You have entered Critter Country

For the Labour Day Weekend, I went out to my folks place in BC, a cute log house (built largely by hand!) set on a mountainside between Radium and Golden. The last time I was there and said I was going for a run, my dad said "well, it's bear season and if you're going for a run, you have to leave your headphones behind and take bear spray". I pondered on this for a few moments, and instead opted to sit around the house eating cookies and drinking beer in my running pants all day.  This time, I was ready.  Rather than run near the house, I hitched a ride into Golden with Bryan who wanted to get the paper and a coffee, and while he did that, I started back home, running on the shoulder of the highway under the theory that the constant stream of cars would keep any bears away.

It was actually a pretty great run.  Since this road is between two mountain ranges, I was running through a valley on a crisp September day as the sun shone.  It had been smoky in the area, so I was a bit worried, but I didn't have any breathing troubles, and actually felt like I was moving along pretty good!  Plus, the combination of mountains, fall colors and blue sky was pretty hard to beat. I had to run 5.5K as this was our first "long run" so Bryan gave me a 35 minute head start and then caught up with me 6.1K outside of Golden.  I was actually surprised when I saw him pull up, as I was feeling just fine and felt like I could easily have run further without any trouble.  He had thoughtfully brought me cold water and a cheese and pepperoni plate from the store, plus he drove back a mile to get a picture of this:

I can't outrun a bear at the best of times, let alone after  5K?

Yeah, I have to say, when I saw that sign, I realized my theory of bears staying away from the highway might have been a load of scat, but at least I had felt pretty safe chugging along listening to Rhianna and counting beer cans (I kept losing count, but Kokanee was definitely the frontrunner).  And the sign was good for a laugh as I passed it...plus I definitely sped up at that point, so maybe bear crossing signs are a good personal motivator?  Maybe we should post some around the airport for our daily runs.  Then again, Hawksy seems to be keeping us on our toes, so maybe we don't need any more predators in the mix.