Well this morning, boys and girls, I got a firsthand experience of what the expression means, “deer in headlights.” I was running along that particularly thin piece of single track with the cliff-ish right hand side that drops about forty feet. This is in the dark mind you. But with my headlamp on, I suddenly see two green eyes glowing back at me about 15 feet away. Aieee!!!!
I stop. The deer doesn’t move. I take a few deep breaths, because hey, I’ve been running here. And then, I realize, “oh yeah, the headlight thing.” So, I turn off the headlamp and the deer bounds off the way it came, somehow scrambling down part of the treacherous part, but hey, it’s smarter than me, right?
The rest of the run was uneventful. It was muggy, but it was so damned early that I didn’t much care. I did eight miles and felt like I had plenty more to throw out, even when I bumped my pace up and tried dipping deeper into the glycogen stores than I have been lately.
One final note: I returned my rental car this morning (mine was in the shop for the sake of anally raping me financially), and the rental lady asks me: “What did you do to the seat?” I immediately felt embarrassed. I said, “I went running this morning.” She says, “Did you leave the window open or something?” I said, “No..” pause, “I went running this morning.” I just couldn’t bring myself to say that I sweat so hard into her rental car cloth seats that they were still damp upon returning the vehicle. Um, whoops.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
That is so hilarious. I try to bring a newspaper or something to sit on if I’m driving after a run. That works, at least it does most of the time.
Chris, not only do you crack me up, but you inspire me so much. The way you describe your runs, that’s what really makes me want to get off the treadmill and into the “real world”. Thanks!! - Mia
And just think, the deer bounded off like that with a big blurry headlight still in front of its eyes. Heh. As for the seat, that’s one very real advantage to having leather in a car - cloth does have that whole absorbant thing going on (and I’ve found that it can retain odor unpleasantly well). I’m actually thinking that my next vehicle may be an Element - the comfort of cloth seats in a stain resistant waterproof technical fiber. Cool.
Cool - I love that face-to-face moment with nature!!
As far as cloth seats, two tips from stinky me:
Always keep a bath towel in the car.
Always keep Febreeze in the car.
Your friends/family will thank you ~she says, from experience!