Runnin, Soccer, Tough Yoga & a Bobcat Encounter!

Another weekend is in the books! Well, not so much a book, but more of a calendar.

Anyway, this weekend was extra epic because the boy had his first soccer match!

You’ll grow into the jersey.

But before that I was able to get in a short run on Friday as well as 9 miler Saturday morning. I was glad to negative split that fool despite the humidity!

After a shower, we were ready for some football.

Landsharks on three!

Unfortunately the Landsharks started the season with a loss. And as head coach, I take full responsibility. In my defense though, it’s hard to get a bunch of five year olds to focus on one thing at a time.

Put me in coach…ooh look, there’s a dragonfly over there!!!

But at least they got a lot of fan support from sister!

Go team…oooh look, there’s a dragonfly over there!

In the end, they all still had a lot of fun!

Much like soccer, some of the team are also still learning how to take a photo.

On Sunday I met up with a friend for a trail run.  After a few miles we came across a train bridge/tunnel. Good spot for pictures.

Feeling a little blurry.

This one feels sharper.

At this spot we heard a waterfall. We climbed over a barbed wire fence and could see it was on the other side of the tunnel. We’d have to climb up and over the tracks to see it. That’s what we tried to do.

Now I’ve been weary of train tracks since my last encounter with them a few months back. But this time I managed not to hurt myself.

Sometimes I incorporate trail running into my ‘training’. Get it? I know, I’m hilarious.

We never saw the waterfall cause when we got to the tracks I spotted a bobcat on the other side. Usually they run away from humans, but this one stood still. My friend snapped a not very clear pic…

She’s dressed in her cammo.

We didn’t want it to lose it’s fear of humans, so we started yelling and waving our arms to scare it off. It didn’t budge. In fact, it just sat down and stared at us like we were loco.

That’s when we heard the meow-screeches of the bobkittens. They were under the rock she was sitting on. This mama was protecting her litter. That’s why she wasn’t abandoning her den. And we could sense she was losing patience with us being so close. We decided it would be prudent to get out of there real quick like. Like my friend said, “I don’t want to get my eye clawed out by a bobcat today.”

We got back safely and ended up going about 7 miles on the run.

Afterwards it was yoga time.

The calm before the pain storm. Oooh look, the shoe lady is back!

The instructor this day put us through a tough tough session. What made it tougher is that she had to leave early, so she squeezed in an hour’s worth of yoga into 45 minutes. This was a no-joke practice. Felt good though (after it was over).

They say weekends are supposed to be relaxing, but mine always leave me sore and tired. Go figure.

How bout you? Crazy weekend? Encounter any wildlife? Any tips to ensure we don’t lose another soccer match?

-Scott

Cool Run, Coyote, & More Tacos

OK, let me get the obligatory taco shot over-with first.  Boom, here you go!

Time to veg out.

The tacos were so good, that I even got a little emotional.  I made a 6 second video to portray that…

OK, part II.

Deep in the heart of Texas, we’re deep in the armpit of a drought.  But yesterday we finally got some rain…Wet stormy rain!  And when the rain left, it took some of the humidity with it.  So I was able to get in a somewhat cooler Texas Summer run!  We won’t get many of these, so I was sure to take advantage.  I was actually excited for my early morning wake up call.  What have I become?!?!

Besides us runners, the cooler temps also brought out some wildlife.  Running down a fairly busy street I came upon a coyote.

Stolen from a friend. He took this from his house recently.

This happens kind of frequently here.  I’ve written before about what to do when you come across one.  Basically, you want to scare them off so they don’t get any ideas (or lose their fear of humans).

So I took a split second to be startled, then a second to admire it’s beauty, then I started waving my arms and yelling like a madman (crazy person, not 1960’s ad exec).  It ran off scared into a wheat field and I could see it’s tail sticking up like a shark fin as it darted off.

So not a bad start to the week.  Let’s keep the ball rollin rollin rollin.

How bout you?  Get emotional over your food?  Ever look forward to a wake up alarm?  Do you think coyote pretty or coyote ugly?

-Scott

Wildlife Run

Unlike most people, I like to run in scenic places.  Problem is that I live in a suburb of a city and it’s not very scenic.  So I try to run in parks whenever possible.  Occasionally I’ll run at Arbor Hills Nature Preserve.  I like it there as there are both paved and non paved trails.  They wind all over and there are endless possibilities for routes.  Also, there are usually lots of other folks out there being active too.  Only thing is that it’s a nature preserve, so there are wild animals out there.  I have no problem with that, but I will tell you one thing – it keeps you on your toes.

There have been several times I’ve been out there running where I’ve had to jump over a snake on the trail.  That’s freaky, but that adrenaline keeps you running, I tell you!  After you jump over a snake, every single stick and root on the ground looks like another snake in my mind!

A couple of times I’ve been there either early in the morning or in the early evening when it’s dark out.  There are no lights on the trails, and if there’s no moon out, it can be hard to see what’s around you.  But what is freaky deaky is that you can hear animals scurrying about.  Chances are most of them are rabbits, but there could be bobcats, coyotes, snakes, or even mountain lions (I’ve been told).

I tell you this because in each of those experiences, I definitely picked up my pace.  I read a Matthew McConaughey story one time where he recommended running in perceived dangerous locations to keep your adrenaline pumping and your feet moving.  Let me tell you, it works.

This is all on my mind because last night I was running through a park near my house and I came upon a wild bobcat.  The sun was setting and it was getting dark.  I was on a paved trail that went through a wooded area.  I saw a few rabbits take of frightened into the woods as I startled them.  That was jumpy enough for me as I didn’t see them until I was right on top of them.  But then, I turned a corner and apparently startled a bobcat that was on the trail right in front of me.  It shot off into the woods.  But I could see it’s glowing eyes looking at me from the woods.  I didn’t know what to do, so I stopped.  I decided not to continue on that path as the bobcat could be up ahead.  Luckily there was another path to my right, and I took it.  The rest of the run though, I was looking over my shoulder to see if it was behind me.  I know that I scared it more than it scared me, but still.

Don’t get me wrong, it was cool seeing one in the wild, but freaky.  And I definitely picked up my pace a bit to get out of the wooded area as soon as I could.  I also made it a point to make loud noises the rest of that portion of my run, hoping that it would warn them I was coming and hopefully they’d be gone before I got there, if that makes sense.

So there you go, if you want to run faster than you are, just put yourself in a scary situation.  Most of the fear is going to be all in your head, anyway.  I’ve actually heard of an app that puts zombie grunts, footsteps, etc. in your ipod when you’re running.  They noises gradually get louder and more frequent until you’re at a sprint, then it calms down and starts over again.

Something to think on.