Masters Running

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Sundaily, 5.20.18 (Read 38 times)

Mike E


MM #5615

    Hello everybody!

     

    I had a very busy day, today, which included meeting our new pastor and his wife in an introductory meeting that I just got home from.  He and his wife are about 22...maybe 23 years old.  And we're a congregation where I'm one of the younger ones.  There are changes coming...I'm ready for them...I sure hope everybody else is.

     

    Before the meeting, I ran 6 miles.

     

    Okay--gotta go.  See ya!

      Cougars: Yes, the best thing to do is to fight back, be more aggressive than the cat.  Although no one can pass judgement on the guy that ran away after watching his friend in the jaws of the animal - and his running was probably from purely PANIC, but it's incredibly sad as that was the WORST thing he could have done.  He should have done anything to get his bike, lift it up and use it as a shield and to attack the cougar.

       

      As you know I came within 7 or 8 feet from a young female cougar on my deck, while I was in my hot tub.  She was creeping towards the hottub, smelling the raccoons under the deck, not me, and I watched her reflection in my patio doors as she got closer and closer to me, and it slowly dawned on me this was a cougar and not a bizarrely large raccoon (my first thought) or a dog.  I stood tall and yelled.  She was clearly surprised but did not move.  Then I yelled again, my dog inside the cabin woke up and went ballistic barking at the patio door and then the cougar loped away.  She might have anyway, without my dog barking, but I will never know.  During those split seconds, I knew where my heavy ceramic coffee mug was, in case I would grab it and throw it, I was calculating if I could lift up the very heavy spa cover a few feet away and use it as a shield, I was calculating if I could get to the patio door in time, open it to let my dog out without being completely maimed in the interim and I was also considering splashing the water in the hottub wildly and throwing that in the face of the cougar.  The thought of running NEVER crossed my mind.  You have to fight and fight bigger.

       

      All that said, I am now a bit worried.  I am going to the cabin for the long weekend, alone.  But with my dog.  I was planning on doing several trail runs, and usually I don't take him with me on runs, only hikes.  But I think he'll be coming with me this weekend for those runs.  I've run those mountains alone so many times the past 7 years.  A cougar attack has pretty much never crossed my mind during any of those runs.

      "During a marathon, I run about two-thirds of the time. That's plenty." - Margaret Davis, 85 Ed Whitlock regarding his 2:54:48 marathon at age 73, "That was a good day. It was never a struggle."

      evanflein


        And yeah, probably nothing will happen. As they said, it was the second attack in what, 94 years? And the comment in the paper was "that was one too many" so I guess they're ok with the first guy... But still, something was probably wrong with that cougar as it apparently had no fear of humans, at all. Enjoy your time at the cabin.

         

        So... I set out today for 12 miles, knowing full well that's a big increase from my previous long run and would get me almost 6 miles more than last week for total weekly mileage. It was warm today, but not "hot" by any means. Just warmer than we've had recently. The full sun felt really hot and I did stop and turn around to face the breeze a couple times, that felt good. Traffic was crazy at times. There's a lot of road construction going on here and road closings, so detours had traffic going on roads normally not that busy. So.... 11.5 miles with several stops for traffic, "breeze breaks" and just sucking wind to rest. Last couple miles were not pretty, but got it done. First double digit run since January, and first 40+ mile week in months (40.7). Yay. My legs are going to be sore tomorrow!

        TammyinGP


          Hello all,

           

          Had a good weekend - one of the few weekends this entire summer when David will be home both days, so we just had a low key weekend. He will almost always be working one or both days of the weekend this summer. 

          got in a 5.1 mile run yesterday and 6 today. I have tomorrow off work so will run a bit in the morning also. DH having surgery in the afternoon. Nothing too major but he has huge kidney stones in each kidney and the only way to get to them is to put him under and ultrasound them to pieces. He's having one kidney done tomorrow, and the other one next month. Not sure why they can't do both in one shot, but perhaps that would be too much all at once.  He's nervous about it all - moreso about the anesthesia part - but i think this is a fairly routine surgery when you have big stones, so I'm sure all will be fine.

          Tammy

          Mariposai


            Hi RA maters.  Today was all about getting some homecaring, 6 hours of it since DH and I are trying to downsize, which means a LOT of work for me since my baking, craft, cooking and reading "piles" are much bigger than his.

             

            Holly, I have years of experience having my kids and "other kids" staying with us with open ended times. My rules are: you are here, you WILL have this or that duty to keep up with housework. You will take care of this lawn care; Once a month you will take care of cooking for the whole family for a week. The weeks you don't cook, you are responsible for doing the dishes.Good luck  with your adventure.

             

            Today I ran 8 miles with my running partner. Which bring me to 23 miles for the week.

            Enkie, that is scary to hear about the cougar killing. The second human killing in over 90 year, but still tragic!

            Nice 40 miler, Erika. You are progressing much faster than me.

            "Champions are everywhereall you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard

            SteveP


              Enke - That's terrifying.

               

               

               

              Maybe I am wrong, but in a case like the bikers faced I wonder if the best defense is a good offense. Once the cougar attacks or makes clear it will, rather than try to run away (obviously impossible without a car) go on the attack. Get some rocks and toss them in the animal's direction. If it gets hold of one of the two people, clobber it with a bigger rock or wack it with a large branch. Worse comes to worse toss dirt in its eyes. My guess is with two grown adults on the attack whenever possible the cougar would decide some other prey would be easier to deal with.

               

               

              I got pretty good at putting the bike between myself and angry dogs.

              SteveP

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