Running back towards Fox Hollow from Willamette, a dead tree branch, roughly two feet long, and maybe two inches in diameter fell straight down like a spear, landing directly in front of me.  It was close enough that it nearly hit my legs and I sort of had to jump to avoid getting tripped up by it.  Thinking about it, if I'd been literally 1 second faster in my run, this thing probably would have speared me in the top of my head.  Based on the deep thud it made when it hit the ground, I am extremely glad it didn't hit my head.  I like to think it wouldn't have cracked my skull, but I guarantee it'd have made a mess of my scalp, and (not having much of a clue medically...) maybe knocked me out.  It'd surely have knocked me down.  Of course, saying that if I'd been "1 second faster" also means that if it'd been maybe 2 seconds faster it wouldn't have happened, and one can extrapolate that to know that this "near hit" probably was possible a few times today (I could hear lots of stuff falling today for some reason, although this was the only solid branch I saw hit/on the trail).

I will say, it didn't really freak me out much, other than for about a minute to think about, holy crap, that thing very nearly skewered me!  But since it didn't, that was about the extent of it.  This was somewhat interesting timing, given I've just read the "Of Life or Limb" chapter in Mark Jenkins super book "A Man's Life", which is about Aaron Ralston's arm amputation, several other people's, and generally about survival in such horrific situations.  It was slightly interesting to note that I have had a vaguely parallel Moab experience - having a terrible mountain bike crash there in 1992 a few weeks before my 21st birthday.  I was carried, ATV'ed, and then ambulanced to the Moab clinic, and then airlifted to St. Mary's hospital in Grand Junction (same hospitals as Ralston), where I spent a week.  Not that my experience compares, just an interesting tidbit for me to read.  Fortunately for me, unlike Ralston, I remember nothing of my accident, and have hardly any residual issues from it (minor nerve loss and extra tissue in my left hip, overlapped healing of my broken collar bone).  These things do make you think, but hopefully just enough to be prepared when you're out there, know it's possible to survive some really horrific things, and use that to prevent you from being a shut-in and not getting to experience this wonderful world we have available to us, whether it's simply your local city trails, or exploring unknown lands.

Aside from that, a fairly routine run.  Tested out a The North Face Enduro Boa hydration pack.  I'll review it later.  I'm only so-so on it, but probably need another run or two with it to see if I'll plan to use it.