keeping the taper exciting

in case things haven't already been crazy enough for the past 5 or so months (long days, lots of driving, little time for myself/to relax), i hit a deer this morning. plowed it down.

in my defense, i was driving even safer than normal. i was right at the speed limit (55mph) and i wasn't even looking at my phone. suddenly, i saw an object dashing into my headlights. the deer crossed the four-lane, divided highway from my left, and time seemed to stand still as it galloped directly in front of my car. it was freaky, especially since it's pitch black dark out at 6am (in the country, no lights). for a split second i thought of zombies (random) until i recognized that it was a deer. i braked, but i didn't slam on them. loud boom. the front right side of my car slammed into the right hind leg of the deer, and i started crying almost immediately. i'm such a girl sometimes.

i didn't know the proper protocol for hitting a deer so i continued on to work. apparently you're supposed to pull over, call the police and they'll write up a report. if you see me on america's most wanted... you'll know why.

it could've been much worse. apparently deer come flying through your windshield sometimes. i was lucky to not hit it straight on as it would've mangled the front end. my right headlight case is cracked, but the lights still work. the front bumper has a couple cracks, but it's not immediately noticeable. a piece is missing off the side bumper and the side panel is dented above the right tire. some of the guys at work gave their manly input of $1000 estimates for the repairs - no biggie, that's what insurance is for. so far, state farm has been very helpful and easy to work with. (let's hope i don't have to bad mouth them when i get the car to the shop!)

i was made fun of all day by the guys at work - getting called the "deer slayer" and hearing tales about how the baby fawns were standing by the mama deer saying "wake up mom". one of them also drew me a picture:


pure skills. good thing he drew a circle around my head so i would know i was stick figure.

i used to give the guys at work a hard time for hunting innocent deer. now i think i might ammo up and join them (not really... but it is annoying that they are stupid and charge out into the road).

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in actual running news -- i took monday off because i was exhaused. i spent 9 hours trying to make a 5 hour drive on sunday (thank you rockslide at the nc/tn border) and driving, you know, is very taxing. i really don't get how sitting in the car makes you feel so tired but it does.

tuesday i was so not in the mood to run. i am all too ready to milk the "i'm recovering from a marathon so i don't have to run this week" excuse. i managed to slog out 3 piddly miles. whatev, it's taper.

today (wednesday) i got in what was probably my first ever fartlek run. i know you're supposed to maintain some of intensity while decreasing mileage in a taper, but i didn't want to induce the "off" feeling. i settled for a semi-push effort, successfully reminding the legs that they can turn over and practicing some random, positive self-talk (relax your arms, breathe easy, surge - you'll feel better, etc). it turned out to be a nice little 5 mile run.