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Troubles while Training

I had a neighbor while growing up that used to run/walk with a bat. We didn't know for the longest time why he would run with a bat. But everyday about 4:00 he would come out of his house in his sweats and T-shirt and his trusty bat. We found out after a while he used it to ward off the dogs. He was afraid of dogs.

So as I was doing my run today, I had a dog come after me. Scared the heck out me. No, this was not the first time I have had a dog come after while running. There have been several. But one more interesting than the dogs was the goose. There was a bunch of ducklings/baby geese in the front yard of a house as I was running past it. Then the mother goose saw me and started flapping her wings and running faster towards me. Ya, it scared me a bit. On this street they have the BIG gutters for the water to run thru and the goose fell in that as she was coming after me, so I got by without getting heckled by the goose.

Then another time a couple of years ago, I was doing a long run while I was in Logan for a few days on vacation. We went out to Paradise (south of logan) and I ran north towards Hyrum. My husband would drive aways ahead of me and park the car and wait with my water but would be where he could pretty much still see me. After about 20 minutes into my run, these big black birds were flying around me. Every once in awhile one would swoop down towards me. At first it didn't bother me too much. But then they started swooping down closer and closer to me. As I got closer to Hyrum they stopped flying around me so much. Then I turned around to go back the same way I just came from. Then the birds really started swooping down at me - they got closer to me each time they swooped down. One was just a couple of feet above my head. My husband could see it from the car. He said some got really close to me. Needless to say I didn't make it all the way back to Paradise but turned and went running thru the neighborhoods in Hyrum.

So I just thought it would be interesting to see if anyone has any better stories about the troubles you've had while training. Surely there is a better one out there than birds coming at you. So lets hear what you've got.

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Permalink Reply by Jarom Thurston on January 12, 2009 at 9:52am: Here's one for ya! I was running one day from Payson to Orem, which I do often to get in a good 25-30 miles in and sometimes a run back to Payson if it's one of my looonger training days. Anyway, I was in the middle of freak'n nowhere, you know, out near Lake Shore or Palmyra or that empty spot between Payson and Springville. I was talking on my cell phone to my brother-in-law and so anxious to chow down another granola bar when suddenly I hear barking. It was high pitched barking so I knew it was a small dog so I didn't pay much attention and keep on running, chatting and eating my granola bar. When soon enough I saw behind me 3 dogs...one little poucher and two huge vicious man-eating beasts. My adrenaline kicked in and my speed increased until they were at my feet, at which point I turned quickly and began kicking every which way I physically could to ward them off. I fought (striking nothing) for what seemed like minutes but was probably only 20-30 seconds. Finally they turn away and ran back to they're farm house. Breathing heavily I could bearly hear a faint voice still talking on my cell (which was obviously no longer on my ear..hehe). My brother-in-law was asking what the heck was going on. As I explained to him my situation he was laughing histarically at the fact that I realized I had two weapons with me, my cellphone, but I was on a call and didn't want to hieve the $150 piece of technology at the dogs...and the other weapon was the second half of my granola bar, but I was too hungry and selfish to give that up. So explained to him that I was thriving, thrashing and kicking about like a crazy man in a swarm of bees. My brother-in-law thought I was quite the multi-tasker to be out on a run, talking on the phone, eating my snack and fighting off, not one, but 3 dogs all at the same time! Yeah, I laugh about it now...hahahaha! JT; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Indiana Trav on January 14, 2009 at 1:36pm: Why is it that it's always dogs or birds? Do they seem to have a sixth sense that someone is going to run by them? Here is one for you I was at the end of my training run I only had about 2 more miles and was starting to get dark. As I was running I heard some barking but it sounded like it was far away so out of habit( it's sucks to have this habit) I turned to see where it was coming from. To my surprise it was a dog inside a house on top of a couch barking through the window. So I thought no worries so i kept on going. I had to have been about 2 minutes later I hear claws hitting the asphalt( once you here that sound you never forget it) so I turn around I see a rather large black dog with screen netting on his head and he is coming at me pretty fast so I ran as fast as I could (pretty tired at this point). Then I turn to see if the dog has stopped or if I'm about to be dog meat. Fortunately, the dog had stopped and my heart began to slow some what. Then about 1 minute later I hear honking and some guy in a truck is yelling at me. So I stop to find out was going on and the guy proceeds to chew me out because I ran by his house and his dog jumped through the window screen to get me. I let him rant a bit then said I 'm sorry but I didn't make his dog come get me. Needless to say he was ok after he got to vent and I don't run by that house anymore!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dmndldy on March 17, 2009 at 6:12pm: The warm weather is finally here for a bit at least - and with the warm weather comes the bugs. So I had an extra dose of protein or more while on my run today. Glad I didn't wait til it started to cool off when there would be even more bugs. Yum Yum!; ▶ Reply to This