The Other White Meat

Tonight, I almost died. OK - so maybe I am exaggerating just a bit - but not since I consumed a small bottle of energy drink in one gulp during college has my heart beat as fast as it did tonight. My chest must have looked like it belonged in the movie Alien with my heart going as hard and fast as it was just minutes ago. Let me paint the picture...
I decided around 6:30 pm to go for a run. It was a cool, crisp fall night and the air was crystal clear, which happens about once a month here in Shanghai. I thought I should take advantage of the clear air so I headed out for a jog. Now Shanghai is a very runner/biker friendly place. Alongside each main road, on each side of the road, are wide paved bike lanes with a median between it and the road. Chicago could learn from Shanghai in this regard....
Plenty of space for all of the people on bicycles, motorcycles and two feet. Occasionally you will see a car parked in this bike lane, because the car is making a delivery to one of the houses on the other side of the bike lane. As you run past you need to squeeze around these vehicles as there is not much room on either side, so its a tight fit. Tonight, I was well into my run, 20 or 30 minutes and I was in the zone. My I-Pod kept putting out great song after great song, and I was oblivious to all but my breathing and the pavement. It was dark out and the street lights were ample enough to light the bike path, so I was able to see in the distance a truck with a large cargo box in its bed. Thinking nothing of it, as again, these things are common, I began to squeeze past the truck in a slow jog, still oblivious, lost in my I-Tuney world. As I passed the truck I remember thinking how warm it felt, figuring it must be the engine block giving off heat. I neared the end of the truck, and one of the five most singularly frightening moments of my life occured. Out of nowhere, and for no apparent reason - a giant pig thrust his large, warm, wet nose out of the truck and right up against my arm while snorting simultaneously. Normally this would have caused a mild reaction on my part, but considering my mental state at this stage in the run, I would have been no more shocked to be scooped up by a large dinosaur and carried off into the wilderness. I leapt back as if I had been tazed, and at the same time that I was screaming like an 8 year old girl, I tripped on the nearby curb and fell into the median, and a large, thorny bush. The pig, having seen enough, snorted one more time for good measure, and pulled his nose back into the truck, presumably to go tell his pig buddies what he just did to a human. I was not only in complete shock, with thorn scratches on my arms, breathless and adrenaline filled, but to compound my problem, the always helpful Chinese decided to come over and lift me off the ground as they had seen what happened. Apparently convinced that I was really hurt, I think they were trying to lift me up and carry me to safety. Still in a state of shock, I had to tell them politely, or as politely as I could at the moment, to leave me alone. Now faced with a 30 minute run back to my apartment with a throbbing heart and panting breath, I gamely began trudging back from whence I came, only this time making sure to make a wide berth around the truck of pigs.