Monsoon season begins.
Above is a picture of one of the first summer afternoon thunderstorms that rolled in this past weekend. It was amazing to watch it move over the mountains. Everyone who reads my blog knows that I love being outdoors, and I love living in the mountains. But of course there are trade-offs for living in a place with beautiful terrain, abundant wildlife, and solitude. One of those trade-offs is the chance of being attacked by a wild animal. Earlier in the spring, there was a rabies outbreak in foxes in the area, and people and dogs were attacked. Yikes!
And, as I have mentioned previously, for the past few weeks, our neighbors have had some run-ins with a mountain lion on our road. One time, our neighbor's dog came face-to-face with the lion through a fence, and then proceeded to stalk them down the road and up their driveway. Another neighbor reported looking out the window and seeing the cat on his front porch in broad daylight! At least three people on our road reported this cat to New Mexico Game and Fish.
However, even with these calls, a 55-year-old man was mauled and killed, and partially eaten by the cat about a mile or so up the road from our home, near the town of Pinos Altos. His home is located on the hillside above the road that we run on almost daily.
I am heartsick for the man and his family. I have been shaken up, because it could of happened to any of my neighbors, or to me. I think back to the times when I ran alone with the dogs over the past few weeks in the exact area the cat has been. It is so disturbing to think about.
Owie!
Game and Fish personnel are searching daily for the cat, and think they may have wounded it. If it is still alive and injured, it will be aggressive and angry, and go for easy prey. So of course this means I cannot run by my house on our favorite trails. I have been driving to a trail system closer to town that is more populated with other people. Unfortunately, yesterday a root took me down HARD. I flew through the air with both arms extended in front of me like superman, before landing on my arms and stomach and sliding several feet. I have never in my life fallen this hard while running. That root came out of nowhere!
My stomach was scraped a bit, but thank goodness I had my DeFeet tank on, or I would have been shredded! My pants were full of dirt after the slide. My knees are bruised and scraped, and I am a little sore today, but I defiantly returned to the trail today and ran an hour. I was supposed to do an hour yesterday, but after wiping out, I decided to hobble back to the car and take care of my injuries. Thank goodness I am ok.
I really can't wait until it is safe to run on my trails. I know there is always a risk, but when an overly-aggressive cat has been seen, especially in daylight, it is beyond the normal risk level. As I am training for Worlds, it would be nice to do runs I am familiar with for my tempo workouts. But I don't want to complain: I am alive and safe, Chad is alive and safe, and my dogs are cuddled up with me as I write. So in the big picture, my fall is not a big deal. It still hurt though!
My stomach was scraped a bit, but thank goodness I had my DeFeet tank on, or I would have been shredded! My pants were full of dirt after the slide. My knees are bruised and scraped, and I am a little sore today, but I defiantly returned to the trail today and ran an hour. I was supposed to do an hour yesterday, but after wiping out, I decided to hobble back to the car and take care of my injuries. Thank goodness I am ok.
I really can't wait until it is safe to run on my trails. I know there is always a risk, but when an overly-aggressive cat has been seen, especially in daylight, it is beyond the normal risk level. As I am training for Worlds, it would be nice to do runs I am familiar with for my tempo workouts. But I don't want to complain: I am alive and safe, Chad is alive and safe, and my dogs are cuddled up with me as I write. So in the big picture, my fall is not a big deal. It still hurt though!
