Running In Place

I am liking winter running! The trail I favor is just so beautiful with the snow covered trees and bushes and I usually have it all to myself these days so there’s lots of quiet solitude and all. So far, the coldest temp I’ve run in is 15F and today was actually the first day that I ran in wind strong enough to lend an unpleasant component - but overall my layering system has worked well and I have yet to be uncomfortably cold or hot. So far winter running beats summer running in my book - you can’t escape heat and humidity - theoretically there’s only so much clothing you can take off when running, and you’re still stinkin’ hot.

So today I was trundling along on the trail I was noticing the footprints in the snow of a man and dog who had gone before me. Though I didn’t meet them on the path, they must have been there very recently as it had been snowing on and off all day and the tracks were fresh. I would have loved to see this dog because it left these amazingly GIANT paw prints, to the point where the absurd thought crossed my mind that it must have been a bear. Though I could find my share of bear 30 minutes up the road in the foothills of the Adirondacks, it’s pretty unlikely I’ll run into any on a towpath in the middle of town with a defunct portion of the Erie Canal on one side and train tracks on the other. The facts notwithstanding, I started to imagine what I would do if I came across a bear (or it came across me) during one of my runs. From what I understand, the last thing you’re supposed to do if you meet a bear is run away - you can’t out run them, you can’t out climb them, and you probably can’t out swim them (well maybe Annalisa could). If I remember right (not something I’ve read up on recently) you firstly have to be sure you are not facing the bear directly but rather in a side standing position, and do not look the bear directly in the eye. If the bear does consider you a threat and charges, as much as you would love to run screaming, you must get down on the ground and adopt a fetal position - probably wise to put one arm across the back of your neck for protection and one over your face. All things being as they should, the bear comes and checks you out while you lie still and quiet, figures you’re not actually as dangerous as you initially looked, and goes upon his beary way. Phew, that was a close one.

I got to thinking of all this and of the almost superhuman level of internal control it would take to harness your fear enough to submit yourself to the mercy of the bear rather than trying to escape - you would be fighting against not only every psychological response, but every physiological response that comes to play in the fight or flight syndrome. I wish I could have met that dog with the giant feet today so I could have thanked him for giving me such an interesting situation to mull over. If I ever meet a bear, will I be ready?