Running Over the Serpent

Every run is an adventure.  You never know what you will see or hear. I had barely made it out the door when a semi-truck driver honked at me and I was barked at by a dog who fortunately was behind a fence.

I see lots of interesting things when I run. Today I saw cows, horses, robins, meadow larks, and mockingbirds: and a yellow snake. I see the plastic yellow snake pictured above every day that I run near my home. He has been there for months. The first time I saw him I jumped even though I know that we have no bright yellow poisonous snakes in Texas. This plastic predator is not an accident, he usually waits for unsuspecting runners on the shoulder but occasionally he sits in the middle of the black-top lane to frighten a group of friendly cyclists that regularly pedal down our way. This particular stretch of road is near a pasture but I suspect he belongs to children in one of the nearby houses. People are funny and that is what I love about running near my house. Some people are friendly, some people are oblivious (on cell phones), some seem deliberately rude and enjoy seeing me leap off the road into the ditch because they would not move over or slow down, and some people put out plastic snakes to "scare" the gullible! The people who smile and wave, the friendly cyclists and the plastic snake people make me want to keep going.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.

Genesis 3:1

The snake is not the first plastic animal to deceive me. Years ago I was running in a suburb when I spotted a very large owl on top of a huge ham radio antenna. I wound my way around various streets trying to get to the right house to see the owl, I was so excited. When I finally got there, I was devastated,  he revealed himself as a plastic decoy set up by the home-owner to keep birds away from his enormous antenna (and to keep the resulting bird poop off his roof). It's possible that running is more fun because I am gullible.

Philosophically the bright yellow plastic snake could be a metaphor for life. Many things that are initially scary, turn out to be nothing and sometimes they turn out to be fun or funny. And on the darker side, it's important not to be deceived by snakes, plastic or otherwise. Jesus told His followers, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves".  And this is why the plastic snake continues to entertain me every day when I run; because he gives me so much to think about, particularly the delicate balance between being shrewd and being innocent (or in my case - gullible)! 

Today was my 21st day of consecutive running. I ran 5.73 miles, a weird distance because I ran an out-and-back from my house, up and down several country and county roads, turning around where one road dead ends into a heavy traffic road. In training I typically follow the third-week rule which is that every third week you reduce your mileage and/or your long run. It is probably more important to do that when running every day. So I took it easy at the beginning of this week and will not do a long run. For the most part running every day has been great. This week I encountered some challenges and some days when I really didn't want to run. We traveled over the weekend and so I had to fit in running around our travel time. I ran one day on the treadmill in our hotel. I had much to do this week, had terrible allergies, and despised the wicked North wind but I made it out the door anyway and was glad I did! Be Strong, Be Brave! Happy Running!