BUSY WEEKEND
Saturday was the second running of the Herron Hustle, a fundraiser/awareness raiser I put on for Foys to Blacktail Trails. It went pretty smoothly, except for the fact that 5 people took a wrong turn and got lost. The turnout was decent and I was overall pleased with how it went. I had great volunteers and the people who do this run seem to be mellow easy-going sorts.
This morning I did the swim portion of a local sprint triathlon. Deb did the bike and Ruth did the run. We had a lot of fun and took second place for the teams. The swim was supposedly "long" so a little more than half a mile -- in 21 minutes. Not bad.
I need to pack drop bags and pack for my trip, but for some reason I can't bring myself to get started. So much to do!!!
I got to open my birthday present from Ted tonight! Is it bad that I can't wait for winter?
10 comments:
Go get um!
Good luck with packing. Maybe it's the realization that the packing really begins the countdown that ends in the stadium. Antsiness is ugh; take a deep breath and remember to tell yourself "No one is paying me to do this. The point is to enjoy myself." Even if our definition of enjoy is a little twisted. :) I love the photo of your racers trailing off into the forest. That's the meaning of all this trail running for me. That feeling of about-to-enter-a-different-zone-ness....(ramble ramble ramble). You won't let yourself down. No way.
far be it from me to intrude, but I fear those boots are really going to weigh you down at WS....
I'm just sayin.... : )
I vote for the Pabst Blue Ribbon Shirt, and the hot new touring boots. Ya got to break them in sometime. Why not at WS? Happy Birthday, Happy Tapering and Happy Adventures! GO YOU!!
Just got back from the race that nature put on hold.
http://www.lto-sotocje.si/maraton/
Photos for the heavily forested scenery contrasting with white limestone to be posted up soon.
I did some marshalling last year, enjoyed the vicarious races on the faces.
Good luck at Western States! We can't wait to read the race report.
More on the bear problem.
My aim is to put you off running on wooded trails in forests that contain bears as you look like a nice woman and I would feel guilty if you got eaten and I had written nothing.
So purely selfish reasons.
Bears may start eating you while you are still alive, they know there is no need to subdue you as resistance is futile, big cats generally suffocate you first as their hunting tactic.
Got close to one hiking off main trail on my recent trip to Slovenia, movement seen in corner of eye, couple of claw marks on muddy sections, tree damage at head height.
Movement seemed to be away, some surprised growling heard ahead perhaps, difficult to tell with the noise from the stream in spate nearby.
I was going up stream to find a ford.
Left area quickly.
Which has had me digging up old memories and scooting around the web for up to date info.
My advice based on being a walker, climber occasional hunter in the UK, friendship with French licensed hunter / gamekeeper with regular trips to the Alps from early childhood including being stalked by a mountain lion (released into French Alps after dangerous animals regulations changed) is: stay away from wooded areas on your own, never go off trail - unless to avoid a confrontation, make noise before entering an area with lots of cover, react appropriately, NOT REACTING causes most problems it passes the initiative back to the animal (or person in a urban situation), use solid secure cabins not tents when hiking.
In Europe hunters commonly use solid bearing slugs in 12 bores on wild boar or illegal (in France) spinning expanding steel helix rounds that will cut a hole 3 - 4 inches wide through an oil barrel and deep into the ground.
Native American Indians employed on bear protection also use 12 bore with these 3 inch slugs.
Looking at the recent studies more closely bear spray has its place.
Sticking to the main trails in Slovenia you are fairly safe (2 bear attacks a year) although bears in all forested areas. So I carried no protection other than being prepared.
They do however have a strategy to keep bear / hiker interaction to a minimum and no Grisly issue.
If I were you I would carry a pump action 12 bore loaded with expanding cutting steel slugs with spray cannisters both on your belt and strapped to the stock, practice using both at the same time as the bear comes in range of the spray.
Carry the 12 bore in your hands so that you can use it immediately.
Three of you in a group will have a better chance of detering an attack by your group size and a better chance of hitting the bear if it charges.
First thing is to avoid the bears though: hold your ground in a non threatening way stand still if you see a bear (or most other predators), slip the safety off, maintaining eye contact, back away slowly don't turn and run, watch the bears reaction, use weapons as per standard advice (centre of target) if charged,
if you manage to hit a bear with one of these rounds centrally it should stop it, two obviously better, you are probably going to lose any fight with a predator that is more than twice your body weight or half your body weight if a big cat, hitting it with small arms is just going to enrage it.
A note to clarify one point.
My opinion on maintaining eye contact is different to advice seen elsewhere. I feel that that breaking off eye contact momentarily is typically a prelude to attack in humans and could be interpreted as so by the bear also highly evolved mammals. Frankly the idea that you are going to be able to maintain an adequate oblique watch on the bear is laughable. In effect you would be breaking and re-establishing eye contact constantly a great way to wind the bear up and get in a panic yourself.
Oh no, Danni! Just read on the Western States website that you dropped out at 2 am. Hope you are okay!
e Brutto, I am not going to run with a gun and sometimes you take risks to live life to the fullest and love life. I carry bear spray. I am not going to stop trail running :-) I appreciate your thoughts though.
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