I put my odds for Western on the previous post, but for some even more entertaining info, read on…..the Bighorn 100 was an adventure into the wilderness where sometimes it gets just a little scary!
The Bighorn 100 was another great win for me….that’s #25 in the 100 mile trail race “win category”. Nick Clark kept it close early, but in the end I was showered, sleeping and thinking about what “could have happened”….but didn’t. So here’s the story………..
Ever had a run-in with a moose? I can now say I have. It was funny the day before at the packet pick-up as I heard some other folks talking about how the leaders get to see all the wildlife. This race I was the leader. I saw all the wildlife, from big bucks, to big moose, even a skunk to perhaps throw some stink into my finish (that didn’t happen), but was close.
I was about a half mile from the turnaround point at the Porcupine Aid Station where I came upon old mama Bullwinkle. I stopped, she stopped. We both proceeded forward, when Bullwinkle started walking away from me towards the aid station, I also proceeded forward. She then started to run away from me. All I could think was “great”, she’s out of here. When I started moving again, she spun a 180, snorted and started charging at me from about 40 meters. I moved left behind a large tree, baiting her to pass me on the right. She was about 5 feet…yah 5 feet from me, I darted left behind the tree to protect myself. She turned around, charged at me again only to find that big tree in her way and a little 142 pound runner hiding behind. She was only 5 feet from me staring me in the face. We played cat and mouse 5 more time before she decided to head back up and away from me. I felt better now, hoping she was out of there. At this area on the jeep road there was about 75 meters to the next big tree where I could protect myself, in the direction of the aid station. It seemed she was gone as I could no longer see her in the woods about 50 meters away. I started running quite fast towards the aid station, she then came barreling out of the woods and started chasing me! As I was sprinting faster than Carl Lewis ever has, I turned around to see her snout only 5 feet from me and ready to pounce on top of me and possibly kill me. I dove like superman behind that first big tree. She kicked my right shin as well as my left hand. When I hit the ground, I bounced up quickly to hide behind the tree again, only to play cat and mouse 5-6 more times. Standing in front of a moose 7 feet tall is pretty scary from a distance of only 4-5 feet. I don’t recommend it! After a minute or two or her standing there debating whether I was worth more effort, she moved up and away into the woods again. This time I waited out of her sight a little longer than the first time. I finally went and she was never seen again. I was shaking at the aid station knowing I had to head back that way. Two younger guys went ahead to spook her, they did just that. For the next 20 miles I was shaking while running as I kept turning around thinking something was coming after me. Finally it was over. I survived a moose attack, won the race in record time, and now it’s a no-brainer when someone asks me a “wildlife story” when running in the wilderness. Lesson to be learned……nah, it was about time this happened, I’ve been running in the woods for 25 years!
Bighorn results here:
Now we can proceed to the Western States Odds!
Dude! Unreal! You are 1) a lucky bastard, 2) a brave bastard, and 3) a fast bastard.
I would have protected you (like I did against the bears on the AT) if I was there, but I’m sure as hell glad I wasn’t…
Crazy story, Karl! I’ve had plenty of wildlife encounters, but never had any physical contact. Way to keep plugging away, through the shakes, to a c.r. and 100 mile win #25. That’s awesome. Congrats.
Admit it, it hurts your feelings just a little that she didn’t think you were worth more effort.
What an encounter! Congrats on #25.
The Speedgoat vs. the Moose! Unbelievable.
Way to go, Karl.
Wow, that will light a fire under your hooves for sure! Glad to hear it turned out ok. Congrats on a great run!
Congrats on the win, the record and surviving the moose! I heard moose stories when I ran Bighorn last year. It’s good to know us mid-packers are safe from wildlife since you front-runners get all the attention. The real question is how much faster would that time have been without the encounter?
Boy, somebody is really full of himself!!!!
Just what you need heading into a long night of running. That was one hell of an impressive run. DMack and I were talking about it today and he said “It’s encouraging…” and I finished the sentence, “that we have that inspiration to run better than ever at out ages.” I’m closer to your age than he is but just the same, DAMN, you’re killing it this year! Rest up well.
Does this count as being chicked?
WOW, crazy stuff! You sure the Moose didn’t just want one of your GELS - lol and u said “No way Moose”
Congrats Karl on a great win !!
DAMN, Karl! First off, you beat your own course record by nearly an hour…but then seriously, you were attacked by the moose as well?! Super-impressive…as always…yet even more super-impressive than I thought previously?! Karl, you are literally the toughest runner on earth, ultramarathoner / marathoner / Olympic track runner combined!! You are #1 in my book, and will stay there!! INCREDIBLE+++++!!!!!
Fantastic story ! Very good stuff.
Congrats on an excellent start to the year.
Damn is that scary. That could have really been quite an ugly outcome.
Karl,
I too had a close encounter on that course while leading in ‘06…nice work by the way, bro…wish I could have been there. We could have tag teamed her…”OFF THE TOP ROPE, Meltzer and Browning…OH, Bullwinkle’s down!”
Seriously though, scary story…sounds like it was freaky.
In 2006, I was climbing up the last climb (Horse Creek Ridge at mile 80 something), on that ATV trail coming up off upper Sheep Creek, before the final descent into Tongue River Canyon. I was taking a gel and had my head down when I felt a “presence”. I looked up and 60 yards on the trail in front of me, mama moose broadside. I stopped, she smelled the air. A moment of tenseness. I yelled, she snorted and hackles raised on her hump. I scoped my out (40 yards to trees on my right, downhill). I picked up a rock threw it at her, it bounced in front of her. She started trotting, then slowed to a walk and made her way to the stand of pines on the right. I waited until she was in the pines, then I started hiking up the ridge, watching her the whole time. Scary enough. I can’t imagine that kind of stand-off, 5 feet…phew…you’re lucky. Glad you’re in one piece. Love to hear the extended version when I’m at OR in July when we hook up for a run. Peace.
-Jeff
That’s a “wild” story for sure. Nice work on the evasive maneuvers and even better work on the win and CR. Your “lesson to be learned” is spot on too…run trails enough and something like this is bound to happen no matter what.
Congrats on the great win Karl! Wow, what an encounter too! Scary stuff! I only wish someone had gotten that stand-off on video. Better than anything Marty Stouffer could have done! You time was phenomenal on a really muddy, wet course. Amazing!
Holy crap, Karl! I heard about it from Dianne VanDeren, who said your hand was all swollen and nasty, and from Don Demetriades who saw you at the aid station. He said you were horribly and understandably shaken and weren’t too psyched to go back by the man-eating cow. Your rendition of the event is pretty good, but if anything, from what I heard from Don and Dianne, you underplay it. Scary, scary, scary! Congrats on a world record for the 50 mile run/moose fighting/50 mile run duathlon.
Dude, way to live again!!! Question, was this race fixed? Did that Moose Bitch cost you time at the end, or really speed you up for 20-miles, giving you an unfair advantage? Maybe Miss Bullwinkley should get some credit here, at least for the CR? Glad you will be here to run another day! Cheers!
Dude, that moose came after you because you were only 142 pounds. You gotta lift some weights and get up to 160 at least. Otherwise bears and moose and lions and wolves will all know that you’re soft and available for the kill. And why didn’t you have moose spray?
Also, Scott Dunlap would have gotten several cool photos of the moose at close range.
Nice….win a hundred and play matador. Another great run for Mr. Meltzer. Congrats!
big deal. you gotta toughen up a bit karl. here in alaska i deal with stuff like that on almost every run.
just kidding. that’s actually really damn scary. one of my favorite things about juneau (unlike most of the rest of alaska) is that we don’t have any moose around here… they can be such a pain in the ass to deal with. so much more stubborn than bears. i couldn’t begin to count the number of times i’ve encountered bears while running and every time the incident was over almost before i even knew it was happening. with moose though there is almost always some kind of prolonged standoff.
I have at least one moose go through my yard everyday. Up here in real Alaska (unlike Geoff) I have daily run ins with moose and bears. I can not remember the last time I was running without being scared of what was around the next corner. My dog saved me from a grizzly attack last fall and gave me an $800 vet bill.
I love running races down south because I can actually haul ass without worrying about getting mauled.
Congrats on the win but your run in with the moose makes you look like a puss. HA!
Karl - congrats on another great run! I had a similar moose experience at Wasatch a couple years ago, though the moose I encountered was more indifferent… I was out of my head, tried to get closer to the moose for a better look until Todd Walker asked me what in the hell I was doing… “Don’t you realize they can be dangerous??” I was probably 5 to 10 yards from her, shortly after coming off the asphalt stretch around mile 50 or 60 or so
Good job Karl….on the course record and the moose encounter. What a great memory you now have!
I’ve lived in NH most of my ultrarunning years and have never seen a moose or bear while running! I did have a mountain lion encounter at Hardrock in 2001, though….
wow, you are a total rock star! that is so freaky and scary. i probably would have cried and screamed and maybe quit…or not. i did have a freak-out seeing two non-poisonous snakes on a trail run on friday…so i can’t imagine a moose!
congrats on a kickass race!
Great job out there, Karl; I’m glad you weren’t hurt.
I’ve never been chased by a moose, but I’ve seen them on my runs a few times. I’ll usually just work my way through the trees until we’re out of sight of one another and start running again. Usually I’ve been in central Maine, although I did see one right in the Back Cove in Portland some 5 or 6 years ago.
The police were trying to get the crowd to leave the moose alone and leave the area so that the moose would come out and they could tranquilize it, but they wanted to keep gawking at it for some reason. (Personally, I have no interest in being near a moose during rutting season.)
The cops eventually pulled out a shotgun and killed it since the people wouldn’t go away. There were some great letters to the editor the next morning from people who were horrified by what happened and instead wanted the cops to have tranquilized it instead; apparently they thought that having it drown to death was a better way to go than getting shot. That they might listen to the police and leave it alone long enough to wander out of the water where it could be knocked out without killing it never seemed to enter their minds.
At least the folks at the soup kitchens had plenty to eat for a week or two.
What a story! Unbelievable! I thought I had a good story from this past Winter when I was in the middle of “doubling” our local tough trail 50km (ran the 50km course the night before the race, then ran the race). Anyhow right at dawn I was on one the last trail sections, perhaps two miles to go back to the start/finish area when I heard a rustling in the bushes to my left. Nothing unusual, I’d been hearing and seeing deer all night long! Well I start to turn my head to the left to see what it is when all I see is a gray and white blur coming right toward my head! All I have time to do is sort of cover my face and duck when I’m suddenly struck on my left calf hard enough to spin me around. I didn’t fall but almost did. I uncovered my face in time to see a coyote go somersaulting off the trail! It quit spinning, got to its feet and paused for perhaps a second or two; long enough to figure out what it just ran into! And then it was gone, zip! Still this is nothing compared to your cow moose story! Wow! I’m so happy you’re safe! See you at Hardrock in a couple weeks! 50 scrapes for you! Baaahhhh!
Karl, congratulations on your course record and wowzer on your close encounter … all I can think of is Jurassic Park: “Objects in Mirror Closer Than They Appear!”
I still think that moose came after you because you stank so bad. Man, I could smell you as you ran down toward me right before sunset. Way go. As always, great to see you on the trail. It was a wild experience in the Bighorns this year!
Karl,
1st off, nice moose story, and congratulations on the win!
2nd off — more mundane — I think your link to the bighorn results is wrong (an extra “s” — bighorntrailrun.com instead of bighorntrailruns.com)
An outstanding performance.
Is there a separate catergory for “moose aided” performances?
You only weight 140; maybe I should lose weight. I thought you were 6′ 180lbs. Well you look large in pictures.
I was once training at night and a bat (a flying feeding bat) flew across my face. It felt smooth and silky with hair.
Hey Mic, yah pictures make me look bigger. I’m just a skinny guy.
Thanks from everyone with the nice comments, it was quite an experience to say the least.
The last few days running have been good here, not thinking about being attacked by a moose again. I’m back on my home turf. There are lots of moose here, but it seems they are more tame…like a zoo! ….well maybe not!
Tim, we are not old! We just know how to run all day. I bet when I’m 50 I can still run a good 100. The 50k’s and 50 milers will be different, that’s where speed comes into play. I’m sure I’ll lose some of that…I already have.
Blaine, it’s a damn shame cops shoot a moose to get her out of her misery by being watched by people. Even if I were killed in that moose encounter I would never have wanted the moose to be killed for being aggressive. I was trespassing in her backyard, and she was just doing what moose do, protect their young.
Tom, the only thing I’m full of is laughs, I’m far from being full of myself! I hope you were joking!
Speedgoat 1, Moose 0!
Nice work Kaahhlll,
You had to have had one amazing adrenaline rush. Talk about herky jerky!
Now if I could just get some “moose bitch” quotes on my blog. Could be a good mantra heading into this weekend.
hk
Go kill it Hal, I’m rooting for ya!
What a story! The two stuffed animal toy moose at my parents are so– cute and cuddly. Glad you survived, didn’t get seriously hurt, won and set a new record, in that order I guess…
WOW Just read your write up. Adventure running at its best! Congrats on that my man. Your heart was a pumpin!
See you at Hardrock in a few. Jeff
Nothing much to worry about Karl. Even though she was running down the trail in front of you, without her bib number properly displayed I’m sure the Course Marshall would have DQ’d her!
Jurek and Mackey both drop?? Man, must have been rough out there. Looks like Hal Koerner… WS webcast has been a bit sketchy.
great story and great victory karl! glad you made it out alive..
Karl,
Congratulations on your record breaking performance. Man that moose ecounter must have been scarier than you make it out to be. Hats of to you for having the wits and the courage to not only survive but to continue on in spite of your fear.
You are an inspiration and an invaluable asset to the sport of ultra marathoning.
Hugs.
Rajeev