Who knew beavers were so dangerous?!

This comes a bit late because the boyfriend and I have had an interesting past couple of days. Monday, I got in a 17.3 mile run around the same lake as Sunday, the Craighead Forest Lake. Again, my ego got the best of me and instead of practicing my walk/run strategy, I ran the whole thing. I did take water breaks after each loop, but they didn't last really long (if they had, I never would have gotten myself to keep running). I ran it even faster than   Sunday's run, so I felt really great to run (actually run with no walk breaks) 32.2 miles in about 28 hours. 

The only problem I am facing now is how and when I will be able to run next. On Monday, my boyfriend and I were driving back from his phone bank in Prairie, AR when this pretty large beaver jumped out in front of his car. He did the safe thing and didn't swerve (if he had, we would have been in a flooded rice farm) and we hit the beaver straight on. Poor little sucker had no chance, but who would have known a rodent, large as it is, could so much damage to a car?! It screwed up his bumper and messed up other things under the car (I'm not expert, but I was told it involved the radiator and cooler). We had to slowly drive a mile or so to the closest town and thank goodness his roommates came to our rescue (as well as a really friendly volunteer firefighter). The car had to be towed yesterday and is now waiting to get repaired.

The boyfriend is understandably upset that his car is in the shop and he is having to hitch rides with his co-workers. His lack of car also leaves me without a way to run. Here in Jonesboro, AR, there really are no sidewalks and no safe roads to run on. I have been driving to Arkansas State University's track and the lake, but now I don't know what to do. I can't take off this whole week until I get back to Maryland, especially since my race is about a week and half away. I haven't exactly figure out a solution, but hopefully I will soon because I do not have much time to figure this all out.

Ah well, hopefully it shall work out. Before I leave, just wanted to remind everyone that if you see this on the road, be very careful. It can lead to a damaged car and the inability to run. As we found out from Wikipedia, beavers are vulnerable on land, something we learned firsthand this week.