Snake on the Trail!

During our training run at Renaissance Park today, my friend Terry and I ran into a rather long black snake. It was right smack in the middle of the trail.  At first I thought it was fake.  My thinking was that perhaps a mountain biker dropped it to frighten a friend - who knows??...but then I saw the little tongue and it started to slither.

Fortunately, I spotted the snake when it was well ahead of me.  When I run the single-track trails I am always watching my next few steps while intermittently taking a quick scan of  the trail 15-20 strides ahead of me and making mental notes of what will be in store for me.  In the winter, the trails don't have much wildlife but now that Spring has sprung I often see rabbits, birds and squirrels and now I can add a snake to my list.

The snake stopped me dead in my path.  Terry, who was 10-12 strides behind me, knew something was odd.  I never stop unless a mountain biker is heading directly for us and there is no room to run.  When he caught up he thought I wanted him to pass me and wondered if I injured myself.  Then I pointed to the snake.  He was impressed.  We looked at it for a few seconds then it started slithering off to the left of the single track and we then proceeded with a wide right around the area where I found him.  The encounter was toward the end of our run and I think I ran a bit faster after that.  I am not a big fan of snakes.  I was told that this type of snake is not poisonous but  I don't really care.  I do not want to be face to face with any snake.

I hope my next run will be more uneventful.