Yesterday was my final trail run before my trail race next weekend. My running partner, Denise, has been battling a nasty cold and a sore knee since our last trail outing a week ago but felt up for hitting the trails.
Not expecting to see other runners, we brought Merle, our trusty Trail Master and headed out on a 9k loop. It was a crisp, but sunny 3C. The snow from last week has melted, but unfortunately a lot of the gorgeous leaves from last week were now off the trees and the landscape was a little more barren and brown. The first 2.5 k were tough going - the legs were oh so heavy, my feet were wet from the first water crossing and my inner klutz was in full form, already tripping on a root and landing on one of my poles which fortunately didn't break - this isn't boding well for next week's 12.5k event 😩. At this point we had to make a decision; carry on for the full 9k or turn around and go back the way we came and cut it short at 5k. Denise's breathing was ok and her knee was holding up, so we carried on.
The legs started to lighten up, my breathing became more consistent, and I got a rhythm with running with my poles. This was the feeling I was seeking and desperately needing 😊. My worries about next week were quickly fading. We were running on a game trail on the side of a hill making our way down into a coulee when I noticed we were following some very large cloven hoof prints - moose. It was tough to tell how fresh the prints were so we kept our eyes peeled as much as you can when you have to watch your footing so you don't end up @$$ over tea kettle 😆. All of a sudden, Denise stops and tells me to grab my camera. I'm scanning the coulee and there they are - a bull moose and his lovely cow- running away from us up the other side of the coulee! Majestic beautiful beasts! Too cool. I'm so glad we decided to carry on!
Another water crossing (this time managing to not get any wetter), another steep climb with switch backs, another klutzy event (tripping over my poles on a narrow stretch but managing to stay upright) and coming across a hiker using some sort of bird caller, we finished the loop. The map said 9k, but my watch and Runkeeper said 10k. Sweet! It was slow going since Denise's knee was bothering her by the end but I feel a little better about next week's event. We won't call it a race since our goal is to just get around it in one piece and hopefully Denise's knee will hold up.
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SaskAlliecat
Graduate10
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Beautiful pics and Meese will do me.🤔Majestic animals.Monarchs of your neighbourhood/glen.🤔
TBH., when I first looked at your heading I was expecting to see a wee cowring timorous beastie, oh what a panic is in your breastie, Rabbie Burns ode to a mouse.
A little 🐁 or 🐁 🐁 mice, not these monarchs of our wilds.🦌🦌.
Thanks Tbae. I had to google the poem and then found a side by side interpretation. Love it!
No mice on this adventure, but perhaps on my next. We've come across frogs, voles, snakes, deer, fox, and now moose while trail running. You just never know what you'll encounter. There's always a lot of scat on the trails, the challenge is figuring out what it belongs to and how fresh it may be.
Thanks Mummycav. I get a little verbose so tried to scale this one back a bit...it's a little more concise that what I had originally written, but still kinda wordy 😂
Oh, Allie, what a wonderful run. And snow last week? What!! Love your description of the meese, love the photos. I bet you got your mishaps out of the way today, and here’s wishing you every luck for your race. I just love that we have people from all over the world on the forum - it makes it so interesting. And your run makes my little jaunt this morning look tame 😊
I usually trip at least once on every trail run - usually because I let my mind wander a bit. Trail running is good for keeping me focussed! I remember when I first found these forums, I lurked for awhile uncertain if I was "allowed", but soon learned how welcoming and inclusive they were and am so glad. I've learned a lot, not all running related, while being a part of this community 💕
What beautiful blue sky saskalliecat- I don’t mind the cold so much when it’s sunny 😎. I can see why you use poles on that terrain but I would definitely be tripping myself up.
Good luck with your trail run at the weekend 🏃♀️🏃♀️
Thanks Dexy. It ended up being a beautiful day, 11C when we got off the trail. Makes it a bit of a challenge to dress for, but I knew we'd warm up quick climbing the hills so tried to dress on the light side.
It sounds like this next race is hard pack and grass, being on single track and wide cross country ski trails but has more elevation change than our last one. We'll likely leave the poles behind, but am so glad to have them for my local trails. They're very handy on the water crossings and some of those steep inclines/declines!
We were just commenting yesterday on our run how lucky to have this in our backyard. The trail race that started our trail running journey is only 3 years old and is what spurred both of us to get back at running and helped to strengthen our friendship even further. I feel very blessed to be able to run this, especially this time of year when there are no worries of ticks 😆
Thanks Jan. I'm really glad we got out yesterday, it was calm and sunny and warm. Now today has been foggy and cool all day with the call of snow again tonight 😬. This happened last week after our trail run, as well. A gorgeous day of running followed by cold and snowy. I'm thinking it's a good thing we're not planning on any other trail runs before race day 😄. Hopefully we won't be running through snow. You just never know around here, this time of year. Our average temp is supposed to be 15 C but we haven't felt that since the middle of September 😢
Amazing scenery. I saw a squirrel at the weekend - not quite a moose.
Here in the sunny south east of the UK we are having unseasonably warm weather, up to about 20 degC, I think it's meant to be about 15 degC here too at this time of year. No sign of snow yet. I must get out for a run tonight before it all goes downhill.
Wow 20C would be nice, although I don’t mind the cooler weather, especially if it’s not windy. I’m less of a fan when it get’s icy though.
We have these big black squirrels around here I often see on my town runs. They’re fun to watch. I was trying to run on the mountain bike course they’re developing in the coulee in front of my house earlier on the weekend but it was so muddy it was like running with cement blocks on my feet 😆. Then a cute little tabby hiding on the corner looking for mice startled me as I slipped around the corner. I’ve startled up a fox and deer in this coulee before - you just never know what you’ll see. Too fun!
Thanks for the well wishes. It will be fun to get away for a girl’s weekend!
Beautiful. And scary. I think if I saw moose tracks while running I'd turn around. We get fairly regular deer and coyotes on runs in our neck of the woods. And I've run into a full herd of elk running in Canmore one time, which was a little nerve wracking.
It definitely had us even more alert of our surroundings. It is one of many reasons why, as much as I love these trails, I would never run them alone. They're just too isolated and rugged. Anything could happen. Coming across that herd of elk in Canmore would've been very disconcerting, but better than encountering a cougar! I remember when we lived in your neck of the woods, hearing of cougar attacks more than once. There are cougars in Cypress Hills but we don't tend to spend much time there.
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