A break in the weather. One degree shy of 70, and a less than smothering heat index. Castlewood State Park and the Al Foster Trail with their proximity to the Meramec River provide the first opportunity in what seems like weeks for me to take my favorite furry running buddy to the trails.
Up before the sun again on a Sunday morning, this is starting to feel like routine. I fuel with coffee and sport jelly beans. Doug helps me out the door, and by 7:15 Gunner and I are in the car headed to Sherman Beach.
We are the only ones at the trail head. Clouds crowd the skies, and tiny rain drops fall like a slow drip from a faucet. The forest smells musky and green. I take a few starter running steps, Gunner already lost in the under foliage along the tight trail, the familiar beep from my watch signifying the start of my timer, and we are off.
And a totally uneventful, glorious, morning long run it is. For 50 minutes, I neither see nor hear anyone as I run first Stinging Nettle, then take a connector over to the base of Blue Ribbon. The railroad under pass tunnel seems particularly forbidding this morning, but Gunner plunges ahead and I take after him. Blue Ribbon is even more empty that the Al Foster Trail. I glance down at my watch. When I look up, my eyes focus one foot from my face where a silvery, wispy web is rushing toward me at 8 mph. No time to duck, a full-face spider-webbing ensues. For a minute I am lost to the world. Then I swipe away the remains of some poor spider's breakfast and continue on.
By now the trails are starting to fill up with runners and mountain bikers, and we head for the car. But not before Gunner takes one last dunk in the river to cool off, and I clear the rest of the trails of webs, though none quite as large as the one that got me good.
