coyote alert

Signs (not the movie) and coyotes

Back on June 1 2012 I encountered a coyote while running. It was ahead of me on the trail and dashed off into the bushes as I approached, probably because I wasn’t carrying a nice juicy baby in my arms. I also encountered coyotes twice this summer on my way to or from Burnaby Lake. In each case the coyote scooted away at my approach, then stopped at a safe distance as I passed by. Again, each probably did so because I wasn’t covered in layers of sausage links or raw meat.

Coyotes are generally to be avoided because you never know. Maybe the one you see is scouting ahead for a pack that will tear you apart. Maybe the one you stumble across is starving and will tear you apart. Maybe it’s just in a bad mood and will tear you apart.

The City of Vancouver knows this and near the trail that circumvents the Langara Golf Course they have erected this sign:

coyote warning sign
One thing I’ve learned while jogging is that people ignore signs. I’m fairly certain that if you put up a sign that said the following:

WARNING: If you take ten more steps you will fall into a pit filled with lava and large iron spikes. This will kill you very painfully. You should immediately turn around now.

At the end of the day the lava and iron spike pit would be filled with so many bodies that they would pile above the edge of the pit and thus the pit would no longer be an obstacle to all the other people ignoring the sign.

I am being unfair, though. Many people do read signs. They just interpret them. I’m not sure why they do this. Perhaps it comes from a lot of dangerous free thinking or a general belief that rules are for bad people and no one sees themselves as bad so the rules obviously don’t apply to them.

With that in mind, I present the interpretation of the coyote sign that many people may have:

coyote sign perceived

This is not my best example of sign fakery but I spent way too much time on it as it is. At least I put my research skills to use in trying to determine which font was used (my best guess is Century Gothic).

By the way, if you use your favorite search engine (okay, Google) you can find enough stories about coyote attacks to convince you to never step outside again. Especially if you’re a juicy baby. Heck, just check out the Vancouver Coyote Sightings Map. There’s about a billion coyotes out there. Imagine if they all operated under some kind of hive mind and began a reign of terror. Now imagine someone writing a really crappy novel about it. Now go buy the novel on Amazon because I’m pretty sure someone has already written this book.

The interruptions run

Location: Burnaby Lake, CCW
Distance: 11.5 km
Weather: Overcast, humid
Temp: 17ºC
Wind: light to none
Calories burned: 815
Average pace: 4:56/km
Total distance to date: 1370.33 km

Ran: Conifer Loop and Spruce Loop.

Today’s run I planned to ease up a bit as a precaution against injury and the weather helped me in that regard. It was mild but after the rain yesterday and in the morning the lake was quite humd and much of the run felt like running through soup. Thin soup but soup all the same. The extra work on breathing resulted in a naturally slower pace and I finished at 4:56/km — still my second best run to date. The Nike+ site erroneously records it as 4:57 because somehow when I pressed the center button on the iPod (with End Workout selected) it instead simply gave me an update and kept the clock running. I walked for a number of seconds before realizing this and by the time it shut off properly it recorded the last .05 km at a stupidly slow speed of 6:20/km (because I was walking).

I am beginning to dislike the clickwheel on the iPod and by extension the iPod itself more as time passes.

The interruptions on the run came in three forms:

Man: When I saw fresh grass trimmings along the side of the trail I figured there would be a parks worker ahead and sure enough there was, safely nestled inside a giant mowing machine. He saw me and pulled over as much he could. I threaded by, trying not to fall in the bramble.

Nature: One section of trail by the fields usually floods after a good rain and it was flooded today. I usually cut to the right onto the field itself but opted to take the narrow little hill to the left that parallels the fence. This little trail-ette was obviously made by someone as a bypass for just such an occasion. Today I had no sense of balance for some reason and twice as I picked my way over what amounts to little more than a hump of dirt, I nearly fell off. To my left, brambles and bog, to my right a large pool of mucky water. I managed to get over without incident.

Bird: Further up I came around a corner and the goose family was there, spread out all over the trail. The goslings are definitely growing up but most of them were chilling out as I approached. Upon seeing them I immediately slowed and gave them as much clearance as I could. The parents hissed until I was safely past. The goslings are adorable, as always.

The most unexpected event of the run occurred as I was nearing the end of the Conifer Loop, the second optional loop. A dog about 30 feet or so ahead of me started running as I approached but strangely took off into the brush. As I got nearer I realized it was actually a coyote. Yikes! Still, it ran, so it would seem it was not in the mood to socialize. I’m okay with that.

I felt a few brief tinges in the left shin but nothing more than that and the legs were fine after and during the run, otherwise. The left foot was a little creaky again but the creakiness didn’t show up until late.

This is pretty close to exactly what the coyote looked like:

Chart (average pace is bolded if different than the last km):

km Jun 1 May 30 May 28 May 24 May 22 May 18 May 16 May 14 May 11
1 4:42 4:37 4:48 4:46 4:42 4:42 4:54 4:51 4:50
2 4:46 4:45 4:51 4:51 4:47 4:47 4:57 4:55 4:56
3 4:49 4:48 4:52 4:53 4:51 4:51 4:59 4:59 4:59
4 4:51 4:49 4:53 4:53 4:53 4:53 5:00 5:02 5:01
5 4:51 4:50 4:54 4:54 4:54 4:54 5:01 5:03 5:02
6 4:52 4:50 4:55 4:54 4:55 4:56 5:01 5:05 5:02
7 4:53 4:51 4:55 4:55 4:56 4:57 5:02 5:06 5:04
8 4:54 4:52 4:56 4:56 4:57 4:59 5:03 5:08 5:05
9 4:55 4:52 4:57 4:57 4:58 5:00 5:04 5:07 5:05
10 4:56 4:53 4:57 4:58 4:59 5:01 5:04 5:07 5:06
11 4:56 4:52 4:57 4:58 4:58 5:02 5:04 5:07 5:06

Couch to 5K: The Sequel, Part 5

Today’s run ramped up to 90 second running segments and conditions were pretty lousy for late April. It was raining, which in itself is not too unusual, but it was also unseasonably cool — only 6ºC. We donned our jogging jackets and set off for the muddy mire of China Creek Park.

I actually found myself not exactly struggling but definitely feeling the short distances more than I should have. I chalk it up to my energy level still being lower than normal after recovering from the flu bug yesterday. Jeff managed to keep up a decent pace and for some parts was able to keep ahead of me. My competitive side rose up just enough for me to not let him get ahead for long. He still beats me on the walking segments, though. He cheats by having longer legs.

And at long last I finally took a picture of the COYOTE ALERT sign (click image to enlarge). I cheated because the photo was taken with my phone when I was not actually running. Since mentioning the sign about two years ago the Parks Board has since added a no-smoking sign below it. On our run we did encounter one smoker — an older man with a large belly who stood out of the rain under the shelter of a pine tree just on the park’s edge. He knows how many cigarettes that $250 fine would buy (six or seven, I think)!

Bad dog

 

As you can see, years of weather or possibly coyote sabotage have left the alert sign largely unreadable. Since the photo has been sized down a bit, I can confirm that the instructions regarding coyote interaction include:

  • Shout in a deep and loud voice
  • Throw objects at the coyote
  • Do not maintain eye contact
  • Something else unintelligible but hopefully not critical to know, like ‘spraying a coyote with water will enlarge it to 5x normal size’

There’s also a short bit on how they moved into Vancouver in the late 1980s, no doubt as part of the big post-Expo boom. They’re probably living in condos on False Creek now.

I did actually see a coyote once, in an alley somewhere around West 10th Avenue, not too far from City Hall, now that I think about it. Maybe they came to lobby as official mascots for the city, trying to displace whatever it is we have now (an orca? black squirrel? Inukshuk?)

Anyhoo, back to running. Week 2 wraps up on Friday. Here’s hoping for the return of spring!