Chased by a Wolf on a Run

Not really "chased," but still pretty exciting...

I posted this recently on Instagram:

Here’s the first story of 2 animal encounters this morning.
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I was out on a run just after 5 a.m. near Lake Vermillion State Park when I saw 2 coyotes in a marsh up ahead. One came into the trail about a block in front of me. “OH BOY. THESE AREN’T COYOTES. THESE MAKE GERMAN SHEPARDS LOOK TINY. THESE ARE F*%$ING WOLVES.”
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One came toward me a few steps, and then just stared. I stared back, and he got scared off.
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I ran past where they were and noted how big their foot prints were. As I ran off, I checked over my shoulder a few times. Suddenly, one was back on the trail and staring at me, but once I stopped it quickly darted off again.
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I wasn’t very scared during that encounter, just exhilarated. However, when I turned around a few miles later and ran back through that same section, THEN I was scared. I laid down my 3 fastest 1/2 mile splits all year (during a long run) on this 11 miler running back through that area. What an unforgettable run, and not because of my pace!

Here are the 3 images I shared:

Please stop looking at me, Wolfie.


Notice the footprints: the one came towards me 10 feet, which was a nerve wracking 10 feet!!


BIG OLE FEETS.

I don't think I've been under 3:00/half mile on any of my long runs this year. But after turning around and heading through where I saw the wolves, I ran a 2:57. Then running through the heart of where I saw them, I ran a 2:52, which is like my tempo/5k race pace! Then I followed that up immediately with a 2:59.

That reddest section (meaning my FASTEST) was
coming back through where I saw the wolves on the way out.


My pace chart. Easy for 2 miles, starting some "hard" miles up a hill,
then stopping to stare at the wolves in front of me around mile 3.
Then coming back through that area FAST around mile 6-7.5.

MEMORABLE RUN!

And earlier that morning, I was out making some night photos, and I heard a bear (probably a baby?) wandering around the shore of the lake in front of me, and I posted this on my "photography" Instagram page:

Here’s my first attempt at “star trail photography” over Lake Vermilion in northern MN. This is 30 exposures starting at 3:47 a.m. of over 30 seconds each stacked to show the movement of the stars in the sky over 17 minutes. (Well, technically our rotation here on Earth.) I’ve got to figure out what’s causing the Newton rings - old sensor? Too many images? I stopped exposing (and ran back down the trail with my gear) when the baby bear that was calling out and circling the lake started getting too close to me.

And here's the image:

Hopefully I have time to re-work this a bit today to see if I can get rid of those Newton rings. Someone on Instagram suggested it could be because I "fixed up" the images first - I need to try taking the images just as they were shot and stacking those.