Bear With Me

The sore throat I developed last Friday got worse and worse as the week gave way to the weekend. In fact, at one point I completely lost my voice, which left me somewhat helpless, and I developed somewhat of a chest cold. I worked on through, but nixed any running because I didn't want to get any worse. 

Fast forward to Thursday. By then, the 4th of July, I was at least able to get out the door and put in a slow and cautious 6 miles. One mile into the run, as I was crossing a road, a spied a black bear to my right, no more than 70 feet away. I stopped dead in my tracks and waited. He stopped too. We were both heading in the same direction but based on the way he was walking I didn't want to run ahead because I knew I'd run into him again on the ATV trail, which is what I was running on. We stared at each other for about 20-seconds. I was ready to drop into a sprint or charge him with arms flailing - depending on the circumstance. Eventually, he started off away from me, this time running - slowly. I walked down the trail, not knowing where he might pop out to my right. Then, lo and behold, my new friend poked his head out onto the trail and began running away from. So, I started after him, keeping a safe distance between me and his back paws. Eventually he crossed the trail and crashed through the forest and through a swamp. A minute or so later, when I reached an in intersection on the ATV trail, I spied my friend (or a second bear) again lumbering up behind me. This time I hid in the woods and watched. It walked as if it was in no rush at all then slipped into the woods. He (or she) never saw me.

Sadly, that same bear (?) was shot the next afternoon. There is no way to confirm whether it was the same bear, but there had been a nuisance bear around these parts for some days (or weeks) who wasn't afraid of humans...or guns. That said, the bear I saw never gave me trouble. Hard to say if it was the same one or not, but given that I've been working on a bear case and speaking with numerous people regarding said bear, it's likely the same one.

The next day I upped my mileage to 7.

On Saturday I ran 8 miles in 52:30. On Sunday I ran 8 miles in 51:30. I ran alongside a beautiful red fox.

The cold and congestion is still "there" but it's getting better by the day.

Tomorrow, I will try to get something more substantial in, since I have the day off.