THIS TRIATHLON TRAINING MAY KILL ME

Now, if you know me, you are aware that I tend to exaggerate sometimes. Whit, no comment. But occasionally something so scary will happen that I have no need to embellish the story - because it speaks for itself.

Like last night.

My puppies and I (pictured here) went for a run. We all needed some exercise and while it was late, I considered my dogs to be good protectors.

We ran from our house to the Roanoke City / Roanoke River Greenway, and headed West. I had planned on a 3 mile run, nothing crazy.

Atticus and Gracie were having a great time - prancing, saying hello to others, trotting in front of me on their leashes...

Around mile 1, we were going down to an area of the Greenway that often gets flooded during heavy rains when the Roanoke River swells... I was watching the puddles to make sure the Dogs were not stepping in any too deep, when all of a sudden, about 6 feet ahead of me I saw this:

NO KIDDING.

I saw what I am quite sure was the biggest copperhead I had ever seen in my life. His head was so big, it was the width of my cellphone. His body was fat in places, but he had a skinny tail - no rattle.

Thankfully, he was heading away from us at the time and my dogs, thank God, did not see him at all. Had Gracie seen the moving snake, I have no doubt she would have gotten close to say hello and make friends. She has attempted this with squirrels, possums, etc.

When I saw how close the dogs were to the snake's tail - I freaked out, screamed, pulled them back and headed in the other way. Thankfully, by the time the snake's head turned toward us, we were long gone - FAST...

For starters, I am so grateful the dogs did not see the snake first. I cannot imagine any scenario where that would have worked out well.

Secondly, I want you all to know that I am a faster runner then I ever realized, I just have to have a huge 2-3 foot snake within striking distance from my dogs to reach optimum race speed.

And last, I would like to say that really really really hate snakes, and I hope I don't see that one, or any other one for the rest of my life. I am still kind of scared and keep looking at the rug in my office. YIKES.