Female, trail running alone, and being safe

I have always wanted to run trails but I am not the fearless type to do so by myself. I normally run only during daylight hours, in areas where there are other people around, or with other people. If I do happen to run alone on streets when it is

PAL-101CL Mini Personal Alarm with Clip

PAL-101CL Mini Personal Alarm with Clip

dark, I carry an alarm as well as text my daughter so she knows when I leave and when to expect my finishing text.

But being this way limits when and where I can run. So I decided that I would put my big girl panties on and run the trails at the Schabarum Regional Park. This park has some beautiful scenery of the San Gabriel Valley as well as the San Bernardino Mountains.

The reason I wanted to run this particular trail is to check out their elevation gains. You see, I raised my hand to do the third leg of the Big Sur Marathon Relay Race next year. And though it is over 8 months away, that leg has an elevation gain of 700 feet for the first 2 miles with the rest being rolling hills and a decent descent for a total of 6.8 miles. And yes, I’m nervous and excited about this challenge.

Schabarum Park has several trails that link together that extend from 3 miles to over 11 miles with elevation gains of over 1100 feet. Definitely, a good place to do some training for the Big Sur Marathon Relay Race.

This park is well used everyday within its walking paths but the trails border the park. Some of the times, you can see the park’s path and the people walking. But other times, you are behind a curve in the mountain and no one can see you. Also in reading about this park, there are some alarming looking people who sleep in and around the park and just appear on the trail. So I wasn’t exactly feeling that this park was really “safe” safe.

With a lot of timidness, I decided to brave it. I found my alarm and attached it to my sports bra. The alarm emits a loud noise. At least with the noise if I did run into trouble, someone would hear.

I started out at the bottom of the trail and didn’t see anyone on the trail for about 1/2 mile. Then I started to see some people walking in ones and twos every 1/4 to 1/2 mile. Most were carrying a hiking stick or a golf iron. While I was glad there were people around, I wondered if I should have somehow figured out how to carry a stick or an golf iron with me.

As my wariness waned, I started to enjoy my run, if you could call trying to run up trails enjoyable. That is until I started to seeing these signs!

Rattlesnakes

Rattlesnakes

Mountain Lions

Mountain Lions

 

 

Now I not only I had to be careful not to twist an ankle on the trail or run into an objectionable person, but I had to watch for rattlesnakes on the trail ready to strike at me and mountain lions laying in wait for me in the brownish blonde bush!

I wasn’t really surprised to see the rattlesnake signs as those snakes do like to warm their bodies on the trails. Rattlers normally don’t attack unless you provoke them as in step on them. Since I was paying attention to where I was stepping, I wasn’t too concerned about the snakes. Please don’t think I wouldn’t have been freaked out if I saw one. They just don’t scare me.

But mountain lions do. They can run so much faster than I could ever dream about especially if they are hungry.  And it was the hungry part that worried me.  This area is both densely populated as well as under-populated. I couldn’t imagine that there would be enough food unless it was someone’s pet to keep a mountain lion full. So they do scare me a lot.

To me, the only reason a mountain lion would be lurking in the bush is that it is definitely looking for a meal. I just didn’t want to be that female that gets plastered all over the news and internet. “An unknown female was attacked and eaten by a mountain lion while running this morning.”

Yes, even with all my fears, I would run it again. It is perfect spot to do some training for that uphill elevation climb come next April. And no, I won’t be carry a hiking stick or golf iron with me. But I will continue to wear my alarm. Hopefully, it will be enough to scare that mountain lion away if it does decides I look like a tasty meal.

 

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