Do Animals Return The Favour?

I was out for my first great hike in the woods this morning. The Bruce Trail basically runs around Orangeville and this morning I hit a section of the trail that is basically Hockley Valley Provincial Park.

I was alone on the trail that I was re-discovering after a few years away. There is one area that cuts through quite thick pine and the trail gets dark, even on a bright day. I've never seen anything more than a racoon in this area over the 15 years I've lived here. However, there are always rumours about wild cats, bears, wolves and coyotes being spotted.

No one actually photos any of these 'beasts' so it's kind of like the legend of bigfoot. However, it's not impossible that any of these animals could stray down from the north.

So - as I was walking through the woods alone, I began to wonder if the absense of dead animal meat from our vegan systems has any effect on how live animals treat us. It is said that when you are eating meat, you are ingesting their fear and adrenaline. Animals have much stronger senses than us, what if they could sense these things on a meat-eating human?

It would be hard, and possibly dangerous, to do a study on this! But, I have noticed that when I used to run by a dog that was fenced in a yard, I could pretty much predict that exact moment (just after I'd passed) that the dog would start barking hysterically. Now, quite often the dogs don't bark at all.

I realize this theory is out in left field and my sanity may be in question. My question to you, vegan reader, is have you had any threatening experiences with an animal, domestic or wild?

An update - I'm down about three pounds since my last post. The energy is coming back and I'm pretty confident about meeting my goals set in that last post.

2010 Running Race Schedule

The dreaded holiday season is over and it’s time to get down to business and make 2010 the best damn year ever. I’ve been really taking it easy physically for the past 6 weeks. Daily exercise just didn’t happen over the two weeks in Panama because it was just too damn hot – plus recovering from the initial 44 hour day and all the stress that came with it took longer than I would have ever thought (maybe I am getting old...).

Despite the brutally cold temperatures outside (-15 celcius during the day, not counting the windchill) which are low enough to warrant a cold weather alert in Toronto, I must begin my running training for the upcoming season. I’m completely off the pavement this year. I’m planning on entering all 8 Ontario Trail Series races as well as 4 of 5 of the 5 Peaks Trail series. There is one conflict where there are two races on the same day. I may change plans and go in all 5 of the 5 Peaks races and 7 of 8 of the Ontario Trail Series.

I’m also planning to apply to the lottery for entry into the 2010 New York City Marathon. It occurs on November 7, 2010 and is quite expensive, but it’s a once-in-a-lifetime runner’s opportunity. It’s rare to get in on the first try but on the 4th try, you’re guaranteed. Might as well start now and plan on being in the 2014 race.

There is still an outside chance that I will go in the Round The Bay 30k in Hamilton, Ontario at the end of March. It’ll depend on my conditioning. The first race of the Ontario Trail Series is just a couple weeks after...

Here’s the planned sched as it stands now (all races fall on a Saturday):

April 17 – Seaton Trail 26k in Pickering – OTS
April 24 – Dundas Valley – distance tbd – 5 Peaks
May 1 – Pick Your Poison 25k in Orillia – OTS
May 29 – Sulphur Springs 25k in Dundas – OTS
June 12 – Durham Regional Forest 12.3k – 5 Peaks
July 3 – Creemore Vertical Challenge 25k – OTS
July 10 – Rattlesnake Point 12.7k – 5 Peaks
August 7 – Dirty Girls 30k in Mansfield – OTS
August 21 – Terra Cotta Conservation Area – distance tbd – 5 Peaks
OR
August 21 – Iroquoia Trail Test 32k in Kilbride – OTS
September 11 – Haliburton Forest 25k in West Guilford – OTS
October 9 – Albion Hills Conservation Area 21k – 5 Peaks
October 16 – Vulture Bait 25k in London – OTS

Vulture Bait 25k Trail Run: Pre-Race

Just got back from my last training run before Saturday's 25k trail race. I felt sluggish but finished the 8.5ish km run without any serious problems with the achilles, calfs, hamstrings, etc...

The Vulture Bait 25k is a loop around Fanshawe Lake in London, Ontario. The main event is the 50k, which, of course, is a double loop. 50k is not my thing yet but hopefully by this time next year I will have tasted my first ultra (and lived to tell the story).

I'm off after work tomorrow (Friday) to spend the night at the ol' family home in Byron (west-end London) with Mom and Dad. Then it's off to the far Northeast end of town for the 9am start. The start time is perfect for those like me who absolutely do not like to rise early on weekends. It also will give the air a chance to warm up out of the negative digits (celcius).

The weather shouldn't be a huge factor mid-October in Southwestern Ontario but as it has for the past many, many months, the temps are way below normal and the air is going to be crisp on Saturday AM. At least, the sun should be shining and hopefully the winds will stay calm.
My goals for this run are pretty simple:

• finish without tearing any of the iffy muscles and tendons that have signalled that my body has peaked already for the season. My message to them is that after Saturday, it'll just be nice easy runs mixed with hockey for the next month. Then the big treat comes when they get to do nice barefoot jogs on the beach in Panama for two weeks.
• enjoy and reminisce about the trails that I helped maintain and build for a summer back in 1993 when I was a college student. 'Trail Guy' I believe was my official title that summer as I was hired as a fresh student out of the Parks and Forest Recreation program at Sir Sanford Fleming College in metropolitan Lindsay, Ontario.
• be done in time to be back to Orangeville to watch my oldest son's hockey game at 2:30.
• snag a pretty cool shirt that should make me look like a rugged, tough guy - it will say 50k on it as well and if people assume that I was tough enough to go in that, well, I'll just have to let them think that...

That's it! Hopefully I'll have nothing but good things to say on the other side.

Associated Content Article - The 5 Best Trails To Run, Hike or Bike Around Orangeville, Ontario, Canada

Just a quick note that I've published an article on Associated Content. The article features the 5 best trails to run, hike or bike on in the Orangeville, Ontario, Canada area. Orangeville is somewhat of a hotbed for trail systems as it is at the crossroads of the Bruce Trail and Trans-Canada Trail. Within 25 kilometers of the town, there are many trails systems to discover.
If you are new to the Orangeville area, a long-time resident who is new to the outdoors, or a visitor to the Greater Toronto Area, this a great guide for you.
A great companion to this article is Google Earth. All the trails are accompanied with co-ordinates that can be cut and pasted into Google Earth search to pinpoint the best parking and starting point for each of the trails.
Of course, there are more than 5 trails to discover in the area, but these are a great group to start with an will provide 100's of kilometers of travel the way nature intended - without a motor.

Check out my recently published content on AC:

The 5 Best Trails to Run, Hike or Bike Around Orangeville, Ontario, Canada

Race Report - 5 Peaks Rattlesnake Point 12.7km

Believe it or not, Saturday, July 11, 2009 was the first time I've ever been in a running race that was delayed due to thunder storms. The Rattlesnake Point 12.7 km trail race is part of the Southern Ontario 5 Peaks trail running series. It's the only one of the series of races that I will run this year but I'm considering them all next season.

True to the criteria I set out in my 2009 race schedule post, this was a unique and interesting race. If it had been dry, the terrain would still have been somewhat treacherous. After being delayed 45 minutes because of a storm featuring a downpour, the course was a muddy, rocky, vertical mess. Without ever seeing the course, I had set a goal of 5:45 per km. I actually came close at 5:53 but I worked extremely hard to get that due to the mostly single track trail and rugged conditions.

The course is located along the Niagara Escarpment near Milton, Ontario (just west of Toronto). The escarpment is infamous for its rocks and cliffs. Some of the rocky climbs during this race could almost be considered cliffs. Luckily, you don't have to take my word for it. I had the fortune of following the cameraman from racedayrush.com and their web site contains a video of the race partially filmed from a helmet cam by an actual runner in the race. I do appear in the video, however there is no timer on the video so I can't tell you the exact point. (Update: If you go full screen, there is a timer and I appear at 1:35 and last for a few seconds.) All I can tell you is that you see my back and I'm wearing a dark blue Adidas tech shirt with faded green Adidas shorts and a really faded black Adidas hat. Do I support Adidas? No. Just blind luck that I'd be wearing the Adidas ensemble. I was wearing a pair of New Balance 767's that were retired after the race after putting in around 750 km.

It was a great run. I finished exactly halfway in my age class and somewhere around halfway overall. It was hard to gage positioning because it was a wave start. It didn't really matter anyway. There was a friendly atmosphere that you might not find at a road race I think mostly due to being out in nature and all being in it together against whatever Mother Nature could fire our way.

Reminders

I just want to say that I still have Ontario Provincial Park day passes available for anyone who wants one (or two, or three...). See this post for more details.

Also, anyone wanting my copy of The Man Who Swam The Amazon can see this post. It's still up for grabs.

Trail Etiquette - My 6 Guidelines

On Saturday, I had an excellent double workout - 18km running and 45km on the bike. The workout took place on the Cataract - Elora rail trail just south of Orangeville. The 18km was an out and back from my starting point at Mississauga road, looping around the town of Erin and looping around the town of Cataract at the end. My bike ride was from the same starting point, through Erin, Hillsburgh and Orton, turning back at the Orangeville-Fergus highway. It rained most of the time and the trail was soft because of it but I didn't mind because that and the early start meant that I would have the trail to myself. Well, almost...
Inside the townsite of Erin, while on my run portion, I approached a group of 4 women who were walking (waddling - yes, mean but true) with 4 unleashed dogs. I was running toward them and they had a good 400-500 metres to take notice that I was coming up to them. At no point did they attempt to leash their dogs. As I drew closer, I could tell that two of the dogs were still in their undisciplined youth.
When I was within 20-30 metres, one of the dogs charged at me - playfully, of course, but still... As I passed the group, not one even acknowledged my presence. Not one even apologized or gave the typical "Oh, he's just playing - he loves people - he doesn't bite".
After looping around Erin and heading back on the trail (20 minutes, give or take), I found the same group no more than 100 metres up the trail. As I approached this time, I was really not shocked to find fresh dog shit in the middle of the trail and I nice fresh hole about a foot wide also smack dab in the middle of the trail.
Luckily, as I came closer, they decided that it was time to leave the trail, cut across the school field and go back to their homes.
This event is becoming less and less uncommon and it made me think of how people should behave on these multi-use trails that are for everyone to enjoy. These are the common sense guidelines I came up with:

• Be aware of your surroundings. Yes, you have left the rat race, but you are still on a highway of sorts - a pedestrian highway. If you simply want to escape body and mind, head to an open field and escape all you want. Simply keep your ears and eyes open and respect others around you.
• Please, please, please keep your dogs on a leash when others are approaching. I know your dog is friendly because they all are. I love dogs and do not fear them, however, there are people out there that are petrified of them and you are causing them undue stress by letting your pooch intimidate them. Besides, a sudden radical move by your dog can cause a runner to pull a muscle or a cyclist to leave the trail.
• It is not necessary to walk with others with what seems to be a desire to cover the whole width of the trail. Pretend that you are indeed on a pedestrian highway and keep to the right. Why do you want to be so far away from your friend or spouse or family member anyway?
• Be kind to those you are approaching from behind and give them some kind of warning. A simple "On your right" or "On your left" will go a long way toward not scaring the living shit out of someone and/or causing a collision.
• I don't believe you have to stoop and scoop on a trail. However, if your dog shits in the middle of the trail, take a stick or rock and flick the do-do to the side. Mother nature will take care of the rest. And, for god sakes, you are not doing anything for the environment by scooping up the crap in a plastic bag and hanging it from a tree branch at the side of the trail! (Yes, I do see this all the time!)
• Don't litter. Duh! That includes all you smokers who for some reason believe that a cigarette filter is the one exception to all the littering rules.

That's it! That's all we need to do in order to make trail use an enjoyable experience for everyone.