Running Lesson # 12

Due to the demands of family on my part, and a change in her carpool schedule for Running Goddess we are no longer able to run together mornings. I was moping this morning when the alarm went off and I had to yank myself out of bed without the lure of social intercourse. In fact, I was downright sad.

However, I did yank myself out there and was able to enjoy a good run, thanks to the motivational input from my mp3 player and some good country music. In fact, I was quite please with myself as I started walking up the last 'cool down hill'.

Then I looked up.

My what a big dog. Our usual running buddy isn't that big. I thought to myself. Oh, poop. That isn't a dog. And I froze.

You got it, a bear. Standing in the clover and chewing on lavender coloured flowers for breakfast. He didn't even notice me.

Now, there are all sorts of guides on how to deal with a face-to-face interaction with a black bear. In theory they are great. In theory I am a very brave woman. I have talked a bold, brave, brash talk for six months of running with a buddy.

In reality, standing on the road all by my lonesome, I almost peed my pants. I was scared.

In case you don't know much about black bears, they can outrun, out climb, and out wrestle the fastest, most limber, or strongest human beings on earth. We get handouts at school each spring on how to deal with a bear up close. They are serious handouts. They don't mince words about black bears. Thankfully I read them.

And those bears, they are not cuddly. They are BIG. (I don't even want to imagine how scary a grizzly would be that close.) On TV and at the zoo they look pretty small and not at all scary. 15 feet in front of you on a lonely road with no other route home, except by the bear... Well, me call a scaredy-cat if you will, but they are Intimidating.

So, this large-ish bear was minding his own business and eating his breakfast. I needed to get home for my breakfast and start the first day of school, but had to get past him to do that. I referenced my rusty-trusty memory for those helpful bearwise handouts given to all students at school last year and I tried a timid stomp with my feet.

He looked up, then went back to breakfast.

I took a deep breathe, praying that this wouldn't make him mad enough to come at me, and shouted shakily, "Go away!"

He looked up, then went back to breakfast.

The bearwise guides say to lift your shirt above your head (no, not to flash him, but to look larger) and make lots of noise. So, I repeated myself a little louder while stomping my feet, "GO Away!" I wasn't at the shirt lifting stage yet.

He looked up, then went back to breakfast. Then I started to stomp closer (no I am not suicidal, just hungry for my breakfast). He looked up, and gave a big sigh, and lumbered across the road and into the bush on the other side.

Breathing deeply a sigh of my own and watching very carefully for bushes moving, I walk up the hill.

Guess what was sitting at the top of the hill?

My running buddy dog friends. They were not interested in the bear at all. They were looking at me as if to say, "Why didn't you wait for us?" In fact, I am not even sure they noticed the bear.

"Thanks guys. Aren't you supposed to chase off the bears?"

Nobody heard me, including the dogs. They just stared.

So, the lesson in all this. Running alone can be good. And sometimes it takes a little courage. But always, it is an adventure.

Oh, and read those handouts. You never know when you will need their advice.