My husband and I tried to pick out an awesome spot on Sunday to park the houseboat--one with lots of sand for the kids to play in, as well as some sort of option for me to run. I was so worried about not running the week before Hobble Creek, and this close to the marathon! We got a perfect spot kind of close to Hall's Crossing, in a little protected cove.
I was so excited to be able to run there, even after my son said he saw a rattlesnake. "No," we told him, and assured him it was probably a lizard. He was insistent, though, and on Sunday he took me to the spot where he had seen it. Sure enough, there was a medium-sized, sand-colored snake all coiled up in the sun. As it slithered into a bush I could clearly see the rattler on the end of its tail. Since it was in a place that was highly traveled by children, my husband and his brother had to kill it. And even though the snake was totally venomous and scary, it made me just sad to think that they had to end it's life.
So, on Monday I didn't dare run through the sand and sagebrush as I had planned. Instead, I found lots of interesting patches of solid rock--no vegetation, sand or anything that would harbor snakes of any kind. I ran for about an hour and ten minutes, but I have no idea how far I really ran. It was so beautiful, but unfortunate that I had to watch my feet the entire time! | 