A coyote attacked an ultramarathon runner during his 150-mile race in California close to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Blood was gushing from Dean Karnazes’ top and lower lip as he spoke about the incident to his 100,000+ Instagram followers in a video that was uploaded.
“I’ve been attacked by a shark, and now a coyote,” the video’s description says.
Karnazes said that when alone around 3 a.m. and at the 37-mile milestone, “something really terrible happened.”
He said, “I was sprinting and I heard several footsteps behind me.”
“I turned to look and saw a coyote on the path where I had believed there was a large dog.”
Karnazes told NBC that he thinks the animal was for the energy bar he was about to consume when it knocked him to the ground.
He said, “Honestly, I believe it didn’t know what to do.”
He was glancing my way. I was observing him. The bar was his target.
He was able to repel the coyote by holding onto the poles he had taken with him as a support. He then carried on running.
Not knowing what to do, he said, “I suppose I’ve had to keep going or else it will certainly come back to me.”
Karnazes is well recognised for his long-distance running and is most known for completing 50 marathons in 50 days straight across 50 different states.
Karnazes, who was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2007, has also ran a marathon to the South Pole in sub-zero weather and through Death Valley in Eastern California’s Mojave Desert.
Karnazes, who has completed 10 different 200-mile events, was not unfamiliar with the 150-mile walk.
He believes that his body’s capacity to quickly remove lactic acid from his system is what allows him to complete these runs.
The body often creates lactic acid as a consequence of the conversion of glucose to energy during physical activity.
As it accumulates in the muscles, it starts to cause cramps and exhaustion as a signal to halt.
Those messages are never sent to Karnazes. As a consequence, he can run continuously and participate in some of the world’s most challenging endurance competitions.
He earlier told the Guardian, “At a certain intensity, I do feel like I can go a long distance without tiring.”
I can push myself to the limit without my muscles giving out. If I’m going to go far, that’s sort of a wonderful thing to have.