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.