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September 28, 2007
Reason #349 Of Why I Shouldn’t Be Allowed Out In Public
(This is the next segment in a still growing series.)
Imagine that you’re a Yellowstone tourist. It’s a gorgeous September afternoon. You’re happily perched in a group of tourists in the shade of a large oak tree, watching the elk rut unfold in front of you. Something catches your eye to the left, and you look to see a woman and her dog running by on a paved, blacktop surface. Perhaps you take a moment to think, now that’s a graceful runner. Perhaps you don’t.
Either way, just moments later, you can hardly believe what you are seeing: This runner is tripping over her dog, flailing wildly through the air, and sliding across pavement on hands and knees to a screeching halt. Your eyes widen, your jaw drops, and you begin to smirk at this shocking display of clumsiness. With the way she slid, it’s all you can do to refrain from yelling, “Safe!” It’s akin to a gory accident scene, and you have to watch to see what happens next.
Slowly, stiffly, the woman climbs up off the ground, scanning herself for injuries. She doesn’t have to look long; from your position, you can see blood rolling down her leg. The woman glances around to see who has watched her tumble, and that’s when she makes eye contact with you. The shared gaze is momentary as she diverts her gaze in embarrassment and slinks off with a leg-trailing limp.
Yes, this story is about me. Are you surprised? Sigh. I should be chained to an armchair or locked in a room with padded walls.
The story: My dog and I became momentarily distracted by rutting elk, bunches of tourists, and a train of vehicle traffic. She ran in front of me. I didn’t see her. I tripped over her, failed in turning the clumsy trip into a graceful jump, and went sliding baseball player-like onto my hands and knees.
The damage: I lost about 2 square inches worth of right palm skin and ground dirt and gravel into the open wound. I made my right knee bleed a bit. I hit the ground hard on the outside of my right knee, precisely where the IT band passes, and made it quite inflamed and sore. I have road rash on my right shin. My left palm was happily spared because I was carrying a dog poop bag in it, and I’m unsure why my left knee survived unscathed.
The outcome: It was significantly more painful to wash my palm wound than to fall in the first place. I cried like a little baby while doing that, and that’s no joke. Then, what do you do with a hand that is missing a bunch of skin? I had to wrap it up nice and tight, so to protect it from the germs of the world. The knee and IT band injury required a day of rest, and they are even a little sore still, more than a week later.
The conclusion: My friend suggested that I wrap myself in bubble wrap before engaging in one of those crazy pavement runs. I think I agree.
Posted by Meghan at 12:50 AM | Comments (14)
September 23, 2007
Elk Duel
(To see the full, uncropped versions of these photos, please click on the "Elk Duel" blog entry link under "Recent Entries" on the right hand side of the screen.)
On Wednesday morning at about 11 am, a bull elk duel was waged near my house. The following is a photo-documentary of what occurred. I took all the pictures through the double-paned windows of my house, so please pardon the lacking clarity.
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, I could hear a bull elk bugling close by (See my previous 2 blog entries about elk for details on bull elk bugling and other fascinating rut behaviors.). Once it was light, I saw that a bull (a 6-pointer on 1 side and a 7-pointer on the other side, with no ear tags) was situated across the street with his harem of about 20 cows and their associated calves. The bull continued bugling all morning, answering the bugles of another nearby bull. Typically, bugling wanes shortly after dawn until about mid-afternoon, while bulls rest and recover from a night of fighting and mating.
Shortly before 11 am, the bugling became more incessant, and I saw another bull elk (a complete 7-pointer with a number 10 ear tag) arrive to my yard. This bull brought 2 cows with him, but I later learned he had a full harem on the other side of the neighborhood. I presumed that this new bull was arriving to challenge the other one.
The untagged bull is on the left and the number 10 bull is on the right. In the background, a few members of the untagged bull’s harem are visible.
The untagged bull is showing his dominance by beating his antlers against a tree. You can see why trees in the neighborhood are fenced!
After some bugling, posturing, false charging, scent marking, ground scraping, and tree bashing, the two bulls engaged in combat, which lasted for about 1 minute.
It wasn’t clear to me who had won the battle by the battle alone. Afterwards, the untagged bull returned to his harem, and the number 10 bull walked in the opposite direction. Thus, it appeared the bulls’ relative status hadn’t changed.
The number 10 bull (His yellow ear tag is clearly visible in this photo. Bull elk with ear tags are "marked" by the National Park Service if they've previously gotten into "trouble" for charging tourists, damaging property, and etceteras.) traveled to the other side of my house, presumably to check on the 2 cows he had brought with him and possibly to take a breather from the action.
It wasn’t long before the 2 bull elk were readying for battle again. In this photo, you can see the number 10 bull scraping the ground with his antlers. He is seemingly agitated!
And, then, they went at it again!
When the second battle concluded, the untagged bull again returned to his harem as the winner. The number 10 bull walked in the other direction, his seeming agitation at an all-time high. He was so agitated that he bluff charged my vehicle, as you can see here. Luckily for me, he stopped charging at the last moment, sparing my vehicle.
With a lot of frustrated- and hoarse-sounding bugles, the number 10 bull disappeared from view with his 2 cows, likely headed back to his own harem. His frustration and destitution was palpable.
The untagged bull duly returned to his harem.
This photo was taken about 3 hours later. It shows the number 10 bull with his harem on the other side of the neighborhood. It appears that he’s taking a nap, exhausted from the morning’s fight.
Interesting Notes:
The number 10 bull has been around the Mammoth Hot Springs area for a while now. In past years, he has been one of the most powerful bulls of Mammoth. At the start of this battle, it appears he already had a large harem, but that he instigated a fight with the untagged male for more cows.
Fascinatingly, the number 10 bull lost this battle to another clearly powerful but slightly younger/smaller bull (as evidenced by its slightly smaller antler structure).
I should note that these battles will occur on a regular basis throughout the rut season. It’s possible that these 2 bulls have fought before, and that they will fight again. Additionally, I have seen 2 other very large bulls in the Mammoth area, so there are at least 4 bulls in contention for the local cows.
Posted by Meghan at 3:09 PM | Comments (12)
September 20, 2007
No Denying Fall
Bull elk, as seen from my house, yesterday.
The days are growing shorter. The air temperature is cool. The hillsides are filled with yellow swatches of fading aspen. The elk are rutting. Cross country season is in full swing. There was snow upon the mountain tops two days ago. There is no denying fall.
Summer arrived late this year, and fall was right on time. I've spent a bit of time complaining about the summer's short duration and bemoaning this fall's impeccable timing. However, fall really is a nice time to be in the Rocky Mountains, so I'm trying to embrace it.
Our still-developing cross country program will be hosting its first-ever home meet on Saturday. A surprising 9 schools are coming all the way out to the middle of nowhere Montana to race. Quite possibly, we are the only high school who will host a race inside of a national park!
Yesterday, an elk rut battle took place in my yard. It was fascinating to watch the show, and I captured it in photos. I will shortly post a photo-documentary of the two gigantic bull elk (one is shown in the above photo) duking it out for the ladies.
Posted by Meghan at 11:46 AM | Comments (10)
September 17, 2007
Encounters Of The Wild Kind
Ok, tell me the truth. Do you ever come to my blog with the expectation that I'm going to have posted some crazy story about being bitten by a venomous Central American snake or having my arm chewed off by a feisty badger? Or something equally outrageous? I'm happy to report that I still have all of my appendages and I haven't been given an anti-venom in order to survive. But I do have a little story.
I've lived, worked, and played inside of national parks for over 7 years. Thus, it is seemingly a given that I will have experiences with wild animals through the course of my life. Experiences with wild animals range the spectrum from what are called animal sightings to animal encounters. In a general sense, an animal sighting is a simple observation of a wild animal. And, an animal encounter is an interaction between a wild animal and a human wherein each creature modifies their behavior as a result of the incident.
I usually see animals many times per day. For instance, a herd of elk are napping in the shade of my big cottwonwood tree as I type. I also occasionally have animal encounters. In 2005, my friends and I spotted a mountain lion watching us while we hiked; when we made eye contact with it, it dissappeared into the brush.
On Friday, I had an animal encounter. I had planned to run 8 miles out-and-back down a dirt road a few miles from my house inside Yellowstone National Park. The 4 out miles included a 1300 foot descent, and the 4 return miles back up this same hill. About 2.5 miles into the run, a thunderstorm quickly developed. An earlier thunderstorm had produced dangerous lightning that required a fast conclusion to high school cross country practice. I didn't want to play games with the weather, so I turned around and headed back to my car early.
About 3 minutes after turning around to head back uphill, I looked to my right at a hill above the road and saw a grizzly sow and 2 cubs. At a distance of perhaps half a football field, the sow was looking me. She stood on her hind legs and gave 3 gruff "barks," the quintessential grizzly warning call. The otherwise inattentively foraging cubs turned their heads my way to see what their mother's fuss was all about. I was lucky in that the way the road curved, I could effectively dissappear from the bears' view within moments by backtracking down the road. That's exactly what I did. It was all over just seconds after it began. I had no time to get scared until afterwards.
We're all a little on edge about grizzlies right now, and for good reason. In the last 8 days, both my neighbor and another local hunter were mauled by bears in 2 seperate but close-to-home areas that I have previously called my running turf. It seems that the stars have perfectly aligned to cause these incidents: 1) Grizzly bears are doing their fall feedings at lower elevations this year because drought decimated their favorite high elevation foods. 2) Hunting season has begun, so people are creeping alone and silently through the woods. 3) Hunters leave "gut piles," or leftovers from their kills, which is like a grizzly bear tasty treat.
These most serious incidents are sad on several levels because both humans and bears were injured during the encounters. There are just so many things that we as humans can do to decrease our risk of negatively encountering a grizzly bear. Make noise when traveling through thick brush. Travel in groups. Carry non-lethal, bear detering pepper spray. Do not approach gut piles, ever. Travel through areas with good visibilty. If you see a grizzly bear, don't run. If a grizzly bear charges you, pepper spray it. If a grizzly bear attacks you, play dead. Report all grizzly bear sightings and encounters to local authorities so that they may track their movements and actions.
I did some things right (I had my dog with me. I was traveling in an area with good visibility. I wasn't near hunting areas, and therefore, gut piles.) I also could have done several things better (I could have carried pepper spray. I could have run with other humans.). Certainly, learning about these maulings and having my own bear encounter has, again, humbled me with regard to this beautiful, powerful, amazing place I live. And it's also humbled me with respect to my place within the Yellowstone food chain. Be safe out there, all!
Posted by Meghan at 1:59 PM | Comments (10)
September 13, 2007
Grand Teton 50 Mile Finish Photos
Here are 2 pictures that my sweetie took of me finishing the Grand Teton 50 Mile Race.
Posted by Meghan at 5:26 AM | Comments (8)
September 12, 2007
Recovered?
Getting there, but not quite yet.
I took 3 rest days last week (the week after the race) and ran about 20 so-very-easy miles total on the other 4 days. During those runs, I was most affected by soreness in my right hamstring and 3 painfully damaged toenails. With the aid of massage, yoga, and rest, my hamstring seems to have happily healed. Because of diligent attention to my toenails (which mostly included draining fluid build-up from beneath them about 4 times a day), I may only lose 1 toenail.
I'm still "in recovery" with low volume this week, but I'm adding in a speed and a hill workout. Yesterday, my workout was supposed to be 5 x 1/2 mile with 2 minute jogging recoveries. I hit the first 2 intervals on pace, and it wasn't too much of a challenge. Fatigue set in on the third interval. I worked too hard and still fell short on my pace by several seconds. I pushed through the fatigue for 1 more interval, but then called it quits early. I wasn't too dissappointed as it was a good shorter workout. Tomorrow I will do a hill workout, but I will abbreviate it before I get out there, so I don't fatigue too much.
I want to feel fully recovered next week, because I'm stewing upon a few running adventures for my days off work!
Posted by Meghan at 2:17 PM | Comments (1)
September 10, 2007
Race Report: Grand Teton 50 Miler
Pre-Race: What pre-race? There was no time for any pre-race planning! I'm really glad that I was so busy in the weeks and days before this race. Resultingly, I had no time to work myself into a flurry pre-race worry and self-doubt.
Race Morning: Oh, it was such a beautiful day for a race, mild, clear, and calm! I was slightly concerned by how warm it was at the start, and what that meant for the rest of the day. It got warm out there during the day, but never too miserable.
The Course: The 50 mile course consisted of 2x25 mile loops. Each of the 25 mile loops consisted of a 3-leaf cloverleaf. Leaf 1 of the cloverleaf was a 5.6 mile out-and-back from the Grand Targhee Ski Resort base station, to the resort summit, and back to the base station. It's an 1800 foot ascent and descent. Leaf 2 of the cloverleaf if a 14.4 mile lolilop-style loop that begins at the base station, climbs over a ridge, descends to an elevation of about 6,600 down Teton Canyon, climbs 3.3 pavement miles, dives into the woods again, and rejoins the trail for a long climb and quick descent back to the ski area base station. Leaf 3 of the cloverleaf is a 5 mile rolling loop through Rick's Basin, a mountain biking and cross-country skiing area.
Loop 1: I was amazed at how fast people were running from the start. I mean, we were climbing 1800+ feet in 2.3 miles. That's a big climb! I'm thinking, I'm going to take this big hill easy, as there is so much running left to do in the day. These preservation instincts left me, quite literally, in the middle of the pack. Oh well, I thought to myself, as I plodded forward.
At 2.3 miles into the race, I found myself perched at the top of Grand Targhee Ski Resort, at an elevation of almost 10,000 feet. In the early morning hours, the world looked peaceful, still, silent, just waking. For several minutes, as I began the descent, the path was smooth enough that I could cast my eyes around to see the looming Teton Mountains in one direction and what had to be the entire rest of the world in the other direction.
In just a few moments of flying downhill, I was back at the aid station and setting out on the second leaf of the cloverleaf. I spent much of this second loop alone, seeing others only here-and-there. I was convinced that I would see a moose or the black bear that purportedly frequents this area, but I saw nothing but the aspen trees above and the dirt singletrack below. It was hard to hold back, to run slowly, as my body wanted to fairly fly down this awesome grade.
On the pavement climb, I alternated running with powerwalking. Again, I was challenged by holding myself back, by conserving energy. I felt great, and I just wanted to go! Once off the pavement and back into the woods, I decided to just go ahead and run. I ran the gentle uphill grade for a few miles, until it became significantly more steep. And then, finally, it felt good to just hike the steeps.
Shortly thereafter, I was back at the base station, finishing leaf 2 and beginning leaf 3 of the cloverleaf. The Rick's Basin Loop was different than the long climbs and long descents of the rest of the course. Instead, it's an unending series of rollers. It is beautiful back there, running on low ridgelines and diving into stands of aspens. Suddenly, I had completed Loop 1, in 5:02.
Loop 2: My second climb up what's called Fred's Mountain, to the ski area summit, went significantly slower than the first. I'm not sure why, as I felt like I was pushing. I guess I was starting to fatigue, but I still felt good. The summit was just as beautiful as the first time around, but it was such a different place! This time it was bright and sunny, windy, warm, bustling with tourists, and vibrantly alive. The descent back to the base station was arguably as fast as the first ascent.
While out on Leaf 2 of this cloverleaf, my stomach went wonky, and it was all my fault! I reached the bottom of Teton Canyon in almost the same amount of time as my first loop, and I was excited to be maintaining a steady pace. As I climbed the pavement section, I began feeling hot (I later learned that the on-pavement temperature was over 100 degrees F.), and I drank a lot of fluid. During the 3.3 mile climb, I drank a full 20 oz fluid bottle. However, I forgot (until well after the race) that this bottle was a high concentration bottle of Hammer's Sustained Energy (about 400 calories). My orginal intention was to sip gently upon it during the pavement climb, dilute it further with water at the aid station at the top of the pavement, then drink the bottle heartily on the trail climb back towards the ski area base. Once I hit the aid station at the top of the pavement, I hadn't yet realized my error, and I furthered my problems by drinking, not one but two, glasses of Coca Cola. Oh, but it looked so good after that hot climb!
So, there I was, back in the woods, with about 500 liquid calories, some sugar, and some caffeine sloshing in my belly. Whoa doggie, that was painful! All that crap sent my belly into a wild series of flip flops, nausea waves, and cramps. I stopped several times in the woods to -er- look at the flowers, and that helped a bit. I slowed down my pace to allow my stomach to work faster, and that also helped. Several moments of heaving/gagging might have also occurred, but nothing came out, so I'm not sure if that helped my cause much.
Well, time passed (A lot of time passed.) and my condition slowly abated, and I made it back to the ski area base station. I loaded up on ice water only and headed out for my last 5 miles on the Rick's Basin Loop. I never felt great during these last 5 miles, and I stopped to -er- look at the flowers once more, but I was able to run decently.
The End: I finished in 10:58:and change. I knew when I headed out on the last 5 miles that I would be quite close to finishing in 11 hours. I don't know why, but for some reason I convinced myself that I absolutely needed to finish under 11 hours. So, I did.
Nutrition: My nutrition plan was solid. However, I failed to implement it correctly. My nutrition plan was basically to take in 200 calories per hour in Gus, and 100-ish calories per hour of Hammer's Heed or Sustained Energy. I supplemented this with some bottles of calorie-less but electrolyte-full Nuun, 1 e-cap per hour, and a few salty pretzels here and there at the aid stations. Oh yeah, and that last bottle of ice water, which was like heaven on earth.
Post-Race: I felt fatigued after the race, but not truly awful. My stomach was my chief complaint. Because of this, I had a hard time ingesting calories. I managed about 300 calories of Ultragen, half an apple, and some potato chips. I ate nothing else until mid-day the next day when I was suddenly so ravenous that I would eat anything in front of me.
The People: This race was full of really cool people, and it was a joy to meet everyone. From the race directors, to the volunteers, to the other runners, everyone was wonderful. The day after the race, we spent some time just hanging out with everyone there. The vibe was relaxed and cool (Or was that fatigued?) and I really enjoyed it.
Really, Really Post-Race: Notably, my hamstrings were most sore after this race. Usually my glutes, quads, and calves are sore, so this is a different feeling. I've been doing a lot of leg strength work this summer, but perhaps I've neglected my hamstrings? On another note, I need to do a 50 mile race again soon. Very soon. I have unabashedly caught that bug, and there's no stopping me now.
Posted by Meghan at 6:21 PM | Comments (7)
September 5, 2007
Post Grand Teton 50 Miler Check-In
I have received several emails from people wondering about my race. It's Wednesday, the race was Saturday, and I haven't posted anything yet! This blog entry isn't exactly a race report, rather a short update for those inquiring minds. The real report is coming as soon as I have some free time.
I had a fabulous time at the Grand Teton Races, and an even better time running my own first 50 miler. The course was amazingly beautiful; the other runners were incredibly friendly; and the race staff and volunteers were miraculously wonderful. I finished in 10:58:and change. I ran the first loop in about 5 hours and the second loop in about 6 hours. I wanted to run close-to-equal splits on each of the two 25 mile loops, and that didn't happen. I ran into a little bit of stomach trouble on course, but I fixed it in motion. However, this did slow me down on the second loop. Nevertheless, I learned so much and I have no regrets!
I plan to run a bit today, my first bout of exercise since Saturday. My hamstrings remain a bit sore, and I have a couple messed up toenails. Other than that, my body feels rested and my mind wants to run. I will do all easy running, though, until I feel totally recovered.
I have no more races planned in this moment, and I feel so lost! I won't be able to race for the next 2 months or so due to other committments, but I must find a goal race for after that. Or else I might go a little crazy.
More soon!
Posted by Meghan at 12:23 PM | Comments (13)