Run 7

Roadkill Count: 1

I went into the day planning on doing a longer run. However, as the day wore on at work (when the first thing you do is drop a box of canned black beans right on your foot, you know it's not gonna be a good day) I slowly lowered my expectations. Finally, I decided that running at all would be a huge victory, so I did the short lap (2.75 miles) around my house again. My plan is to do a much longer run today. We'll see how this one goes.

During the Hood to Coast last year, I learned some new running terminology, one of these words being "roadkill." Basically, if you're running and someone runs by you, you have become their roadkill. Some vans had entire back panels devoted to a roadkill count and some of the better teams had roadkill counts that seemed to be in the hundreds towards the end of the race. As badly as I wanted to contribute to Twisted Blister's roadkill count, the sad reality that I probably should have done crazy things like "train" before the race soon set in and I think my final roadkill was a staggering 1 or 2. Ouch. This year will be different.

For whatever reason, all the runners in the area around my apartment seem to know exactly when I'm thinking about running, so my roadkill count has been stuck at 0 because (until today) I literally had not seen one other runner on the road while I was running. Today, I was waiting to cross an intersection when I noticed a lady running on the other side of the crosswalk. My eyes must have lit up the way a lion's would after seeing an obese gazelle rolling around in a tub of butter and garlic. I was pumped. My first chance at roadkill was finally here. As soon as the light had changed, I practically sprinted off towards my prey. As I rounded the corner and headed up the hill, I noticed that the lady had stopped running and was walking the last stretch of the hill. In a way, this was sort of a buzzkill. After all, surely it would have been more fun if she had heard me coming behind her and decided there was no way she was going to let me pass. She would go full steam ahead in a full fledged attempt to save her dignity only to have a vicious cramp derail her efforts as I passed her and muttered something degrading like "BOOYAH!" as I sprinted by. Obviously, what actually happened was a far cry from this fantasy. The lady didn't even seem to notice me pass her and as I passed her, I realized that I had used all of my energy trying to catch her. Now, somehow, I had to make it through the rest of the run with my tank on empty.

In the end, I managed to beat my previous best time by 10 seconds. Whether or not this has anything to do with my quest for roadkill won't be seen until the next time I do the loop. Still, overall, it was a satisfying run and I was pleased with the overall result. I'm finally on the board. Roadkill Count: 1 and counting...