basic instincts

mileage today: 3

on the ipod: "hard sun" -- eddie vedder

Holy wow it was a hot run today. 98 degrees outside, with the heat index coming in at 102.

I started at the Botanical Gardens and ran west along the Lake Fayetteville trail. While crossing the big bridge, I noticed a snake swimming in the creek. Great fun! I know nothing about snakes, but this one was brown with a diamond pattern. Probably three feet long? At any rate, I was a full mile into the run so it was good to stop for a few seconds and watch it. Maybe the snake would do something really cool like eat a fish. But all it did was sit there. That's when my basic instincts kicked in and I decided to throw a rock at it. Because that's what you're supposed to do when you see a snake, right? Throw a rock at it. So I found a small rock, I didn't want to hurt the snake, tossed it, and it didn't flinch. It just kinda swam away about 10 seconds later. Total letdown. The entire encounter was less than a minute.

Running on, I got to the turn-around fairly swiftly and headed back. There were intermittent areas of shade because of the trees, so I used those to walk for approximately 10 seconds. The plan will be to walk through water stations in the second half of the marathon, so I don't have any problem doing it now. I could see a shade spot looming, but also saw two guys on road bikes riding in the opposite direction. I wanted to walk through the shade, but couldn't. My basic instinct was to not only avoid walking, but to speed up my pace. And that's exactly what I did. Had to look like a badass in front of the bikers, right?

But the real question is what in the heck was I doing out there in the first place? Why was I running on the hottest day of the summer, in the middle of the afternoon, on a trail with virtually no shade whatsoever? It makes no sense. It's crazy. Nuts. Unless it's your basic instinct to run. I can't help myself, I gotta get out in the middle of the heat and pounding sun and move my legs. It's my basic instinct.