Bugs

I have seen and experienced a lot of weird and strange stuff while running. I have had a 'possum hiss at me, coyotes jump out of sagebrush, stepped over a rattlesnake, seen bucks rutting, wild turkeys, dog bit, stung by a bee, girls yell ( I always love that one), people yell out the weather forecast, as if I didn't know it was raining, ran over by a kid on a bike, mooned (although not by a beautiful woman, some hairy dude) and at various times told I was crazy. I am a little bummed I have never found a dead body like runners do on tv shows. I won't go into all the types of roadkill and the various discussions I have had with teammates trying to figure out the poor brute's species before meeting its demise. Yet one thing that seems to happen to me at least half a dozen times a year or more, is the ol' bug in the mouth! I hate when that happens.

Now when I get the bug in the mouth, it is never a small little bug that I could just wipe from my teeth or spit out. Oh no, I have to get the pterodactyl kamikaze bug that heads straight for the throat! This leads to the inevitable bending over mid-stride as the gag reflexes fly into full force, twisting me into a mad man convulsion, trying to cough the booger up. As I make the sound of a beaver in heat, drool flowing from my gapping mouth, the darn thing taunts me by flapping his wings making me gag all the more before I can finally manage to swallow it down into a vat of stomach acid to finally dissolve it into extra protein for muscle mass. Even then, I swear the thing is trying to crawl back up to freedom and the gagging rages again! No wonder people hurl comments at me for being "crazy." That might also explain why I don't get women honking their horns at me either. Darned bugs.

As I head out the door for day 17 of my streak, I am praying that the cold weather will keep the nasty little varmints out of the air and I can make it through the run without a third world delicacy.

As always, stay healthy, take care of your body, and eat a banana, granola bar, power bar, anything but a bug for a snack.