12 Summits at Tiger Mt. was so much fun last weekend that I plan to run it again this weekend. At least this time I'll be in the company of Steve Stoyles the human GPS. Hopefully I won't find myself on some new trail and adding extra credit miles to an already taxing run.I hope we get an opportunity to see a bear on the course however I'm sure the chances are low with all the jabbering that Steve and I do during our runs. Rob Hester has advised me to consider using some of his "visualized" wildlife self defense moves on any bears we may encounter. I guess pretty much any move is allowable. I think my first move if attacked would be to litter the trail with anything I happen to be carrying including clothing if it helps slow the progress and buys time. If I'm caught my next move would be to play dead followed by the please just let this be over with move, and hopefully with a final "I hope I don't bleed to death before help arrives move. Maybe I can get Steve to mule my bear spray for me however bear spray+steve+eric=trouble. Why did you spray me you SOB! I didn't know it was pointing toward you! Oh so you were trying to spray yourself you D#*#S**t! No I was just.....
My recovery from last week has gone slow and my quads are still barking at me. Tear em up and build em up is my motto when it comes to training for hills. I will seek out a large body of cold water or an ice bath after the run to hopefully prevent the pain I experienced this week. It's not like I had to use the handicap bars in the restroom but I thought about it a couple of times.
The picture at the beginning of this post is from an old Canadian archive of a trained wrestling bear. According to PETA it's against the law in 20 US states to wrestle bears. I guess I'll need to look up the local laws pertaining to our state to see if Steve and I can even engage with a bear. We could try the "NO! That's against the law!" move on the bear to see how it reacts.
I'll report back on our adventure on Sunday.
Happy running!
