 July 2005

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