I was running through a nature preserve and spotted a big Canada Goose standing on the edge of the trail. It hissed at me as I ran past it, but I just kept running. It probably had a nest close by and was trying to protect it
Well, my run was an out and back run so halfway through my run, I needed to turn around and run back. On my way back, the same goose I past earlier was now standing in the middle of the trail instead of on the edge...and that happened to be the part of the trail that had water on both sides so there was no way that I could run off of the trail to get out of its way. Otherwise, I would end up in the water.
As I got closer, the goose started hissing at me again. "I have a bad feeling about this," I said to myself. What's gonna happen here if he doesn't move? I thought. I ran right past the goose and he turned his head and hissed at me really loud but didn't do anything else. Okay, that wasn't so bad, I thought....until a couple of seconds later. Suddenly I heard wings flapping right behind my head along with these super loud honking noises. I then felt a beak pecking at the back of my head. I yelled really loud and then sprinted as fast as I could for about a quarter mile (I think I may have actually set an unofficial record for fastest 400 meter sprint at that point). I finally heard the goose land in back of me, but even then, it still kept honking and running after me for at least another minute or two. It took me a while to work up the nerve to go running on that trail again after that.
~Tom, Chicago
