Monday, October 6, 2014

The Time I Saw Bullwinkle

This weekend I headed up the Colorado hills for some high altitude training in Frisco, Colorado (elevation: 9,092 feet).

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This person ^^^ is my dear friend, Erika. Do you think we look like sisters? At all?

I think it’s good to leave your husband, dog, kids, and dirty toilets for some girl time.

If you have never been there, Frisco is very ugly. Who needs quaint buildings surrounded by snow capped mountains?

You know how there are those runs that are a ridiculous suckfest of aches, pains, gas and fatigue? Then you know how there are those magical runs where everything falls into place? My Saturday morning run in Frisco was the magical kind.

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My friend Julie is recovering from a stress fracture in her foot and can’t run, but she rode her mountain bike beside me. I had an 8 mile run to do with 2 x 2.5 mile intervals. Running intervals up hill at 9,000 feet hurts. In the best way possible.

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I ran from Frisco towards Copper Mountain. Julie was ahead of me and would turn back to yell at me to go faster. Screw that.

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One time she came to tell me that there was a big moose on the path ahead. I was immediately excited followed by being immediately scared because moose (meese?) are supposed to be kind of big and mean. They apparently like to charge people, especially runners wearing purple. Which is weird because I grew up thinking they smiled, wore tuxes, sipped martinis and answered to “Bullwinkle”:

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When we did the Epic Relay in the Tetons in August, we did some research on what to do if you confront a moose. Usually they will not attack unless provoked or unless they are protecting their young.

Here’s what to do (from HERE):

  • Back away with your palms facing the moose – Yo Moose! Talk to the hand!
  • Speak softly and reassuringly, like you would to a little child – Well hello, would you like some warm milk and a diaper change?
  • If the moose charges, get behind a large tree or rock in order to separate your body from the moose. Most moose charges, like grizzly bear charges, are bluffs
  • If the moose attacks you, feign death by curling up in a little ball. Protect your head and neck with your arms. If you are wearing a backpack, your pack will protect your back

We crept up the path, but the moose had headed down towards the river. However, as we turned around to come down, there was Bullwinkle in the middle of the path walking towards us. He veered off and into the woods. Probably for another cosmo. Here are moose tracks (also the name of my favorite ice cream):

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All in all, an amazing run even if I couldn’t keep my interval pace AT ALL.

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I got back to find my sister still asleep so I gave her a hickey.

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When’s the last time you went on a girl’s weekend? Where to?

Ever encountered a wild animal while running or seen a moose in the wild?

SUAR

PS: I’ve got a new post up at RunHaven you might like, “5 Things Successful Runners Never Do.”

37 comments:

  1. So you put that bottle of Fireball in the photo with no further explanation!? :-)

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  2. we see dolphins all the time on our runs. most of our mileage is on a path right next to tampa bay

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  3. I have never been on a girls weekend, timing never works out! Boo! Seeing a moose would be awesome and intimidating!! Hope you put the fireball to good use!!

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  4. Fall is such a wonderful time to run! Its gorgeous here, too, even if we're not surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Sometimes I see bears when I run. So far they are always running away, much faster than me! I also see deer from time to time and moose are common here, but no dolphins, hmmph.

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  5. We did our last long run before Chicago on the LOBO and ran into a friend of ours just before you run under Hover/95th. He said he had seen a mountain lion in that area earlier that morning!!!! It totally freaked me out!! At first I thought he was kidding but he was serious enough that he reported it to DOW the next day. Hopefully that bad boy has moved on by now because there is no way I could out run a mountain lion and I'm pretty sure my training partner is faster than I am. :)

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    1. AHHH!!! That scares me. I never expect to see animals other than squirrels there. I would be so taken by surprise and would probably soil myself.

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  6. I've seen deer, coyote, bobcats and cattle - all on the same trail. Occasionally there are bear tracks, but I've never seen a bear on the trail. I think I might have killed, or at least seriously injured, a bird the other day - I was on my mountain bike and it tried to fly through my wheel. I'm guessing it couldn't see the spokes, poor thing!

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  7. On a training run in Alaska I looked up and saw a Moose about 30 yards in front of me. I stopped. Then a car drive by and the moose darted into the woods (as fast as a deer). My legs got cold after stopping in the early morning air, and when I started running again I pulled a hamstring.

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  8. I had to cut a 20 mile run to 19 due to a bear hanging out at mile one.

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  9. I've been chased by skunks at least twice and have seen my share of turkeys, deer, hawks, etc. But my favorite animal sighting has to be this spring, when I got to close to a goose guarding its young and got chased off the trail! Of course I screamed and ran away, and of course there were tons of people around to witness.

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  10. I ran into a heard of Elk in Estes Park. There were 4 makes and about 12 female. Loved every minute. I was 4 1/2 miles into a 5 mile run. I would of had to back track to get to cabin. Didn't want a 10 mile run at altitude. I hung out 40 min till the moved on!!! Love it!!

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  11. I just spent a girls' weekend with my sister in Charleston SC! We had a blast. No moose sightings but we did spy John Edwards at a restaurant. He is as good looking as on TV but didn't give us a glance. Jerk.

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  12. Who wants to talk about moose when there is that freaking amazing left ham muscle! I am in awe. No wonder you are so speedy.

    Closest I've been to a girls weekend was going girl watching with a lesbian buddy. That was a blast for both of us.

    Moose in the wild, check. Barely escaped hitting it with the car, check. Moose knees are very, very hairy, and not especially attractive. Let's see, wild life when running or biking. All kinds of deer or elk like creatures. Coyotes, wolves, I think a badger, two mountain goats (I was on a bike and nearly hit them) a brown bear (I was in the car scoping the bike route) a skunk, raccoons, eagles. I think that's it.

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  13. Wow!! That is gorgeous! The leaves changing, and even the pictures make the air look crisp!

    The moose sighting would make me a little worried, too. Once I got scared for my life when I came across a pack of 10 baby deer. They just seemed more powerful than me.

    (Just discovered your blog, and love it! You are an inspiration! And you're hilarious!)

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  14. I've just discovered your blog as well & finding inspiring and hilarious too. Am I the only person who sees the RunHaven logo as Run Shaven?

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    1. No!! Lots of people have said that actually. I guess it's good to also run shaven.

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    2. I came just to comment on this. Meridith at Swim Bike Mom has an article about shaving. Ahem.

      Now I feel like a creeper.

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    3. Well, Beth, you are wearing the tee shirt....!

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  15. Wow it is so freaking beautiful in CO. We were there this summer and looking at your pics bring back memories!

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  16. The wildest animal I ever encountered during a run was this big bird that seemed to want tot attack me! It was quite scary.

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  17. Squirrels, ground squirrels and birds are all on my trail. Nothing exciting like a moose. The most exciting things were the eagles last winter when they were migrating.

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  18. Yeah, I have a good friend with a place in Frisco and everytime she invites me out I feel pretty sorry for myself being stuck there.

    For the first time this summer I saw a black bear that wasn't running away in a black blur. She was just standing in the trail, watching us. Very cool but when we tried to go up a hill to go (way, way) around her she started up the hill too. We hustled back to the trail and were pretty freaked out. But she seemed content to stare us down from the top of the hill and let us pass.

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  19. This is the first post of yours I have read, so funny! I use to run on the farm and there was one paddock with a Stud Bull in it. He was huge, and would sort of shuffle from hoof to hoof and stare at me as I took a wide, wide, berth running past. I think he is what made me strive to run faster. We don't have very menacing wild animals in New Zealand, just curious cows and escaped spring lambs.

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  20. I see javelina, rattle snakes and coyotes all the time. Mountain biking last Sunday we were stopped by a group (herd) of cattle (steer) until I got close enough for me to scare them back off the trail. Saw a moose on my run in the Tetons one year. Pretty cool.

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  21. Wild turkeys and lots of deer here but the only animal that ever scared me on a run was an aggressive stray dog. I started carrying pepper spray after that on my early morning runs.

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  22. While running, I had to flag down and get a ride from a random tourist past a buffalo who was threatening to charge me.

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  23. Last weekend was a girls' weekend for me! Seven of my best college friends in a house in Corning, NY. Four ran the Wineglass Half Marathon (I was supposed to run, but broke my toe 2 weeks ago.) It was still super fun cheering on the runners and hanging out at the house before/after the race. Girlfriends are great therapy!

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  24. I've got a girls weekend scheduled in January, and I CAN'T WAIT!!! There are 9 of us, and we actually had to make a spread sheet of all the weekends Sept-Feb to find a weekend that worked for everyone. It's not like back in the day when we could run off to Vegas with a weeks notice :)

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  25. I am glad that you guys weren't harmed by the moose. I have read many articles about moose attacks on runners. I am surprised that they could run on sprints at 35 miles per hour carrying their body with at least a thousand pounds. That's really scary. It may be a blessing in disguise that your friend had to ride a bike instead of running with you and she immediately saw what is up ahead. :)

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