Races with Lizards

Several years ago there was an epic movie called "Dances with Wolves." Kevin Costner was a soldier... on second thought, you should just rent the movie. A word of warning though - have two full meals available, a box of tissue on hand, and schedule about six, uninterrupted hours because it is long.  But I digress.

On the "Dances with Wolves" theme, I have just been given the name "Races with Lizards."  Here's why.

I was riding my mountain bike through a neighborhood recently. As I merged from one bike lane to another, I noticed a lizard running right next to me.  I thought to myself, "I can't get beat by a small reptile" - so I sped up. He must have been thinking "I can't get beat by a human" because he sped up too. 

I realized he was scared when he tried to jump the curb.  He didn't quite jump high enough though and he bounced right back into the bike lane - his 4 little legs still churning at a furious pace.  I could tell he was scared, so I stood up on the pedals and kicked it in to overdrive to get past him.  The poor little lizard pulled up and stopped. 

As I rode away, I imagined him relating this sordid tail to his friends.  The conversation might have gone something like this.

Leo: "You should have seen it Marv, it was awful.  This horrible thing was playing head games with me while I was running!  I tried to go faster but I just couldn't outrun it! And it was HIDEOUS. It had ectoderm like us but it was all.... HAIRY and stuff!" (traumatized sobbing). 

Marv: "Did you try psyching him out by doing push-ups?"

Leo: "There was no time Marv. There was... just... no... time!"

Marv: "Well, you have nothing to worry about, you did the best you could do."

And there you have it, the moral of the story. "you have nothing to worry about, you did the best you could do." That is all we can really ask of any person... or lizard. See you at the next lizard race.