Holy Cow! - Or Should I Say Moose?!

I woke up Wednesday and looked out the window to determine my running fate for that morning...Hooray! Dry and no snow yet so it will be an outside run!! I dressed quickly and set out for my first mid-week 5-miler. I am 2 miles into my run and minding my own business when about 1/2 block ahead of me is our local resident moose staring right at me! Holy crap, now what?! My neighbor had warned me to be alert for the moose and I always keep my eyes and ears open but now that it was right in front of me, what the heck should I do? I quickly ran up to the end of another street and turned his direction to see if he was still there. Yes, he was, and he had also turned and was watching me. All I could think of was to get out of there. But if I run, will he chase me - you know, like the running of the bulls? I didn't want to encourage him but needed to get out of this dead end area. Thankfully, when I got back to where I first saw him, he was gone. Whew - though now I was on high alert - where the heck had he gone? The last 3 miles I tried to get through quickly. On the last mile home had another brief scare (a truck pulled up to me slowly, stopped and put down the passenger window and some guy tried to talk to me. I'll post more on this as part of a "safety post" another day.) Anyway, made it home safe and sound, though a little shaken. Needless to say, and due to the snow, I was happy to run on the treadmill for my 3-miler on Thursday - I can't believe I even thought that! Some day I'll post a photo of my moose friend - I'll have to find one I have previously taken.

~ posted by Andrea