It's been getting darker earlier as the earth makes it's way around the sun. During last night's five-miler (which I wasn't able to start until around 8:15 p.m. due to bath night for Children of Fat Runner and me being a lazy sack of crap in the morning) I wore a reflective vest and a headlamp. While approaching the three-mile point it was pitch black. I live in a rural area with no street lamps; there was very little ambient light from the moon due to it being an overcast evening.
In the distance I heard a dog bark. The wonders of the Doppler Effect told me that I was getting closer to the dog as I progressed. I started to look around for said canine but was not able to locate it. Then, I saw floating in the inky blackness of night, two floating purple eyes that were dancing about in time to the vicious barking of the unseen dog.
Now...a rational person not out in the middle of nowhere would logically put together that the light from the headlamp is reflecting off the dogs eyes. I, in my glycogen-depleted state, assumed that some manner of demon was sent to force me to atone for the sins of my youth, steal my very essence, and leave me to live out the remainder of my days an empty shell of a man subsisting on beef jerky and regret while praying for a death that will never come. Suffice to say it was pretty freaky.
On a lighter note you'd be amazed at how fast you can run when trying to outrun the physical manifestation of every fear you have ever had.
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