Get the song playing....the title has a little to do with the post, but the actual lyrics do not. Good song though.
I went for a quick 4 miles tonight, actually starting at 6:30. I ran for about 45 minutes on the paved trail at the base of Turkey Mountain. Nice smooth new asphalt, and I was doing my pathetic excuse for speed work. Two miles out, and I turned back. It is a very gradual uphill coming back....almost flat most of the way, but with a slight incline and I intended to run a negative split as the daylight faded and evening blanketed the Arkansas River Valley helped by the shadow of Turkey Mountain. A quarter mile past the treatment plant, I caught a glimpse of what looked like a snake in the road. I gave it a semi-wide berth, and it struck at me, missing me by a long shot. WOW~!~!~!! I stopped to check it out, and the little bastard was coiled and ready to strike again!!
Normally, this would have been a fatal mistake for the slithering menace, but there were no big rocks or sticks around, so I went on. Just ahead, I saw two guys walking back that way and warned them of the potential danger ahead. They told me they had seen two snakes ahead just past the railroad tracks. Hmmm....we had been enduring an early cold spell in our weather, and today the temps got up into the mid 70s, and the snakes evidently were getting out on the asphalt as the evening temps were dropping to soak up the last bit of warmth from the pavement. And just like the guys said, there were two copperheads laying in the road that any biker or runner mcould run over or step on. Whew! Good thing I was watching out for them.
Then a biker past me and said to watch out....there were poisonous snakes ahead. WHAT?!?! More???? By now, it was just past 7:00, and any remaining daylight was waning. I stayed right in the middle of the path, and hurried carefully. Just a quarter mile further, I saw another copperhead right on the edge of the pavement. I stopped to make sure I was not imagining things as every stick and leaf in the road had me thinking snake. Sure enough, it was what it was, and slithered away into the grass. A little farther, I saw another one, laid out straight. I thought it might be a stick. and actually nudged it near the non-business-end and found it was dead, probably ran over by a bike?? One more copperhead on the big hill, where it was a little more lit as I had gotten out of the shadow of the mountain. Right in the middle of the road. At least I was close to the parking lot. But that was not all! I saw the last one not 100 yards from the top of the hill, again right in the middle of the path in plain sight.
That makes 7 snakes in about a mile....any of which could and would bite anyone who might step on or beside them. Bobby, Sandra, and Deon who were about a half mile ahead of me saw 6 snakes, and Susan, Deborah and Amanda saw some too.Not trying to strike fear into anyone wanting to go out for a nice evening run. But for me, I will wait until the temps are at least 20 degrees colder before I go down this trail again at dusk.
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