Bears, Bears, Everywhere
As I mentioned last week, I extended my stay after our two-day family reunion and spent this past week with my mom. Last weekend, my relatives local to the area were telling stories of all the recent bear encounters. One had been seen on a section of the road along the river where I normally run when visiting (see video below). This particular bear was out on his morning run down the road at 8 AM when my cousin saw him. As much as I would love a running partner while visiting the farm, I’ll pass on this hairy guy. Another bear was spotted mid-day on another route I take when I head out for a longer run, and my uncle saw a momma bear and her three cubs in front of his house – also along the route I take on my longer runs.
When I asked where bears had been spotted, my uncles replied in unison, “It would be easier to tell you where they haven’t been seen.” As much as I’d love to see a bear, I’d rather see it from the safety of my car than while on foot. So with an abundance of caution, I chose to run a one mile loop that took me no farther than a quarter mile from my mom’s house at any given time. Even though the mailman saw a bear very near my mom’s house, that was at least a year ago and I banked on him getting bored with the local scenery…
Meow, Meow, Meow
It’s become my responsibility each summer to take my mom’s cats Callie and Hobbes to the vet for their annual exams and shots. Neither likes being held captive in their respective carrier, but they both cooperate and allow me to put them in. Of course, their cooperation doesn’t mean that they don’t both meow during the entire 45-minute drive to the vet’s office. They take turns meowing, Hobbes first in his deeper voice answered by Callie’s higher voice, and on and on.
Somehow Callie scratched her eye on the trip to the vet and was given drops which I had to put in her right eye three times a day for seven days. She was pretty cooperative, but I still wrapped her in a towel so she wouldn’t scratch me. I had to turn the baton over to my mom when I left this afternoon and hope that Callie will be equally cooperative for her new nurse. 😉
And Now on to a RunDown of this Past Week’s Workouts…
Running
Monday morning’s rainy 8 AM run was the first in the area since there have been so many bear sightings. Black Angus cattle dotted the landscape and more than once my heart rate increased thinking that particular cow had to be a bear. HaHa!
By Wednesday, my radar was still up, but I ran a little more relaxed. The fields are all clear and bears would be very visible on the north side of the road, but the farmland on the south side is heavily treed with a lot of undergrowth. Oddly, I kept my eyes peeled along the open fields looking for anything that resembled a bear while a bear could have hopped out of the underbrush and I would have been taken totally off guard.
Additionally, the weather had changed drastically from the previous week when we had the extreme heat wave. I woke up to 49° on Wednesday. Luckily, I felt perfectly comfortable and didn’t need warmer running clothes because I hadn’t packed any. My fingers were a little chilly at first, but warmed up within the first mile.
By Saturday morning, I’d moved on from being on bear alert and often caught myself daydreaming, oblivious to anything around me…
Biking
Even though it included packing a bit of gear, I took my bike with me to my mom’s house. I ended up just wearing my running shoes since I never clip in while riding on gravel (I did wear my helmet). Also, since my rides were only ten miles, and I was lazy, I never changed into my biking clothes (i.e. padded shorts).
Monday’s ride started immediately upon completion of my run and it’s a good thing because within two minutes of getting back to Mom’s house, the sky opened and it rained heavily for the rest of the day.
On Wednesday, I rode in the afternoon after an early morning run and a mid-day filled with gardening. With more rested legs and a greater sense of spirit cruising the downhills, I cut about seven minutes off my previous ride’s time.
Thursday’s mid-day ride was a little more exciting when my back tire skidded in the deep gravel and I jerked the front of my bike suddenly as I corrected to keep from wrecking. My Garmin (affiliate link) popped up with an alert to send a message to Bill that I “needed assistance” which I dismissed so it wouldn’t be sent. What a great feature to have in the case of an emergency!
Strength Training
Since I never take weights with me when I visit my mom, I focus on doing body weight resistance exercises (push-ups, lunges, squats, planks, etc.) and if I need dumbbells, I use a combinations of her smaller hand weights – she has two each of one through five pound weights so I hold combinations of sizes to create heavier weights. It’s amazing what I can do using a little resourcefulness and ingenuity.
Yoga
I kept it short and simple while doing my routines and focused on poses that would stretch out muscles used while running and riding.
It’s on the Blog
In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…
In addition to the workouts I mentioned above, here’s a complete rundown of my workouts from this past week (completed mostly in our home gym)…
- Questions:
- Have you ever had to play nurse to a pet? ~ When I was in high school, I was responsible for giving our baby calves all of their vaccines and any medications necessary.
- How was the weather this past week where you live?
- Did you race this weekend?
And that’s my rundown… Have a great week!
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a small commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.
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I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!
I have forgotten what it feels like to be chilly! Glad to hear that you did not run into any bears out there. Sounds like a nice few days aways with your mom
Deborah Brooks recently posted…Weekly Run Down Summer Summer Summer
Thanks, Mom and I had a great time! And yes, I was grateful not to run into any bears while out running or biking.
The scenery is gorgeous, but not sure I’d ever want to run somewhere that had bear risks.
Awesome feature on your Garmin for safety
Cari recently posted…Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz
Fortunately, I’d never had risks of running into bears down there until the last couple of years…
I feel you on the bears!! When we were in upstate New Hampshire a few years ago there were bears everywhere and I would yell and sing on my runs to hopefully alert them and chase them off – LOL. Luckily, I never saw one but it was a lot of anxious running which was NOT fun!
Glad you “survived” the near bike crash and how cool about that alert from Garmin. Is there nothing Garmin can’t do?
Hope you have a good week ahead!
The thought of seeing a bear certainly does add stress to what should otherwise be a relaxing time out running in the country.
Yeah, I agree that that’s a really cool Garmin feature and I’m glad it’s got it because I ride alone quite a bit.
When we first rescued Max, he’d had a “cherry eye” thing removed from his eyelid, and had the lovely cone for the first 10 days or so (he’d also just been neutered). We had to give him eye drops a couple times each day, and having never been dog parents before, that was a challenge! YIKES to all the bears! Glad you were safe!
It was a little nerve-racking keeping a look out for bears, but as I mentioned, I became complacent over time. I carried my pepper spray, but it’s geared for humans and probably wouldn’t do much against larger animals. A bear would probably consider it seasoning for when he ate me! 😉
ooh those kitties! we have 3 cats now and I’ve always had cats growing up (well from about 14 years old) but I’ve never had to take care of others’ cats or pets. Maybe to drop by, feed and play with them a bit while their human was out of town but that’s about it. My cats don’t like the vet. The last experience was so awful (we had to say goodbye to Elvis after 4 days) I hope I don’t have to go back for a while…
Interesting you don’t wear your padded shorts for shorter distances. I wear mine for anything over 10KM to be honest. I also always wear them at spin class. glad you didn’t really wreck as well! can you imagine if you hadn’t clicked the emergency message away and Bill would have gotten the text??
seems like you had a really good week, even though you did have to be on the lookout for Bears!
Honestly, I was too lazy to change into my padded shorts after my run (I didn’t want to run in them). I do wear them on all my rides here at home and when using my spin bike.
I’m sorry you had to say goodbye to Elvis. Here’s to no visits to the vet for both of us anytime soon.
A long time ago, we were up in the north woods of Wisconsin and we saw a bear in the road. That’s the only time I’ve ever seen one outside of the zoo, but I know they’re out there! Wolves too. We have coyotes here, but they don’t bother people, just little dogs.
Sounds like you had a nice week at your mom’s! I really need to get back on the bike.
Wolves would have me nervous, too! Coyotes roam at the farm, but I’ve never seen one and I’ve only heard them howling one time (Mom hears them often).
I saw a bear when I was on a train in Alaska. Ha, he was far and I felt safe. 🙂 Those cats are adorable! Poor Callie! I hope she gets better soon. I had another car years ago and she was diabetic. Every day I had to inject her with insulin and be on the lookout for low and high glucose symptoms.
Zenaida Arroyo recently posted…Weekly Run Down: Not motivated to run and some new running gear
Thanks, Mom says Callie’s eye has gotten much better! Did your cat eventually get used to you giving her insulin shots?
Sounds like you were super active — and helpful — at your moms. Yes, I have nursed all my furkids. Most of them have had long lives, and the ones that didn’t — it was due to illness. Gizmo became really hard to get into the carrier towards the end of his life, but somehow I always managed it. Simba would just walk in. So weird because Giz was the sweet, biddable one and Simba was the PITA stubborn one.
Bears at a distance in the wild — cool. Bears on the run — scary. Glad your runs were bear free!
Aren’t animals so hard to figure out. I thought Hobbes would be the easy one to get in his carrier, but he ran and hid behind my mom’s car as I put Callie in her carrier. Of course, he let me pick him up and put him in his without much effort (I was afraid he was going to hide under her car when he took off in that direction).
Bears? That’s scary. I’d stay away.
My cats have been healthy until they weren’t.
It was a hot week but cooler than the previous one and this one.
I have a hilly 8 mile race this coming Saturday.
I hope your 8-mile race went well! I’ll check out your recap shortly!
Yikes! I had my one bear sighting earlier this summer and that was enough for me for awhile 🙂
My cats (both passed) HATED the vet…they would cry so hard the whole time!
One bear is one too many when you’re on foot and not tucked safely in a vehicle!
[…] early morning runs in the dark were highlighted with seeing wild animals, yet last week when I ran in the country I didn’t see anything other than […]