Runner's Forum: Scared the poo out of me

Never been hit by a bird lol. But last night I was running and was hit by a rock thrown by a passing car. It scared the bejesus out of me because I had my headphones on and I was zoned out, then suddenly it hit me in the left leg from behind. It was kind of funny actually.

I was almost hit by a deer also. It was a young fawn, probably less than a month old, that was sleeping in the tall grass next to the dirt road. I scared it and it ran across the road, i didnt see it until it was 2ft in front of me. I had to chop my steps to keep from kicking it.

I've also had a little run in with a skunk. I was running down another dirt road at night, there was a full moon, and it came out of the ditch about 10 ft in front of me. I really thought i was about to get sprayed, but it just turned and started walking down the road away from me. It just walked down the middle of the road for 5min, i wasnt about to pass it so i tried chunking a few rocks to scare it and he finally got off the road.

There have also been countless snakes, some dead some not, that have made me jump higher than i thought i could.

I once had a deer hurl itself infront of me when I was on my bike on a trail back home - it appeared from nowhere and was all over in a split second but must have missed me by a foot or two most. I was going full speed and there was a pretty steep drop the other side so it was a bit of a miracle there were no serious injuries. Took a couple years off my life, I can tells ya.

I also had a lady in a big ol' 4x4 do the same thing on a main road when I was cycling to work once. That was a lot less fun.

hi im new to this site today,laughing at your near misses! only wild life i spooked today on my morning run 3 little rabbits.not much call for kangaroo in dear old blightly!

not been hit by anything but last summer was out running with my ipod on when a car started to stop and before it had stopped properly the passenger, a man jumped out. I thought he was going to kidnap me, he must have seen the look of terror on my face and said to me sorry i was just going to the shop.

Hi all,

These made me laugh and feel,jealous at the same time, as you all seem to run in the countryside, bobcats, deer, skunks and rabbits are a bit rare where | am. In London and the closest run in I have had was with a fox, early one morning. I ran around a corner and bumped straight into him, we both leapt HIGH in the air and turned tail and ran. I still can't work out who was the most frightened. Oh, forgot about the rat I trod on one day, that was nasty and I had the shivers all day thinking about it.

Last fall I was out at the cottage and had a close run in with a Bear... Let just say I was lucky that my dad was going to the cottage dump... and was able to use the truck to scare off the bear... lets just say they arnt overly friendly when they are getting ready for hibernation...

I love the squirrel story dan.keeler! That had me in stitches!

On this topic, last week I got bought a bear bell as they up and about now and I sometimes hit the trails around where I live, which is also where they live. I'm now struggling to get my head around the fact that real life bears are not cuddly . I'm from England so I don't usually have to be very careful with wildlife, this is all new to me.

A couple of weeks ago, I was running past a cemetery on a cloudy, quiet morning in Pittsburgh, and all of a sudden I heard some loud banging/ruffling noise coming from underneath a car that was parallel parked beside the sidewalk I was running on.  I didn't know what to think, and then a huge mallard duck frantically flaps his wings, manages to get out from under the car and flies away.  There isn't even water nearby, just a quiet neighborhood in a city near a cemetery/park.... but it scared me half to death b/c I was next to a cemetery!  It took a while for my heart rate to get back to normal.

Another funny thing that happened while I was running in Costa Rica a few years ago... I swallowed a fly inadvertently!  Something flew in my mouth toward the back of my throat, and I guess I made a split-second decision that it would be more gross to try to spit it out b/c it would have to slide along my tongue, so I just swallowed it!  Yuck!

when i first started running i ran over a bird with my stroller and then i stepped on it!  it was horrable!  i wasn't sure what i should do, so i just kept running.  when i was on my way back the bird was gone.  maybe someone picked it up to try and save it from the "devil" runner!  woops!

 

i also had a fly ,fly into my throat it was not pleasant!

Though I didn't have a direct encounter (thanks to whomever), this is the most exciting story I have about wildlife.  When I was in a Peace Corps volunteer back in 1996, I was living in Botswana in a tiny village in the Kalahari Desert called Kang.  I was going for a run in the late morning along a deep sand trail behind the school in which I was teaching.  I got about 30 minutes out when I heard what sounded like a lion's roar.  I stopped and stood still trying to hear or see anything that may indicate a lion was near.  My heart was racing faster than when I was running.  I remembered some advice I received in case I encountered a lion:  Walk slow, make yourself big by raising your hands and make noise.  I turned around and slowly headed back to the school, but I began imagining a lion or a group of lionesses stalking me, getting closer and closer, ready to pounce.  Next thing I know I was running flat out in the deep sand.  My legs burned and my heart and lungs felt like they were going to explode.  I approached the barbed wire fence of the school grounds and leaped, landing on the other side with a gash on my leg and torn shorts because I didn't fully clear the fence.  I turned around expecting to see the lion(s) ready to jump the fence.  Nothing was there.  I felt a little silly.  I wasn't even 100% sure I heard a lion.  It could have been a donkey.  The next day I was running laps within the village and came across 4 dead young male lions that had been shot the previous afternoon because they were stalking and killing a number of livestock less than 1/4 mile from where I was running.  A pack of lionesses were also sighted but did not seem to be threatening human or livestock.  I decided that laps in the village would be a fine way to run.  I also equiped myself with pepper spray and an airhorn.

I was running downtown the other day, passing by some storefront entry ways. I had the poo scared outa me when I spooked a pigeon in one of the entry ways, and it banged a few times against the glass trying to escape.

So timed my long run really bad and had to run the last part in the dark. There was a little light so that I could see the trail that I was following, and there was what looked like a rock on the side of the trail a couple of yards up. As I got closer I noticed that it was in the middle of the trail and I was going to step on it. I thought the darkness and my exhaustion was playing tricks on me moving the rock around. I move so that I didn't step on it and it jumps and hits my foot! It was a big bull frog.

Sometimes in the fall, grasshoppers have a tendency to leap at my ankles. Once a bird dive-bombed my head. And another time I nearly stepped on a tiny snake. But this is completely normal, since I run on a nature trail.