Close encounters of the MOOSE kind!!

What probably lasted only a minute or so, seemed like hours on Friday when Hannah and I had a harrowing encounter with a cow moose (defending her calf) while finishing our 11 mile bicycle ride on Anchorage's Coastal Trail. Here's Hannah's account of the adventure, which she emailed to some of her friends...I'll add my observations afterwards.

Hi ! It's Hannah! How's your summer?

On Friday (the day after school ended ) My dad and I were biking in Kincaid and all of a sudden a mother moose jumped out of the woods and attacked me! She knocked me off my bike and I was knocked on the ground. I was yelling and crying. The bike landed on me sort of. She then started trampling me and kicking my bike. My dad came next to me and chucked his bike at the moose to get her off of me. She ran away finally. my dad helped me up. I wasn't hurt too bad. My leg was cut and bleeding. She kicked my head (good thing I was wearing a bike helmet) so I had a goose egg there. My bike had a huge dent in the metal from her kicking it. the thing that holds the wheels on was broken. We had to walk a mile to the car. We later got a new bike helmet. I'm doing pretty good right now just really sore. I'm lucky I'm alive!

Hannah

From my perspective, it truly is amazing that Hannah did not get seriously injured. A few years ago a University of Alaska Anchorage student was trampled to death by a moose when he attempted to walk between a cow and calf to enter a campus building. This type of incident happens to others, not to me and my family...wrong! I've lived in Anchorage since 1982 and this incident with Hannah is the first of its kind for us.

With only a mile left in our bike ride and approaching the huge hill leading to the Kincaid Chalet where our car was parked, Hannah decided to build up some steam to help get up the hill. Just as she passed me on my left, a cow moose appeared out of nowhere from my right and charged after Hannah. Why it didn't charge after me instead, I'll never know. I yelled to Hannah to look out and just as she stopped to look back at me, the moose hit her, knocked her off her bike, and she and the bike fell off the trail into a low lying area. The moose was over her in an instant and began to trample her, primarily with her front legs. Luckily Hannah was pinned under the bike so it took the blows (for the most part) instead of Hannah. Upon seeing the moose charge after Hannah, I followed the moose as fast as I could peddle. In one sweeping movement I jumped off my bike, picked it up, and using it as a shield, I attacked the moose who by now was standing over Hannah and her bike. Yelling and screaming, I stood over Hannah while attempting to push the moose off Hannah with my bike. It appeared to work because I was able to turn the moose around and get it off Hannah. I yelled to Hannah to get up, which she did after crawling out from under the bike...she hugged my waist hanging on for dear life. What was weird is that when the moose stopped trying to kick us, it just stood there staring at me though the frame of the bike...eye to eye. The moose blinked first and it lumbered back onto the trail, all the while keeping her eye on us. Once on the paved trail, with its ears still laid back, it ran back into the vegetation towards where Hannah said her calf was last seen.

Needless to say, Hannah was terrified but not in shock. She did sustain some bruises on her legs and has a few bumps on her head from where glancing blows landed on her bike helmet. Her bike took all the major damage...so much so that it was not able to be ridden. We walked the final mile back to the car with me pushing both bikes and trying to console Hannah. The walk actually did us some good because we were able to process the event together and we warned others about the "mad moose" that was on the trail. On the way home, we stopped at McD's and used junk food to help us feel better. We also stopped and bought a new bike helmet for Hannah.

It's now two days since the incident and Hannah is doing fine, although she is still sheepish about walking around outside fearing another moose will attack her...understandable. I think the huge BBQ we had yesterday also kept her mind off things. It truly is amazing how fast potentially deadly events can occur. One accurately placed kick from that moose and Hannah could have been history, just like that unfortunate University student. Thank God everything worked out, including me being healthy enough to ward off the moose...my heart was truly tested in many ways. I suspect Hannah's brush with death will affect her in ways still unknown...it sure as hell affected me.

The Crayton-Lilley family adventures continue.

Graduation!

No, it's not high school graduation! It's my graduation from the Providence Hospital Cardiac Rehabilitation Program. Thursday, May 14, I finished my 36th (12 weeks) session at the facility and I tell you, it was worth every dime (actually thousands of dollars) Blue Cross/Blue Shield had to pay. I can't begin to tell you how important it was to me to reach my rehabilitation goals which were to gain my weight back, improve my stamina to participate in the Alaska Heart Run, build up some upper body muscle mass, finish the program having run a 10K distance, and overall being "subsistence fit." I accomplished all but the 10K distance...my longest run was 5 miles and not 6.2 miles.

The commitment and patience the staff (Hal, Jennifer, Christine, Marie and others) exhibited was top notch. It was amazing how they were always in a good mood and eager to answer questions. Don't get me wrong, they were tough when they had to be, especially if someone was goofing off too much or distracting others. Every Wednesday there would be a 30 minute presentation before our session covering a wide variety of fitness topics to help make our life more healthy. NOTE: I always seemed to arrive late for the presentations ... must be the semi-retired person coming out in me. A special thank you goes to Hal who provided me encouragement when I was in the ICU and PCU, coached me during my first short walks in the hospital hallways, and supervised my full recovery during the 12 week rehab session. Thanks again!

I lost track of how many folks I met over the 12 weeks. All types of professions were represented: policeman, writer/editor book publisher, nun, retired Air Force officer, real estate agent, tile craftsman, oil field workers, city vehicle maintenance supervisors, and city, state and federal workers. It was most interesting to hear the stories told by the many Anchorage sourdoughs who went through the program. Stories about the Great Alaska Earthquake in 1964, political scandals, hunting expeditions all around the state, fishing adventures, personal tragedies, and stories about how Anchorage use to be before all the development.

This week marks the first week since the January 13 operation that I truly feel like I am on my own, and I welcome it. Now I am totally responsible for keeping up my weight training and cardio work outs and having to schedule sessions around family activities and my part time work at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. My plan for 3-to-4 days a week is to head to my local hole-in-the-wall gym (Polaris Gym) and weight train for an hour. I'll be able to run 4-to-6 miles at noon each day I work at the Corps, which is 3 days a week. I hope to run a long route once a week on the weekend. I don't work on Monday or Friday so I'll use those days for lots of things, like playing golf, maybe some tennis, doing chores, and planning family adventures.

If all goes well, I should be in good shape to seriously start planning my 2010 European Trampathon by summer's end. I'll continue to use this blog site to "tempt" others to join me on my European adventure...hopefully some of you will allow yourself to be tempted!

Sleeping less in Seattle!

Ok, Seattle is not Europe but I was determined to get out of Anchorage and pretend that I was actually living a (semi)retired life. Circumstances were such that I was itching to visit my 24-year-old son Michael who lives in Seattle and a movie of mutual interest was about to premier. Being Trekkers, both Michael and I were pretty excited about the release of a new Star Trek movie. I raised Michael on Star Trek movies and TV episodes (not to mention all the Star Wars stuff too) so it was a no-brainer that we should use the movie’s premier to join forces and experience the new adventures of the new USS Enterprise and its reinvented crew. NOTE: No movie review provided; however, seeing it twice will help you understand more about what happened and why.






My trip lasted 3 nights/4 days and it was certainly was a “sleep less” adventure. Long days lasted to 1, 2 and 3 am! The action-packed trip included a midnight showing of Star Trek at the Seattle Center’s IMAX theater, a second viewing at the Downtown Cinemax Theater, touring Pike Market, bicycle riding, tennis, long walks in the University of Washington Botanical Gardens, watching a movie or two and playing video games on Michael’s entertainment center, playing chess games, mini-golf, hiking in Discovery Park, playing pool, and eating, eating, eating. Throw in a beer or two or three as well. Bluebird weather occurred each day…for me it was almost too hot!

It was a real special treat to have great conversations with my son and to meet and spend time with Michael’s girlfriend Jamie, who is attending Bastyr University and studying to get a BS in Herbal Science. Michael, who is a design engineer with Pathway Medical Technologies, learned earlier in the week that he would be laid-off in July…that put a damper, somewhat over things but Michael is looking forward to the challenge of regrouping and charting a new course for his future. I also had a chance to meet his other housemates who are also attending college…one (Chris) is pre-med, Tommy is in a math doctorate program, and Travis will be attending the Seattle Film Institute this fall. Michael is hoping that they'll all be able to remain roommates when the lease runs out in August and they have to move from their wonderful location.

My Florida buddies Bill and Yianni (John Bob) are planning to run the inaugural Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon in June. I had hoped to scope out the entire course but much of it overlaps with what is the Seattle Marathon course, which I ran in 2003. I think they'll find the course pretty easy, as it avoids most of the large hills east of downtown Seattle and the stretch along Lake Washington will be very refreshing (that is if there isn't a north wind blowing). Sorry Yianni, I couldn't find a good hiding place for the bottle of ouzo...too many homeless folks camped out along the route! Maybe you guys can hoist a brew with Michael while you are back there.

I put together a slide show of my Seattle trip and it is posted in the right column of my blog. Seattle and its surroundings are very photogenic, so it was hard to limit the number of photos I wanted to take. Enjoy the shots and certainly come to the west coast and spend spring time in Seattle. My guess is that you'll sleep less in Seattle like I did.


Live long and prosper!

Kyle Garlett...Heart Transplant Recipient and Triathlete

What an amazing story Kyle has to tell. I have to thank my buddy Ron Skinner for sending me the story, and now I send it out to you all. This man has conquered several bouts with the cancer Hodgkin's Disease, the affects of radiation and chemotherapy, has a heart transplant, and other related aliments. The audio story is about 10 minutes long but it is well worth listening to...you will truly be inspired by his strong desire to accomplish his athletic goal of participating in the Hawaii Ironman.

http://www.enduranceplanet.com/public/281.cfm

the other woman; me or her?

Gosh, you'd think he'd be a little more discreet on his blog about his crush on Uta. I thought I was the only one back in '94 but apparently I was wrong. (Not able to post a comment so glad I have access to the blog...in case it gets out of hand with Uta type material)
Marian :-)

Uta...sweet Uta has been found!

One of my major winter time/post heart surgery goals was to sort through all my running paraphernalia and make room for more paraphernalia to come. My God, the stuff I collected over the years was amazing. Everything from racing bibs, photos, 10 year old energy bars, every kind of gadget invented to secure your timing chip to your shoe, rock-hard sport jelly beans, posters, loads of first aid items, etc. etc. etc. It's amazing what one can collect at all the marathon expos. It's like Halloween...you know what I'm talking about. You and your running buddies gather in your hotel room, dump on the floor all the crap you collected, and you start trading. I'll trade you a travel size can of Adidas deodorant for two of your Snickers bars.

So what's up with Uta? Back in the early 1990's when I was getting back into running marathons, I started paying more attention to what was going on in the world of marathoning and how to train properly. I also started to read about world class marathoners...thus enter Uta Pippig from Germany. It was her accomplishment in 1993, winning the NYC Marathon, and in 1994, winning the Boston Marathon, (and her killer smile and good looks) that caught my attention...but it was her July 1994 Runner's World cover story and photo-log that made me a captive fan. One of the few Runner's World issues I did save and found in one of the boxes was that July 1994 issue.

Travel 13 years into the future to the 2007 Boston Marathon. I was running the 2007 Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) in support of raising funds for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. My buddies Bill Parady and John Clidas were also running Boston and I invited them to the Dana-Farber pasta feed, which included a number of presentations and ceremonies. I totally freaked out when I saw that Uta Pippig was a major speaker and supporter of the DFMC...actually, I think I began to sweat and my face turned red. I also think my excitement was a little obvious! You can only imagine how excited I was to meet and chat with her later in the evening. I think I sweat more while talking to her than I did running the marathon!

Boston 2007 was a marathoner's dream come true for many reasons. Not only did I meet Sweet Uta but I had a chance to see and hear many other Boston Marathon legends speak....that's another story for another time. Gee, I wonder what else I'll discover in the boxes I have yet to unpack...stay tuned.