I won't do that again!

I went for a run today on my new favorite trail.  It's in a field of beautiful flowers, it's peaceful and no one is around.  My ipod was dead and so I thought it was going to be a painfully long run, but it actually turned out to be one of the best.  I was on my way back home and I passed up a grandmother with a jogging stroller and then approached "the mom" who was pushing another stroller, she was stopped.  I thought maybe she was waiting for her mom, but she informed me of my worst nightmare.  There was a rattlesnake sitting (I guess they don't actually sit, nor stand, just lie there) in the middle of the road.  You see I have a fear of this happening, so much so I even pray when I start my run that I won't see any.  So, I stop and ask what are we going to do?  She says go past it, and "the mom" takes her stroller and goes by.  I stand there amazed.  Next, her mother comes strolling up and she too passes by with her stroller.  So, there the two of them are with the kids on one side of the snake and I am on the other.  They stare at me waiting for me to do something.  I am not planning on doing anything until the snake goes away.  "The mom" then offers to scare the snake away for me and proceeds to throw a stick at it, which did nothing.  So, there I am, my dog and I on one side and the ladies on the other.  They are staring at me and waiting.  I tell them I am scared.  She tells me to put my dog on the opposite side of the snake and just go for it.  Now that sounded absurd to me (and if you are an animal lover you might want to stop reading as of here), because in my mind I have been thinking that my dog would go on the snake side so in case in does decide to attack, my dog will be stricken first and I will have  a chance to get away.  But now I couldn't possibly even think of doing such a thing with "the mom" (A.K.A apparent animal rights activist lover) standing there watching me.  So, I stand there for a while longer and decide I've got to do this, these poor ladies need to be able to go home.  So, slowly I inch forward, taking baby steps (the kind like in the movie "What About Bob") and I put my dog in front of me (I thought that was a nice compromise) and push her slowly forward while keeping my eyes on the evil beast, and I see that it is not moving and so I move forward bit by bit, until I arrived safely on the other side.  I have never been so relieved!  I was feeling like a huge wimp until "the mom" tells me a story about having 2 rattle snakes in her house a couple of weeks ago and how she caught them with kitchen tongs and killed them.  I realized this isn't no ordinary mom I'm dealing with here, so I am not feeling so bad about myself anymore!  As I ran off thanking the Lord I wasn't eaten alive, I was a bit upset at first that I even had to run into one, but then realized I was thankful God had "the mom" there to help me or I'd still be standing there waiting for it to move.  Needless to say, I am running on the streets from now on.