And today was one of those days.
With a view like this of the sunrise how could you expect any less?
The schedule called for a 16 mile run. Don e-mailed Friday that there was a 10K down at the Reach 11 Park at 7:15 am. He suggested going for a 5 or 6 mile run afterwards as well. He's increasing his mileage gradually preparing for PF Chang's Marathon in January. Needing a few miles in addition to that I got out on the trail at 5:45 for an early six miles. I never really drifted out of HR level 1 and still managed an average pace of 9:14 min/mile. Pretty fast for me.
I finished and found that I had parked in the wrong place so I had an additional 1/2 mile run over to the 10K start line. I met up with Don and his brother Dave. The race took off for a 2 loop trail that followed part of the run I had just completed. I covered the covered the first loop in 25:21 and the course in 51:54. I spent the majority of the race in level 2. I'd have to check but I am sure that's my best 10K time.
After a few glasses of water Don and I headed back out over part of the course for a 3 mile out-and-back. At the 1 1/2 mile mark we were just running along at a conversational pace when I went to jump over a stick. GEEZ! As I got over the stick I saw that it was a snake! I assumed this snake to be dead.
Don described my movements as screaming like a 7 year old girl looking like she was in a crazy jump rope competition. He was about to ask what was wrong but as my left foot struck the ground and I started hopping forward the snake sprung to life, coiled, and struck at me in less than the blink of an eye. By then I was about 20 feet from the critter.
We threw a few stones at it hoping to scare it into the brush so that any other runners behind us wouldn't get surprised but it just sat there tightly coiled and rattling up a storm. Finally Don hit it with a reasonably sized piece of wood. The wood just bounced off the snake and seemed to make it more angry. We thought it best just to move on.
We completed the 6 miles in just over an hour at a 10:09 pace. Don is a lot faster than that and could have left me behind.
Total distance covered was 18.73 miles in 2:52:39 or a 9:13 pace. I'll take that come November anytime. Family went to church afterwards and had a pancake breakfast then I took Ken to a birthday party for a friend of his.
It was a really great Sunday.
