Enchiladas on the Mind

Time: 49:28 (Out in 27:28, back in 22:00)
Distance: ~8 miles

The run turned a little sketchy when I found myself 4 miles from the house, it was well dark, and I was running solo on a country road in Titus County, Texas. I had left the house with 45 minutes until dinner time and wanted to maximize my distance out on the blacktops. However the thought of homemade enchiladas lingered at the back of my mind. I kept asking should I continue on or turn back now?

When I came to Farm to Market Road 2348 I slowed and started to turn around. I quickly found myself slipping and on the ground in a gentle thud. It didn't hurt nor was I startled. I just sorta slipped on some loose gravel and rolled on to my back. No scrapes or bruises to speak of so maybe I just made it up. There was a car waiting to turn when this happened and I was certain the driver would roll down the window and laugh, perhaps ask if I were okay. Neither occurred. The car turned left and drove off while I collected myself and brushed off the dirt.

After the fall I started to roll. It was partly the little adrenaline rush and partly the darkness and partly the enchiladas. The slight downhill allowed me to start clicking off some uptempo splits. I weaved around the mystery headlights that turned out to be three high school boys riding ATVs who thankfully didn't turn and chase me down. My pace felt like a near sprint at times, but it was always in control. At any point I could have picked it up but I was content to run as the terrain dictated. I figure that I was averaging about 5:30s, but portions when I was purposely running really hard would have been much faster. It was great find to see that I negative split by over 5 minutes.

The run was good, the enchiladas were better. I had seconds.