Joggling to Valhalla

The red line going north was my 13.1 mile run

Yes, it is true, I joggled to Valhalla. I don’t mean the place Norse heroes go after they die heroically in battle. I’m still alive and juggling, and joggling certainly isn’t heroic. And I’m not of Scandinavian or Germanic ancestry.

At 13.1 miles(21 km), this run wasn’t remarkable by any means, but it is the farthest distance I’ve run that that didn’t involve a return trip since I got a ride in Valhalla(no, not by a Valkyrie). It took me 2 hours and 13 minutes to complete this yesterday, and the temperature was just below 80. I took one water break during the run and juggled 99% of the way up to the Kensico Dam in Valhalla.

A very weird thing happened to me near the end of my run in Valhalla. I was running through this wooded area when all of a sudden I spotted a mysterious wolf-like creature just off the trail looking at me in the distance. I thought to myself “there are no wolves in New York”, but as I got closer it became apparent that this was a coyote.

It did nothing except stare at me and I just ran right by it without incident. Since it was kind of small, I wasn’t scared of it. Then a strange thought occurred to me: I’m in Valhalla, and I saw a wolf-like creature for the first time in my entire life in the wild – It’s FENRIS WOLF!

Fenris Wolf by Dorothy Hardy

Fenris Wolf, the monstrous wolf that lives in Valhalla according to Norse mythology. It is such a coincidence since I use “Fenris” as a username in another forum. Granted, this was almost certainly a coyote, but coyotes are so close to wolves that they can interbreed. Too bad I didn’t take a picture.

This was a very strange encounter. I’m not superstitious or anything, I don’t believe in Norse or Germanic mythology(I do use the names of their gods for the days of the week, but so does almost everyone), but if I had a coyote encounter in any other town of Westchester county, it wouldn’t have been as interesting.

This makes me wonder: If I were to run with a woman named “Athena”, would this increase my odds of seeing owls(owls were frequently used as symbol for Athena) on my runs in wooded areas? I don’t think so, but it is interesting to contemplate.

Great, now I can’t get Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” out of my head.

What is the weirdest thing that happened to you on one of your runs?

Ghostly boat wreck overlooking Long Island Sound

Boat wreck along the Long Island Sound, in the Bronx. I took the photo, but that is not my boat, I am much better at steering boats than that.

This photo was taken in Pelham Bay Park in the north-east corner of the Bronx, the only borough of New York City that is on the U.S mainland. At 2,766 acres, Pelham Bay Park is the largest park(more than 3 times larger than Central Park) in the entire city, with miles of trails meandering through its many woods and marshlands, as well as along the Long Island Sound and its many inlets.

The diversity of wildlife in this park is remarkable for an urban park. Besides squirrels, it is home to many deer, opossums, hawks, owls, turkeys, cardinals, blue jays, raccoons, turtles, and a few people here and there.

Due to its distance from Manhattan and most major tourist attractions, it isn’t very touristy, except for the Bartow-Pell Mansion(that’s a whole other post) in the middle of the park, but mostly during the summer. Like just about all the parks I visit, it is a terrific place to run and observe wildlife, and you can access Orchard Beach from the park. I first learned how to joggle in this park and in the nearby streets many years ago when I lived closer to it.

Luckily(or unluckily, if you prefer more excitement), the neighborhoods adjacent to the park are not among the Bronx’s most crime-ridden, though I’ve observed drug activity in it over the years. The Bronx and Pelham Bay Park shares its northern border with the boring town of Pelham, and the even more boring town of Pelham Manor, which are in Westchester county.