BST to my sister's house so I could pick up my car from the Relay over the weekend. I saw a dozen lizards darting across the path, and half as many squirrels. The lizards made me wary of other reptiles, and sure enough, around mile 7.5, there was a 3' snake in the middle of the road. It made me jump. It was too cold for it to be moving much, but the size and girth was enough to give me a start. I didn't notice a spike on the HRM, but I was definitely amped up after almost stepping on it. This time, it wasn't a rattlesnake, but I was definitely watching the trail very closely for the rest of the run. Overall pace was 8:50. Poor. But there is 2100' of climb over the course of this run, plus two trips across streams, which slowed me down some. I was carefully trying to cross Farmington creek, but all the stones were mossy, and I should have just waded the dumb thing, because I ended up soaked anyway. The descents are awful too; they are so steep, you have to carefully pick your way down, (well, I do, so my knees don't explode,) so there's no making up for slow time on the climbs. When I got to Dit's, she fed me turkey and apple juice, and we blabbed about the Relay. It was fun to see her at home with her kids, relaxing on a beautiful summer morning. | 