Since, in the past week we have had both a cougar sighting (a hungry young male driven off the mountain by his stronger competition) and a mugging in our little town, and for the fact that a tractor-trailer flying by me much too close for comfort this morning nearly caused me to jump for my life into the ditch, I have resurrected a little prayer I came up with and used to say to myself as I ventured forth into the wilderness on my thrice-weekly, often gloriously solo, runs on the road and pathways of the environs of our home at Strathcona Park Lodge. Running up there in that beautiful wilderness I came across cougar tracks in the snow but never a real cougar, saw a black bear a few times that lifted its head slowly from its feast of fresh spring grass to observe my passing, did get run into the ditch by an RV once, but never encountered anyone attempting to steal my purse. Of course, I would not be running with a purse, and bear spray has more than one use.
Anyway, here is the prayer:
A Runner's Prayer
From dangerous beasts,
animal
human
and vehicular,
deliver me.
Amen
The photo above is one I took on a family trip through Alberta in 2010, and is of a typical Canadian highway along which someone like me might choose to run.
I too used to run the back roads of Agassiz with nary a thought to anything bad happening to me. Then Terry Driver, the Abbotsford Killer happened. He ambushed two young girls, killing one and forever changing the life of the other. It took them a while to catch him and it ended my long solo runs and my very favourite evening runs. So, Rebecca, I say AMEN to your short little prayer for it covers everything a solo woman runner might encounter. It's a little unnerving when things happen to make you feel just a little less safe in a place where you never felt that way before.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Terry Driver before. Yes, that would have changed things a bit for me, too. Those poor girls! I very rarely run those lonely roads. I tend to stick to the fairly populated ones.
DeleteYou know, as I run across the overpass toward the East I generally look up the bluffs to see if there might be a cougar there. I've never seen one, but I do think it looks like a place a cougar would like to hang out.
Amen to your prayer! I can't handle a road like the one you pictured, as beautiful as its surroundings are. How far do you run? Do you run with the traffic or against it?
ReplyDeleteI always run against the traffic. There weren't a lot of choices for roads up at the lodge, and I felt a bit safer on the roadside than in the woods when I was alone. I run between five and ten kilometers most of the time. I'm hoping to run a half-marathon near my 45th birthday, which will be next year.
DeleteYes...a prayer is a good thing to have at the ready. Unsettling...a cougar and a mugging. May that be THE END of that sort of thing in your area!
ReplyDeleteI run too...but not too long distance...usually 5k...and I enjoy the outdoors...a half marathon would be a GREAT way to mark your 45th birthday!
Thanks, Jill. Yes, I too hope it is the END of that sort of thing :)
DeleteVery appropriate! I prefer running early in the mornings when there is very little traffic, but that's also when the wildlife is most active. This prayer would be a good thing to add to the pre-run limbering!
ReplyDeleteI would imagine you would see a fair amount of wildlife in your part of the world, too!
Deleteoy yeah you might want to pray that one again and again...pretty cool on the cougar as long as its not near you...ugh on the tractor trailer...that will def get your heart going...
ReplyDelete