Coyote sighting in North Chagrin...

Sunday, February 20, 2011

I saw another opportunity for a double. Holly was not going to church…which pretty much meant neither was I, but I did have to drop Jack there for his daycare job. I dressed for a run and figured I’d put in a 40-minute effort and pick him up when I was done.

I knew the bridle trails were still icy, but was reasonably certain that the less traveled hiking trails would be clear of ice, though muddy. I prefer the hiking trails anyway, so this was no problem. I parked the car and quickly headed into the woods to find that I was right…the trails were muddy, but almost completely ice-free. I felt a twinge in my right achilles about five minutes into the run, but determined that I’d keep going and see what happened. It didn’t bother me for more than a few steps, though it would return at the 20-minute mark. In both instances, I was running uphill and my foot was landing heel first. This puts a lot more stress on the achilles and so I tried running on the balls of my feet as I ascended. The pain went away immediately and I thought I’d resolved the problem. In fact, I had, but started another.

I finished the run noticing the bridle trails were still icy. John and I would be returning later, so I began planning a route that would keep us off the bridle trails. As I was driving home, I received a text from John which read “Don’t think I can hike today. I think I cracked some ribs on a wipeout skiing yesterday.” I tried calling him later to give him some major crap, but he probably knew that’s why I was calling and didn’t pick up. When I finally spoke to Teri, I discovered that he’d taken some muscle relaxants and passed out. I suppose that’s because, unlike me, muscle relaxants affect his brain…which, in his case, are pretty much made up of muscle. Anyway, turns out this was his first attempt at skiing and after a quick lesson and a trip down the easy hill, he figured he was ready for the intermediate hill. He wasn’t… and he crashed.

I couldn’t let his absence stop me so I gathered Dakota and headed for the Metropark. We made our way down to the marsh and moved through the tall, dead reeds to the edge of the water. A Canada goose was honking its displeasure as we approached, Dakota using a little less stealth than me, when I noticed movement off to my right. A coyote with a beautiful rusty brown and grey coat broke from the reeds about 15 feet from me and made its way quickly in to some better cover. Dakota never saw a thing and it happened so quickly that I couldn’t snap a picture. I waited about ten minutes, moving around and trying to flush it again, but it was either gone or staying put and out of sight. There was ice between us and I didn’t have John to send out on it to test its strength, so I had to let it go.

Like the eagle the day before, I’ve seen coyotes not infrequently, but in all these cases I get such a charge at being able to see this kind of nature up close and personal. I don’t suppose I’ll ever get tired of spotting these creatures, which makes every trip to the park worth the effort. You just never know…

Run duration: 40 minutes. Hike duration: 90 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 running. 90 hiking.
Calories burned during workout: 675 running. 450 hiking.