Cat on the track

[wilmacgh]

Weekends are for non standard runs and I decided to try a bit of a longer run today. So when I got to the park instead of going all the way round and then along the road to the school, I cut through some streets to get to another park which is really the grounds of a former castle (laid out by Playfair according to the website). I ran up the drive and then headed for the path round the gardens. I could see something on the middle of the track ahead of me. At first I thought it was a sack or bag of some sort but as I got nearer I realised it was a cat. As I was now almost on top of it and it was showing no signs of moving I wondered if it was dead. What do you do with a dead cat when you are out for a run? Does this feature on the best seller '101 uses of a dead cat'? Fortunately for me (and the cat) just as I was thinking about this and how I might run round it and avoid the issue altogether, the cat woke, staggered about a bit not knowing where to turn and generally getting in my way so I almost tripped over it. It wasn't as if it was a sunny spot it was lying on just fairly long grass up the middle of a muddy track. If it had been human I'd've said it was hungover, maybe it wasn't well or just not used to being disturbed on a Sunday morning. I've had encounters with dogs before, including getting tangled up with one of these retractable lead things, but never a cat.

Looking at my times in Endomondo, for 4 or the 5k I managed at a bit over 6min/k and one at over 7min/k and that I'm putting down to the cat on the track!

[RhonaL]

Some of our cats could sleep for England to gold medal standard, so your story does not surprise me in the least! Sounds like a good run - mine was a disaster, too many people on bikes ...