
Another week, another weekly recap!
Here’s how this past week went in training for the Indianapolis Marathon:
Monday: 8 solo miles before work, 9:15 min/mile, Discover Strength after work.
Tuesday: 7 miles before work with Christie, 9 min/mile.
Wednesday: Workout Wednesday! 3 mile warm-up, 5x600m with 70 second recovery, then 5x400m repeat with 400m recovery, 1 mile cool-down. 9 miles total. Not my best workout; my legs just felt heavy and I couldn’t turn them over to hit the paces on the 400’s but I did the best I could for the day.
Thursday: Easy 5 with my friend Klara before work, Discover Strength after work.
Friday: 10.6 mile long run. I moved my long run to Friday because we were headed to Duluth to cheer for our friends running Grandma’s Marathon. Dustin’s family’s cabin is in Gordon, Wisconsin, which is about 45 minutes west of Duluth, so we drove up to stay there on Friday.
The cabin is Matilda’s favorite place in the world! She absolutely loves it there.

Saturday: Quick 4 mile run with Dustin on the hilly country roads before driving into Duluth. 8:38 min/mile. He always pushes me to go a little faster than normal.

When we got back to the cabin, I took a shower, and Dustin cast his reel off the pier; he quickly caught this huge guy!

Impressive, right? Of course, he just released it back into the lake. He said it put up quite a fight to bring it in!
Anyways, post-bass catching, we made our way to Duluth and were there by 9:30, where met up with Vicki’s husband at mile 21. He had mimosas for us; fun to just be a spectator! It was a lovely 53 degree sunny day. The sun may have made it a little warm for the runners, but perfect day for spectating!

We had quite a few friends out there running the marathon, but I was especially excited to cheer for my friend Vicki! You’ve probably heard me mention her before; we work together and I’ve been coaching her for the marathon. She had run one marathon before, which was Grandma’s Marathon 20 years ago! So her goal was to beat her time from 20 years ago (5:11) by an hour and run a 4:11. She came very close with a 4:19, cutting 52 minutes off her marathon PR! Way to go!

After cheering, we stopped by Bent Paddle Brewery for a pint.

Like always, Tilda curled up on a lap while we enjoyed a beer.

Bent Paddle was a pretty cool spot, but we couldn’t stay long since we still had to drive back to the cabin. But not without a stop at the Thirsty Pagan for some pizza to bring back for dinner!

Sunday: 7 miles at the cabin; Dustin was with me for the first 3 miles and then he took off to run his pace. We had talked for the first half of the run about what to do if I encountered a bear on the run. Any bear in Wisconsin would be a black bear, not a grizzly, so they aren’t inherently aggressive. He said I should act really big and yell at the bear to scare it away….
Guess what? Right when Dustin was out of eyesight, I encountered a HUGE black bear. He was sauntering towards me on a dirt path off the road less than 25 yards away.
It took my brain a few seconds to recognize what it was before I screamed and sprinted away as fast as I could! There was definitely no picture for Instagram 🙂 I was too scared!
I was so sure he was chasing me and I was freaked; he was HUGE. I turned back a few times and didn’t see him, but still hadn’t covered enough ground to catch Dustin in front of me.
A car drove by and saw me sprinting and looking back. They stopped to ask me if I was okay and I told them about the bear. The driver offered to give me a ride back to the ‘nice gentleman farther up the road,’ i.e. Dustin, but by then I realized I had sprinted quite a bit away from where the bear was and I was probably fine. I still kept going at a much faster than recovery pace, yelling for Dustin to come back. Finally I caught up with him; the adrenaline and faster pace left me so breathless! What a rush.
*I do realize that the nice people who stopped to help me may have been worried that it was a person rather than a bear that had me freaked; Gordon, Wisconsin is the same town where Jayme Close’s abductor lived, and I’m sure that incident has affected the people in the area.
Has anyone else ever encountered a black bear on a run? What did you do? Clearly I did not keep my cool, but rather drew a lot more attention to myself by screaming and sprinting.
We had left Tilda behind because she was already so tired from all the excitement of the cabin, but I am curious what she would have done if she had been with me. I wonder if she would have barked and if that would have been worse or better? Regardless, a very scary experience for me.
What should I do next time? Carry bear-bells? Bear-spray?
“How about just don’t run at the cabin?” No!
Anyways, on a brighter note, I saw this combo of Words Against Humanity cards on a friend’s facebook and thought it was pretty funny:

Summary: 51 miles of running, 2 strength sessions. I’ve been doing a decent job of getting in two strength sessions with the Body Comp Challenge I’ve been doing this month at Discover Strength. Even though Wednesday’s running workout was tough, in general my running has been feeling pretty good. I hope it stays that way!
I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner as part of their Weekly Rundown. Check it out!
Yikes about the bear!!! I encountered a bear up near Birchwood years ago. I wasn’t running, instead in a car with my inebriated uncle-well, you just had to be there!
Glad you got away from it!
Ha, sounds like a good story Wendy!
Great week of workouts as usual!
So fun that you were able to cheer on the runners at Grandma’s Marathon! I have heard that it’s a great marathon. I think that would be a good half marathon for me to run to tick off the state of Minnesota, well that one or Twin Cities!
Grandma’s is great…so is Twin Cities though! Just depends on what time of year you’re looking for!
YIKES on the bear!!!!! I don’t know what I’d do…But YAY on your friend at Grandma’s! That is such an awesome event. I’ve run it twice, and would love to go back. I had major FOMO this weekend. Thanks for linking 😉
Grandma’s is a great event! Definitely worth a 3rd visit 🙂
Oh wow yikes about the bear! I am not sure what I would have done. Are you supposed to run? You really do a great job of getting in those runs in the early mornings. Looks like you all had a really fun weekend (despite the bear)
Apparently you’re supposed to just walk away calmly and slowly and not draw attention to yourself!
OMG! I’ve only seen one bear on a run. I was running on the road when it came out of the tall grass along side the road. Thankfully, there was a car coming so it jumped back into the woods. I promptly turned around and went back the way I came! But yes, act big and make noise is supposed to be the protocol for black bears!
It’s so scary to run into one, isn’t it? Even though I know they are not inherently aggressive, it’s not something I want to test!
You run in a beautiful place. Great training miles before your marathon. I ran Grandma’s Marathon once and loved it, but it was so HOT the year I ran it! I put ice in my running bra, on top of my head under a running hat, and anywhere else I could figure out where to put it. It melted as I ran from one aid station to the next. Loved Duluth! 🙂
YES- Grandma’s can be really hot…this year was great though. I’ve run it two hot years myself! The volunteers do a great job offering cold sponges and ice though!
Oh wow! I’ve never encountered a bear so I have no idea. YIKES! Glad you got away. And so crazy you were just talking about it before you spotted one. I hear SO many great things about Grandma’s. Congrats to Vicki!
Thanks Marcia!
One of my friends saw a bear locally on her run — TWICE. Said it was a good thing she’d already gone to the bathroom. This is right in suburbia! Glad you were ok. That would be super scary!
Otherwise sounds like a great week. Congrats to Vicki — that’s awesome!
Ah, scary- right in suburbia! My encounter was a bit more expected in northern Wisconsin!
Oh my GOODNESS this is why I thank my lucky stars I am a runner in the lovely safe old UK. No bears here!!
And well done, Vicki – what a PB!
Vicki had a great PB! So happy for her.
hahah, yes, you’re lucky in that respect- no bears in the UK!
Hi Live in Scotland now, but used to live in Northern British Columbia. More bears than people!! For black bears and grizzlies when out running, stop, back up and walk away calmly if you can. If you can’t back up then clap loudly/ make noise and black bears will usually move away from you, they don’t want to be around you anymore than you around them. Grizzlies though need a lot more respect, back off quickly and quietly and never run. It’s always best to have the dog on the lead in bear country, something I learned when my lab… Read more »
Alison, this is so helpful! I really appreciate you sharing this advice!
OMG I WOULD HAVE FREAKED!! I already don’t like running near dogs, I am certain I’d have done exactly what you did when you saw the bear!!
lots of good miles in, it’s ok when they aren’t always right now target; it keeps us working!
I just love Tilda and I want one of my own! Too bad we are in a an apartment with 3 cats who’d have a literal hissing fit if we brought home a dog. (I love dogs, I’ve just had experiences with them biking/running that have me spooked)
Haha, yes, the cats probably would not like a Matilda joining the fam!
I totally freaked with the bear…did NOT keep my cool!
What an awesome week! Yikes on the bear, though. I vote for a bear bell to keep the bear away! Bear spray means its close enough to use it.
Totally! I would prefer not to get that close 🙂
WOWOW on the bear. I’ve definitely never encountered any wildlife. Hear rustling on the trail by mom’s sometimes and I’m always afraid it’s something — it would be a deer or fox at worst. It’s ususally a squirrel. Interesting comment on the legacy of Jayme Close.
Awesome week of workouts. 53 in June. Wow. Amazing for running in general even if a bit too warm for the runners with the son. Way to go on your colleague’s PR
Thanks Cari!
I saw several black bears in the Smoky Mountains recently. I was running and they were fairly close to the trails, but they seemed to have no interest in me at all. I did make sure I was all smart on what I was supposed to do in case the bear approached me though, and I made sure my family understood what to do too! Luckily none of them the bears were actually right on my trail like yours was. Glad you high tailed it out of there!
Ah, scary you saw so many! But from what I’ve read, they really aren’t that interested in humans…
I’ve never encountered a bear on a run and don’t know what I would do if I see one.
I am impressed with your mileage this week. Great job!
Thanks Zenaida!
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Oh my goodness! I would have been totally freaked out by the bear as well. Glad it worked out ok.