Today on my lunch time run I had to cut my run short due to a bear encounter. Having just entered Monrovia Canyon Park from the Sawpit Wash trail, there were two bear cubs walking up the road about 50 feet in front of me. Just ahead of me, maybe 20 feet, there was a gap in a chainlink fence through which mama bear was just ambling...I stopped, backed up slowly, then more quickly, then I turned around and ran back the way I had come.
Just yesterday I had read an article on a bear attack in New Mexico on the iRunFar website. A runner had the bad luck to get between two cubs and their mother bear. Good timing. I'm glad I was slow today as it kept me from winding up between the mama and her cubs.
Pete Sercel's ultrarunning training blog --my experience with running injury prevention and recovery, and training for the Angeles Crest 100.
