Bold Coyotes

A little background- For the last year I've been training in Muy Thai Kickboxing and Jiu Jitsu. I've gotten fairly proficient at both and have done well when sparring with others. I don't say this to brag, rather for some background on the run I did last Friday night.

I took off at around 9:30 pm on a run. It was dark and yes it was cold, somewhere around 40 degrees. Cold enough in fact that I ran the entire 4 miles watching my breath in the headlamp that I wear on my head when i run at night.

We live in a suburban neighborhood that has horse trails that run next to the streets. Pretty frequently cars will drive by, but the streets aren't busy, per se. So when I run at night with my Ipod in my ears, it can be pretty easy to get spooked or start an overactive imagination into seeing the boogie man around every corner.

This year I thought it'd be different because I have had a year of martial arts training, but no, it's still pretty scary. OK, I admit it, I am a scaredy cat when it comes to running by myself, in the dark while wearing headphones- maybe that's just a dumb combination :)

While the probability of getting mugged or jumped in may area is pretty remote, a run in with the local wildlife is not. And that is exactly what took place on Friday about 2 miles into my run. About 50 feet in front of me a coyote dashed off of the path that I was on and across a 2 lane street where he stood and stared at me. I could see the reflection of his eyes in my headlamp when I turned in that direction. It most definitely goes through my head that he has buddies waiting for him over there and they are going to chase me down and jump on my back like some lion and gazelle scene from the Mutual of Omaha show that I used to watch as a kid ( did I say that I have an overactive imagination?)

After a couple hundred yards I stop looking over my shoulder every couple of steps and continue my run, with only one ear bud in from my Ipod. See, I am getting smarter already.

Did I mention that this is an out an back run. Yep it is. So, after 1/2 mile I run around and run back through the exact spot where the coyote was. I am not the fastest guy on the planet, but I was holding a leisurely 8 minute/ mile pace so it had been about 8 minutes round trip to that spot. He shouldn't have been there right? I mean how patient can a coyote be? And if he was still there, he must certainly have plans to eat me.

As I run up to that spot, I glanced in the direction that I last saw him, again just across a two lane street. What do I see, the flash of two illuminated eyes looking back at me. I glanced again and in fact there may have been 4 eyes. But 2 for sure.

I wear a heart rate monitor and GPS unit,the Garmin Forerunner 305 so I know my exact pace and heart rate. I haven't checked since I downloaded the date, but I would be willing to bet both pace and heart rate jumped. Seriously, like I could outrun a rabid, hungry K-9.

Oh no, not again

So it's been a while since I've posted here, and that has a lot to do with the fact that I haven't been running much since my knee injury in the San Francisco race last year. But, and that is the operative word in this post, I am getting the itch again.

It all started innocently enough when we went to Boston over Thanksgiving. I have made it a tradition to run whenever I am back there for Thanksgiving for a number of reasons. First, it's easy to pack a pair of shoes and cloths to run in when travel ( a whole lot easier than packing a bike). Second, I eat like a pig when I am back there. A trip to Mike's Pastry in the North End is always in order when we are there ( http://www.mikespastry.com/) and running takes away some of the guilt. Next, it is a great way to see the area and running through the neighborhoods in Massachusetts is a history lesson. Also, Boston is home the the most famous Marathon in the world, so running there seems natural. Last, and this illustrates a mental problem that I have, I have this need internally to prove that I can endure harsh conditions. In fact the more grueling and miserable, the better I feel when I doing it. And Boston in November can provide some great challenges in the weather category, especially for a guy doing most of his training in sunny So Cal.

So here it goes. A couple of short runs in Boston.... I can handle that right.... it shouldn't hurt anything... I can stop anytime.... Then I get back to Cali and add some runs in at the house, short at first, then I start turning the corner when I should turn around and adding mileage.

Then comes the next nail in the proverbial coffin. An invitation to the annual Ironman Party. I didn't go, BUT (there's that word again), I did TIVO the race and watched it when I got home that night.

Now here's where I know that someone's got it out for me. I am inncoently sirfing the web at work one day and click on a banner ad for http://www.lstudio.com/. It is a website that Lexus has put together with various videos on it, none of them about Lexus, just short films made possbile by Lexus. As an advertising professional, I want to learn more about what Lexus is doing so I start flipping through what is available and that is where I get hit again. There's a guy there who looks pretty fit named David Goggins and the film is called The Long Run ( http://lstudio.lexus.com/#vid346)

So thinking..hmmm.. wonder what that is about, I click the play button. Crap... he's an ultra runner..... and now I am in need of an intervention.....

The weekend's here and I've got some great Holiday time off coming, so you might as well have just slipped a $20 to a crackhead..... Wish me the best...