The Black Snake of Death

I nixed the idea of racing any 5ks this weekend because my legs felt trashed – again, in a good way. Rather than risk doing more than I should and continuing to adhere to the mantra of airing on the side of caution, I opted for an easy weekend of plain old mileage.

On Saturday, Sam and I drove down to Georgetown for an easy 9-10 miles on the Towpath. The weather was damn near perfect: the sun was shining, temps were mid-60s, the canopy was a bright vibrant green and there were snakes…wait, snakes? Well, a snake, but it was a big black one – about 9 feet. Actually, it was more like 3, but it was big and thick – about a half inch in diameter. In any case, the size doesn't really matter. What's important was that the snake was a big deal and I pretty much saved the day when it comes to keeping people from being bitten, molested, attacked etc. Sam wasn’t paying attention and was probably talking about how great he is at running when all of a sudden the sneaky serpent appeared before us. Sam ignorantly continued to run towards the reptile, but, in the nick of time, I threw my left arm out and knocked him backwards. I, in turn, went selflessly forwards, towards the jaws of the dragon…but, thankfully I caught myself. Honestly, if it weren’t for me, Sam probably wouldn’t be running Penn Relays on Thursday. It’s fine and no big deal. I then shooed the snake off the trail with a stick and we were on our way. Later we stumbled upon PMurph and Will Rawson and together we ran back towards the Store.

On Sunday, Karl and I met Murphy and Bain at Riley’s Lock. I had been drinking Dark n’ Stormies heavily the night before on my balcony during a deluge - as if I were at sea. By Sunday morning, my head was pounding like a gong and my stomach was a twinge out of balance. The good news was that the rains had stopped, the Towpath was dry of mud, and temps were downright perfect for a long run. Over the next 1:40, we slowly cut the pace down from 7:40 to 5:40. I got in 15 for the day and 70 for the week. I felt much better running over the weekend than I did all week.

For those interested, the official* distance of the “Riley’s Lock 15 Loop” is 14.5 miles. “The Riley’s Lock 13 Loop” is 12.8.

*official = my GPS watch