The Stampede

Know how your mind seems to run through numerous scenarios in a fraction of a second when something untoward occurs? And you know how really off the wall some of those explanations of what is happening can be. I became a victim of this during my morning jog. Perhaps because I was distracted by wondering if I would survive the jog after four days of total inactivity and a migraine that was pounding through my head, I wasn't paying a great deal of attention to my surroundings--except for the swarms of mosquitoes that I tried to fight off by waving my arms windmill fashion as I jogged. The sight must have been unsettling because others on the path gave me a wide berth. But suddenly I heard behind me the pounding sound of a large herd of animals. In that fraction of a second of complete fright, my mind provided me with a couple of possibilities, both very bad. I thought maybe the horses at the riding club several blocks away had gotten loose and were galloping toward me; I was within seconds of being trampled to a mere stain on the pavement. It was obvious the animals were heavy ones from the sound of the pounding, so perhaps, if they weren't horses, there had been a terrible mishap at the zoo several miles away and some kind of prey herd was dashing away from a big cat, also loose. People with more experience running wouldn't have had this scare. I was passed by a very large herd of, well, runners--who in fact were running, and going at it with a vengeance. The wind they were producing caught me up and took several minutes off my time, and then I managed to glide along in their slipstream for at least a block. It's obvious there is some race coming up and these folks have entered it, maybe even a triathlon event. All I can say is, go for it. Best of all, by the time I finished today's geriatric jog, my migraine was practically gone.