With any Saturday my day starts with my weekly long run. My schedule called for 9:00 minute miles and I felt good enough to go for 18. No major issues with the run but around mile 12 I found a guy collapsed. Today I decided to run up La Luz and do some additional running on the trails at the top of the mountain.
On one the access trails a guy was collapsed and grunting. I stopped to see what was going on and he had been bitten by a snake. He had no idea what kind it was but it was apparently a bad bite. My wife makes me run with GPS watch and a phone if I'm going to be on the trails. I had to run back about a half mile to get a good signal but I was able to call the ranger station. Actually, I called my wife and she called the police who in turn called the ranger station. I was able to tell them exactly where we were due to the GPS (best $285 ever spent). Within about 20 minutes we were joined by the rangers who were on horseback. This man who had been bitten was already look bad by the time they got there. They asked me to run back out and wait for the helicopter, which arrived before I made it out of the trail. They airlifted him from the mountain to the hospital.
I've known many runners who use gators when they run because it protects there legs. I have only seen a snake a few times and they have nover once bothered me. This fellow, Jack, happened to step on the snake and was immediately bitten. Note to self: buy some gators before I do another trail run. The forest rangers said he should be okay because we caught the bite quickly after it happened. The biggest concern was his core temperature which had dropped due to sitting on the ground on the top of the mountain.
Snake bites get nasty quick. I was a veterinary assistant in Tijeras and so many dogs would come in swollen withing minutes. That is what stops me from running on trails. Im a wuss though.
ReplyDeleteScary stuff...great that you were able to save him!
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