This morning a crazy thing happened to me out on Forest Park's Leif Ericson Trail. I have run hundreds of miles on this trail and have never seen any wildlife. It is a heavily traveled old fire road that is inaccessible to vehicles and I like going there sometimes because it has mile markers every quarter mile. I also like how it undulates and snakes around the forest never giving you too flat of a road and you can never see too far ahead of you.
So this morning I came around a corner and there he was...A young 8-point buck standing in the middle of the trail...staring at me with his symmetrical velvet rack. At first I stopped and we had our little moment of checking each other out. Then I yelled and threw my arms for him to carry on. That didn't work. I noticed that there was a steep cliff on one side and a rock wall on the other...and for some reason he didn't want to go the other way. Instead he put his head down and started coming at me! I must admit I got freaked out! I turned and sprinted the opposite way at like a 4-minute pace...and all that I could think of was THIS.
I turned the corner and about 1/8th of a mile later I turned back around and could see that he came even further down the trail. I just stood there and watched and eventually he went up into the woods. WOW! That was unexpected...I wanted to get the legs moving quicker today and that definitely helped.
I continued on with my run and was able to do a solid 7 x 400 workout (70 seconds, 80, 80, 75, 75, 79, 78 seconds) after my little encounter. I have been feeling good and recovered after Bighorn for the most part and am so happy to be back in Oregon where the weather and trails have been phenomenal.
I will be working a camp at Mt. Hood the next couple of weeks and prepping up for White River 50-miler on July 31st.
I hope everyone has a great fourth of July...have fun...and watch out for those charging deer!
7 comments:
WOW! What a great picture!! It looks like he was really close too.
It's funny, I took visiting family to the Hoyt Arboretum last week and we saw a deer too! It was at 3 in the afternoon too.
That's not actually a picture of the guy I saw this morning...but it really looks like him ;-) I guess we have to remember that we're intruding on their home sometimes. Well, that must have been really cool for your visiting family to see :-) I checked your blog...keep up the good work!
oh my! SCARY. being in WNY, and right on the edge of a county park, i literally cannot complete a run without seeing several deer. lately it's mamas and fawns, but they have come so close to me that i could touch them on a regular basis. you just reminded me that these things ARE wild animals. glad you are okay!
If you are in Austin (NW hills of it) you see them as pets on average of 1 per minute (well, you see a bunch every few minutes). Locals feed them - there is special food sold. They just wander around, stopping cars on roads. Can't even say it is cute anymore, just part of daily run. Bambies though, are adorable:)
that's funny Shel because the only other time I have been stared down by a buck was during the Mendon Ponds 50k out in your neck of the woods!
Nice shot! Come visit when you have a few minutes: Levonne's Pretty Pics and A Camp Host Housewife's Meanderings.
during two of the years that i've run the HUFF 50K, someone has been attacked by a deer in the first mile in the early dawn light, and i've heard of someone being charged during the overnight hours of a 100 miler here in the northeast. i'm glad you and this buck sorted things out more amicably.
i made it through the FL50s without seeing any deer -- or cows. i didn't win, but felt good about my race (5:02 for 33 miles), and am sending in my white river registration today. i can't wait to see you july 30 at the prerace dinner.
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