Arachnophobia vs MissAPerfectTrailrunophbia

I've always had a fear of spiders.  I'm glad there is a very nice term for my terror because it makes me feel more normal. 

Sit back and I'll share my childhood fear...I grew up in Japan, not the city part but the country part in Chiba Ken which is a ways from Tokyo.  Why I give you this accurate geographical description (from a kids perspective since we moved when I was 11) is that most people don't think of spiders when they think of Japan, but we had some scary ones. 

I spent a lot of time in woods as a kid and always hated to bust through a web.  I'd hope I'd picked an abandoned web and do my best to get the stringy mess out of my hair.  Typically about 8:42 seconds later when I'd finally calmed down, I'd suddenly see the venomous beast sitting on my shoulder ready to kill me.  I'd then do this sort of ancient fight dance and try to get rid of the spider without actually touching it.

So, today I had the choice of running along streets on sidewalks and nice bike trails or including my favorite local trail section to my run.  It sounds like an easy choice...not this time a year when the trail is a den of spiders.  There are spiders everywhere this time of year, especially in the woods. 

And so...I ran the wooded section today.  I would rather deal with spiders than not be able to run the woods on a perfect day.  I had to stop and avoid some really large spiders and I did catch a web in the hair.  I'm still looking for that spider but it was totally worth it.

Chuck (+1) --- Fear (0)