Stop! Ahead...it's a Bear/ Dog!

I have always been afraid of being attacked by a bear while out running. Some people are more worry-warts than others. I am freaked out about my child being abducted or abused, I am panicked by unseen health issues and I am sure that my loathing for snakes means I will absolutely be bit by a rattlesnake at some point. But I digress, back to the bear... I have pictured my mauling in many different scenarios ranging from surprise attack, to the confrontation where I try to fight the bear head on, to the almost-got-away-oops-no-I-didn't death. I have a vivid imagination and clearly I have used most of my talent for planning how to handle the vast array of bear attacks (along with all the horrific things I mentioned above) I would face in my life as a runner. My husband has always responded with a roll of his eyes. It isn't that he doesn't believe that a bear attack could happen, it's that he thinks tweaking about the very rare occurrence of one maybe possibly happening as a waste of time. Well one of us will be prepared and the other...well, the other will be saying his wife was right as he inhales the putrid smell of a bear's breath and bleeds to death on a trail.

After all these years of running, I have never seen a bear. I hear stories of them coming down into our sleepy little mountain town, others have had actual encounters, but me? No, my defense skills continue to go untested. I started to think my husband might be right and I could stop clenching the bear spray in my fist as I jogged, I could relax a bit and simply enjoy my surroundings, but then last fall a friend was walking near her house and was charged by a bear! She was left shaken and deeply grateful to her dogs who jumped between her and the ragging bear. She now has PTSD from this experience. Then a few weeks ago as my parents were hiking in the woods, my mom saw a bear cut across the path. My mom's sighting sent her sprinting to the car. My dad on the other hand curiously looked for the bear and then determined that it must have been a dog...as if my mom was daft enough not to be able to tell the difference between a bear and a dog. Clearly that saying "a daughter will grow up to marry a man like her father" is true, these two men obviously don't take bear attacks seriously enough.

Then it happened. A runner running a Marathon in an area we know well, where my husband and his brother ran their 1st Marathon, was attacked by a bear. Luckily she is OK. The runner is OK, the mother bear who was protecting her cubs is decidedly NOT OK.

Life is no joke. We run through it blissfully unaware until we are attacked by the unimaginable. Maybe it's better that way, maybe it's better to have a plan of defense, both could be argued. But I feel validated for having been freaked out over bear attacks because they do happen! So you can roll your eyes along with my husband or act like the fears are as benign as someone's pet dog like my dad, but I am going to go buy more bear spray, encourage my friend with PTSD to venture out again, applaud my mom for her sprinting skills and raise a glass in cheers to the runner that survived a bear attack.

I wonder if this runner who was attacked had a defense plan. Is this why she survived? I think I may need to call her and ask for advice.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com

Green With Envy

You know what is interesting? The feeling of jealousy that comes with NOT working out.  Watching/ hearing about other people working out makes me sick. It doesn't help that Facebook has memory notifications that alert me to the fact that I haven't always been a lazy ass, it highlights the deliciously cruel workouts that pushed me to be in better shape, get the PR at the next race, be in a good mood...only now it all makes me mad.

I haven't been able to run or workout due to some health issues (that is a whole different story) and now I feel trapped in the inability to do so. Trapped in a body that refuses to do what I want. And then, adding insult to injury, we sponsored the Taos Marathon and watched toned, athletic forms strut into the Tasting Room and trade in the prizes we'd showered on winners with obnoxious glee. A jealous twitch took over my right eyelid and seems to be permanent. The usual enthusiasm for fellow runners was traded for a sour sarcastic statement of how I'd be getting back at it soon. But the truth is that I don't know when that is going to be.

We take simple things for granted, the ability to get up and go to our jobs, our ability to go workout or for a run, the ability just to feel good. The deep irritation at the realization of how much I have taken for granted feels as if it is tinting my skin green.

Clearly all I can do is to pour a glass of wine and ponder how I will be different when I am feeling better.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com