Le professeur de trail
Had some good runs the last week - wanted to share some of the sights.....
(disclaimer - my phone does not take good pictures)
Green the color of the forest floor coming to life:
The contrast of white splashing into brown:
Gray the color that goes on and on:
Blue the color of the bells:
Red the color of the cardinal with the bluebells as the backdrop:
(I tried to get a picture but could not...) but reminded me of a painting.
Tan carpeting lined with purple majesty:
More purple majesty:
Black & White the color of the beasts that chased me:
This is my idea of a color run!! (my new favorite season to run is spring!!!)
**Ok...cow story time....I ran a section of the Appalachian Trail on Sunday. This sections crosses through a couple of farms. The one is a dairy farm. The trail leads to the fence, climbs wooden stairs over the fence and the trail continues through the middle of the pasture. I have traveled through this field many times and only seen cows out once (my very first hike on the AT). I made it through most of the pasture and cows were staring at me from everywhere. One cow on the trail moved away as I ran up on her. But as I was nearing the stairs to exit the pasture on the other side, a cow started toward me. It was clear that she was reacting to me or her perception of me. I climbed over the fence and told her that she better be off the trail when I returned an hour later. I did return and started back through the pasture again. I counted three cows directly on the trail - one in the beginning, one in the middle and one right before the stairs. All the other cows were huddled in their corners. I veered wide around the first but noticed she started after me. The second was preoccupied with a weed stuck in a piece of the fence but I veered wide again. The first cow was still chasing, the second cow joined her. Now it was on to the last. She looked up at me, I veered but since it was so close to the stairs, I was closer than I wanted to be. Then a crowd of cows from the left were in fill pursuit (picture above). I made it to the other side unscathed. The last thing I wanted on this day was mad cow disease. It was rather comical to be honest with you. Cows move just slightly slower than I do.
Edit: Almost forgot another color: hot pink the color of the bikini bottoms (sans bikini top) of the sun bather at Blue Marsh Lake yesterday! Sorry no pics.
Have a great day!
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
Endless trails
Nice colors, boyjame. Our new place here in New York is surrounded by woods
and amazing colors, DW and I have been enjoying it every day. My normal routine
is a run in the morning, then come home and walk the dog along the creek trail, then
a walk/hike with DW in the evening. It's as close to perfect as I've ever been.
I was chased by cows twice, in San Ramon, CA. I was laughing at how funny it was
as I was hoping not to trip and be trampled. I later learned the best strategy is the one
you employed; veer and weave since they have such poor eyesight. Trail running is
always an adventure, I bet the road runners don't have cow chasing stories.
Tim
Nice color run.
“Paralysis-to-50k” training plan is underway!
Faster Than Your Couch!
Woohoo, that's a color run that I'd appreciate!
I know the feeling of being chased by cows from hiking in Austria and Germany. There are many hiking trails leading through pastures, including similar contraptions to help you over the fence. You never realize how big a cow is until it is standing right in front of you!
And just for the records, if a cow really wants to attack, it can easily outrun a runner - so beware!
Run for fun.
Nice colors, Jamie! When I read the title, I thought you had done a run with your kids. And with all the attention we pay to larger predators and venomous snakes, I guess we've been ignoring the more innocuous but more prevalent danger in our pastures (turkeys included). Thanks for the laugh!
I'm thinking the color pink next to the blue lake would have been a really nice color contrast. Of course I'm thinking of the artistic aspects only...
You should run with the cows in the dark sometimes, their eyes are really creepy reflecting back from running lights. Theirs eyes are so far apart they look like aliens or something.
Thanks for the photos.
2/17/24 - Forgotten Florida 100 Mile, Christmas, FL
For awhile I was afraid to open this, thought we might have to ban you from the forum . Thankfully you provided good pictures.
I think running with the cows would be fun. As long as I wouldn't slide through a cow pie, land on my face and get run over in the stampede.
Jon - I am super jealous of where you guys moved. We wouldn't mind if you supplied some pictures sometime of your new area - that is unless you want to keep it to yourself.
AT - thanks - the best kind!
Couch - ummm...I did not know that. I wonder what would provoke a cow? Maybe they mistook me for the kid that was trying to tip some of them recently???
DC - I would never subject my kids to these color runs they have. I heard from those I know who have done them that you end up finding colors in every crevice of your body for weeks afterwards. But...I will admit that I did sign myself and my 10 yr old up for a mud run in August...seriously. I needed to do something to get him going ....we'll see though.
Sandy - the contrast of the pink against the blue lake was phenomenal...not like I was looking or anything.... Alien cows...that would definitely creep me out.
DD - there were plenty of cow pies I was trying to avoid as I swung wide of the cows on the trail. It was hard to tell the difference between that and the deep mud.
I can always find cows. Mostly, cows are just curious. Most places I hunt on have cows, and when I cross fields before daylight, I always try to find the cows to make a wide circle around them. I am not afraid of them, but I don't like them tromping around behind me into the woods making all sorts of racket.
I tend to be a cow magnet. When we were in the Gila National Forest last month on a turkey hunt, I eased into an area in which I had seen a good deal of turkey sign the day before. It was a day before the season opened, and I found a nice spot from which to listen when it got to be daylight. As I was waiting, I heard something behind me, elk, mule deer, bear???? No. It was a freakin' cow, a bull actually. So, on 2.7 million acres of wilderness, I happen to find a listening spot 20 yards from a cow!!! I moved on down the trail. The morning before that, I had 3 cows come down a mountain and go past me. It took three days of hard hunting before I got a turkey to do the same, but we did pretty good once we figured them out.
LB2