Snake Right!

On Saturday morning, I headed to Ozark, Alabama's Sam Dale Lake Pedestrian Trail for my 8 mile taper run. The lake has a 3.1 mile trail, with the two heads of the trail connected by a parking lot and the lake's main information center. The left trail head (where I always start) is paved for two miles, where it gives way to a hilly clay course through the woods; the first mile has quarter-mile markers, with the remainder of the course having half-mile markers up to 2.5 miles. With the markers ending at 2.5 miles, I decided I would do a 2.5 miles out and back, a stop for a stowed water bottle, then a 1.5 miles out and back to finish my mileage. I started at around 9:30; the temperature was surprisingly high for that time of day, but there was a nice breeze.

At about mile, 1.25 it happened. As my right leg was coming off the ground I noticed something on the right hand side of the trail was moving; it was a 2.5 foot long snake! When my right leg landed next to the snake, it began to move it head, with more haste, towards the water and tree cover. Still though, shocked by such a finding, I gave a rockette-esque leg kick and uttered what I thought would be Parselmouth, but was probably more like "OH SHIT!". The "little fella" was all green with a white belly and was doing a good job blending in with the grass .... until it moved. I suspect it was just trying to sun itself, as it had been a fairly cool night. It's markings were inconsistent with a rattlesnake, moccasin, or copper head, so it was probably a King Snake; a non-venomous snake that is known to eat other snakes in addition to usual snake fair. Needless to say, I was much more focused on the trail for the remainder of the run, and as the area is heavily wooded, I saw at least 10 other snakes. Thankfully, all those snakes turned out to be some variety of stick, moss, or shadow, and I ran upon nothing more ferocious than a very inquisitive squirrel that seemed willing to pace me for about 100 yards.



I had some nasty stomach issues over the final 1.5 miles of the run (I think Golden Corral the night before, along with chugging 20 ounces of water at my water stop, did me in), but other than that things went well. In the aftermath my foot felt angry as usual, and unfortunately my hamstring was particularly gimpy. Thankfully, as the past two days have progressed, I seem to be healing up. I don't think I will run again; some elliptical machine tomorrow, and maybe just a touch on Thursday.



I did answer a key question during this trip home; not even Verizon works in Skipperville, Alabama. Though my phone would say it had some kind of weak DX, EX, or FX signal, it couldn't make a call or send a text. I know this because I was trying WITH ALL MY MIGHT to taunt Florida people after the game on Saturday (we don't have cable in Skipperville either, but thankfully my mother has ponied up for a dish). While "in town" for dinner on Sunday, I blasted a quick "War Eagle" to Yuriy, but turned my phone off quickly. When I reached civilization today, I turned on my phone and it went off like CRAZY!!! About five texts running the gamut of "War Tiger", "War Eagle, We're going to roll Toomers", to a "Auburn will still suck" from the Florida faithful. Oh, and a couple of voice messages to boot!



Tradition was that after beating Alabama, Auburn students would toilet paper the corner of the University next to Toomer's Drugs (i.e., Toomer's Corner). Over time, this morphed in a rolling upon any decent excuse (even the Swim team got some TP love for their National Title), but big football wins still bring out the best TP Auburn has to offer. Here's a view of Toomer's come Sunday morning. War Eagle!