A 'wildlife' run.

Thursday, February 24, 2011
It was time to try a run again and so I drove to the Metroparks thinking I’d get some decent trail conditions. I’d stopped there on Wednesday to run, but had found the park closed for “wildlife management”, which means they were culling the deer herd again.

I think everyone knows by now that I’m a big wildlife fan, but I completely understand the need to manage the wildlife in the park. I know there are communities around Cleveland that are up in arms about thinning the deer population, but when the only other way to accomplish the task, since they have no natural predators in Ohio, is to hit them with a vehicle…well…I just think there are better ways. I know it’s expensive and there are arguments over how to do it most humanely, but unless we’re going to reintroduce wolves, what the park is doing is necessary.

Anyway…I asked the Ranger blocking the entrance when the park would reopen and he assured me that by noon tomorrow, they’d be open for business.

He was wrong. I got there in the late afternoon to find the barricades still in place. I considered driving home for another bout on the stationary bike, but decided instead to drive to the Polo Fields and run the ribbon along the Chagrin River south to Miles Road. It turned out to be an excellent decision.

I found the trail to be just a little soft with a pack three-inch pack of slightly melting snow…it was in the high 30’s…and headed out thinking a 30-minute run would be appropriate. As always, when I hit the turnaround, I decided not to turnaround and pushed it out so that I’d end up with 50 minutes instead. I’d had only a mild achilles tweak in the first four minutes of the run and although the right hamstring/butt ache was still there, I ignored it. As I approached the end of the run…a stretch through some pines just before the Polo Fields…I heard something big plunge into the river. I moved to the river’s edge just in time to see an angry beaver slap his tail on the water and dive beneath. I waited for him to resurface, which he did in less than a minute and about 30 feet further up river, but when he sensed my presence, slapped the water again and submerged.

Experience told me he’d not be resurfacing anywhere that I’d see him, so I continued on my run. I made it back to the car in 50 minutes and feeling pretty good about the effort. I began the drive home north along River Road and as I was driving past the Rankin estate (I know it because Jim used to work there as a caretaker years ago) when I noticed what looked like a dog loping across an open field. I quickly pulled a u-turn and returned to the spot for what I was sure would be the opportunity to photograph a coyote.

I grabbed the camera, which was lying on the front seat, as I exited the car. As I closed the door, he looked up from his hunt for whatever was boring under the snow, gave me a look and turned for the woods nearby. I started clicking rapidly and when he stopped to see what I was doing, I managed a couple of pretty nice shots. Though in no danger from me…I was a hundred yards away or more, he didn’t like my attention and turned once more to escape to the woods.

My kind of workout day…good run…beavers and coyotes…and some decent pictures, too.

Run duration: 50 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 850.