May 02 - 08, 1996 / Volume V, No. 18

I'm doing a good 15 miles per hour as I descend the hill, leaping over obstacles and splashing through early-morning breakup slush. As I hit the thick brush, my running technique turns into the four-limbed, leaping-intensive high-speed dance that propels me through the thickest forests faster than most humans would believe possible.

My heart must be above its target rate by now, as I spare no energy moving through the brush. Maybe later, I'll look for the first signs of wild edible mushrooms, but for now my only concern is running the greenbelt brush faster than the average jogger on the track.

I'd be afraid to do this anywhere but the most urban setting. With the bears hungry and awakening in most of the nearby forests, the chances of running headlong into a cranky grizzly are too strong to ignore. Here in the urban greenbelts, I'm safe from dangerous encounters with unexpected creatures. Or am I?

Beer cans are as common as logs on this run, and I blow through a number of empty encampments before I almost step on the first sleeping homeless person. Then another, then another. Bounding through a clearing, my foot lands inches from a sleeping person's head, and I find myself thinking, 'What if they're heavily armed and really pissed off about being disturbed?' Not looking back, I fervently hope they can't catch me, much less peg me with a bullet.

Putting my self-interest aside, I wonder what would have happened if I'd crushed that poor guy's head - that guy whose peaceful slumber probably wasn't even shaken by his close brush with utter disaster.

In an attempt to clarify the issues, I spoke with John McClary, of the Anchorage Parks and Rec Department. He says that, while few Anchorageites share my enthusiasm for brushrunning, it's permitted in all city parks. Most joggers prefer to stick to the trails where it's safe, he adds.

However, sleeping in the wooded areas of city parks is definitely against the law. "The problem really falls back to illegal activity," he says, "Unfortunately it's not safe for illegal camping to go on."

Sgt. Nelson of APD has a slightly different view. Illegal camping isn't safe, he says, because reckless people like myself are terrorizing municipal parks with impunity. "If an act is perceived as reckless, it's perceived as being a problem," he says, "If there's a probability of someone being in your way, to continue running through the brush is reckless and negligent," both violations of the law according to Nelson.

Though homeless people are not supposed to be camping in the park, Nelson says they have no place else to go, pose little burden on the community, and that "expunging them is not one of the priorities of our community at this time."

I have to agree. Though McClary says the complaints about homeless camping are beginning to filter in with the beginning of summer, where are these people to go? So few people utilize the wooded areas of the city parks that it seems almost a waste to disallow camping there, especially when sleeping on 4th Ave can entail far more risk to a homeless sleeper than a mere brushrunning freak.

So I'm a bit torn. Parks and Rec says I have every right to be running through brush at top speed. But the cops say I have no business endangering anyone's safety.

Next time, I think I'll take my chances with the grizzlies.