Saturday, October 18, 2008

Training Adventures


As far back as I can remember, it's been ingrained in my head that if I am driving and I see deer, DO NOT swerve...always hit the deer. So, when I was biking down a hill the other day at around 40mph and saw a handful of deer in my way once I rounded the corner, my first instinct was to hit the deer. Luckily, at the last split second I was able to override my logic and somehow swerve in between about 4 deer to safety...talk about some serious bike handling skills practice! This actually might come in handy as my last race of the season will be very technical on the bike.

This has not been my only encounter with the wildlife of Boulder. Last Sunday, on the eve of Colorado's first snowfall of the season, the temperature was hovering around 35 degrees and was accompanied by a light drizzle. Because it had rained the day before, everyone (for the most part) was indoors. But not me. I am ok with biking inside on a trainer but treadmills are a different story. I cannot stand them and avoid them at any cost. Even on days when school was canceled because a hurricane was coming, you would most likely still find me on outside in the rain sloshing around before you would find me at the gym on a treadmill. So, I headed out on my 1.5 hour run from my house and ran to the dirt loop that is just across the street. It didn't take long to figure out that I was the only one out there. I didn't hear dogs barking, footsteps, anything. After I'd already done the 6 mile loop once and was on lap #2, something moving caught my attention in the distance, about 200 meters away. A deer perhaps? Nope. A mountain lion. I freaked out and I sprinted as fast as I could the other direction until I came out to the sidewalk near my house. I checked behind me and luckily it was nowhere to be seen. After telling my story to a bunch of my friends and family, I'm told that running away is the worst thing you can possibly do when in the presence of a mountain lion because the lion may mistake you for a deer. I guess I'm lucky this one was smart enough to know that deer aren't pink. :)

The other big news is that in addition to training, I am working 3 part-time jobs right now...but I'll save details on that for another post. Until then, train hard and stay warm!
~AHahn

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