Next time I need a weapon

I delayed getting out for my run last night and didn’t hit the path until about 8pm. The sun was heading down. Normally this isn’t an issue. I’ve come back in the dark before. I had my flashlight.

But tonight I was about a 1/2 a mile out and I could see someone about 1/2 a mile away on the path coming towards me. A little mental game I play is to try to figure out what they are doing (running, walking, skating, biking, etc), how many, if there are kids, pets, etc. This looked like one person, but really big.

As I got closer I saw it was a man with a very large backpack on his back and he was walking a bike. The path is only a few miles long and it connects small roads so he couldn’t be a long distance biker. He started on my side (right) and moved over to the far left. As I approached him I saw he was wearing a hooded coat and the pack was under it, and the coat was made of heavy green canvas.

His face was far back in the hood but I could see his blue eyes looking sideways at me. He had a long face, pointed chin and a thick, scruffy tuft of light colored beard just on his chin. He was pushing a rather small blue framed bike. It looked like a kid’s bike, no gears, or handle bar brakes. He watched me the whole time as I passed. I wanted to say something, but just kept my eyes on his and nodded as I chugged on by. As I passed I got a strong smell of wet musty tent canvas.

When he was farther back from me I heard him say something. “Help”? “Hep”? Something like that. And then this duck came flying past me like something was after it. Maybe he just yelled at it or something.

I can’t remember getting the willies from a person while running before. This guy was scary.

I had about half a mile to go before I had to turn around and head back towards him. All the while I was thinking about what would be the fastest weapon to find. A big sharp stick? A rock. My flashlight? I had nothing really. Just speed and hopefully more brains.  While I ran I thought of escape routes.  Into the woods.  Across the tracks.  I could throw rocks on the tracks.

At the turn-around, I could see two people about 1/4 mile away coming towards me. They would be going my direction once I turned around. They were skaters. I recognized them as a couple I see there alot. About my age, but more fit. Witnesses.

I ran a little faster, hoping to maximize my time on the path while they we still around.  I was about a 1/4 of a mile from the gate when I could see them getting into their car.  It was pretty dark by this point.  Stumps were just beginning to transform into monsters.  Normally I run to about 50 yards before the gate and walk the rest of the way as a cool down.  This time I sprinted to the end.

I did my cooldown walking along the main road with the traffic.  I never saw the guy again.  Maybe he got back on his bike and headed out.  Maybe he was just using the path as a cut-through from the far end of the lake to here.  Maybe I was just paranoid.  But it made me realize once again how running at night, even in a town where people don’t need to lock their cars, can leave you very vulnerable.

I’m going to try go get out there much earlier from now on.  And if it gets dark again, I may need to bring something with me, for comfort.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 4th, 2007 at 7:59 am and is filed under Jon is insane, Running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.