Posted 3/20/08 Wednesday Speedwork Report, a.k.a. Goose Attack!
Wednesday would have been the day for speedwork if I was back home-- a pleasant social occasion early in the morning where we get together ata track and crank out a seemingly endless series of repeats. But thisis no ordinary speedwork report... no accounting of splits and rest periodsand how the speed felt, etc.This particular Wednesday found me in the Reading, PA area on business.This is a place I've visited before since it is where one of my company'sbiggest customers has their technology offices. I was done workinglate in the afternoon yesterday and decided that despite the light sprinklingrain, that I would attempt to head over to the one trail I had run on beforeand go for a pleasant little 6-mile jog.I drove over to the park closest to me with access to the trail andstarted running. This is a fairly well-groomed trail that follows a littleriver that runs through here named the Tulpehocken. Pretty soon I realized Iwas the only person on this trail. This was not a big deal -- it was stillonly about 5:45 pm or so, and thanks to daylight saving time, would be lightwell past 7. I ran along without a care in the world, celebrating my fairlysuccessful work day and looking forward to the cold brew and meal thatI expected to have after the run.The first two miles went uneventfully, and I took them easy. Therewere signs that pointed to the fact that the trail went for another mileafter that, and I figured that an out-and-back there would give me about themiles I needed. On this third mile, I noticed, however, a couple of pairs ofgeese walking around. "How cute," I thought, as the first couple ofpairs ignored me and focused on the fast flowing water in front of them.Then, however, I came to one pair where one of the geese was on the side ofthe trail away from the water and was looking straight at me as I ran by.As I ran past, this goose started coming at me -- nothing too alarming, butI was perturbed by the fact that it appeared not to be scared of me. AsI ran along, I still thought nothing of it until I heard a loud rustlingnoise just behind me and above my head.It was the goose, and it had come after me apparently to warn me tostay away. I yelled at it, and it backed off and stopped on the groundbehind me, as I took off at a faster pace in the direction I was going.It then occurred to me -- I had to run back the same way. But, not toworry, I figured I'd just yell at it again and it wouldn't even darecome near me. So, I ran to the turnaround which was at a road with a bridgeacross the river. I got there, turned around, picked up a big stick incase I needed to defend myself against the geese and went back along thetrail.As I approached the section of trail where the goose had come after me,I see the pair of geese again. I did what I thought would get themscared of me, so they could get out of my way. I yelled and shouted and madesome noise banging my stick on the ground as I approached slowly.Bad mistake. This only riled up the goose that then came flyingstraight at me. I start swinging the stick around for all I was worth -- therotted wood quickly fell apart, but the goose came within inches of my hatbefore stopping some feet away from me. As it stopped it was honking at meloudly as I yelled back at it. Its partner was also some feet away honking atme. I backed away, and the goose held its spot, and I started heading offin the wrong direction.So now my challenge was how to get around these geese without rilingthem up further. I tried to find a path through the woods away from the waterto see if I could somehow get around that one section. I quickly gottangled up in bushes and a very steep slope that my running shoes couldn't getmuch of a grip on. I decided to head back out to the road with the bridge,go across the bridge and try and find a way around on the other side ofthe river.I ran across the bridge and up the road which quickly turned steepuphill, and then I noticed a sharp bend in the wrong direction up ahead. Itthen struck me that this was pretty ridiculous. Here I was running in fearand going way out of my way from a creature low on the totem pole of theanimal kingdom... there was no guarantee that there was an easy road back tomy car on the wrong side of the river. I didn't have my cell phone on me(note to self -- always carry cell phone when running in strange places) whichalso has a gps that would have told me exactly where I was, and allowed meto call for help if I needed to.That was it. I was going back, and I was going to show the geese whowas boss. I took off back in the direction of the trail, got on it, andstarted running towards the geese again. I again picked up a stick but decidedI was going to keep as quiet as I could as I approached them. Runsoftly, but carry a big stick...The rest of the story is anti-climactic. I saw two pairs on the trail,including, presumably, the one that had come after me, but both quicklygot off the trail unrelated to my approach. Another pair that wasunaggressive that I'd seen earlier allowed me to just run quickly behind themwithout making a move. As I got by each pair without incident, my pace pickedup, until I was probably running 7:00mpm pace as I passed the last of them.I was ecstatic. I had conquered the beasts. I showed them who was boss.(Yes, that's pretty pathetic.)I kept the pace up all the way back to the park where my car was,reaching there just as it was starting to get dark.Another surprise awaited me when I got to my car. A park ranger wasstanding around in the light rain, not looking very happy. I looked atmy watch -- it was 7:20pm. All that running back and forth and standingaround plotting my next moves had added up and despite my "speedwork" back,almost an hour and a half had elapsed. As I approached, he greeted me andtold me the park closed at 7. Apparently, he was waiting on the one remainingcar in the parking lot. Since he was the first human I'd seen in a while,I had planned to chit-chat about geese, but thought better of it -- the lastthing the poor man needed was a conversation with a guy who had kept him fromhis family and dinner by 20 minutes or so. I quickly apologized, got inthe car and drove away.Sid
