Running First

So tonight I had another first and this was not the good kind. Tonight was the first time I have ever been creeped out on a run and it was bad enough that I cut my workout short. I had hoped to run with Mac tonight but thanks to a busy day and late dinner, that wasn't possible. I went out on my own just before midnight. This is not an unusual time or activity for me. I typically run at night and when it is 100 degrees in TX in the summer, I run after midnight. There normally aren't any cars on the road(I stay on the block of my neighborhood) unless the MPs are patrolling or it's Wednesday night and the paper guys are throwing out the free weekly post newspaper.

As I was running along the opposite street of our block, I was startled by a set of headlights. I soon realized it was just the paper guys and thought nothing of it. I got out of their way and kept running. I knew that they should be about done with our neighborhood once I hit the side I live on. Sure enough, as I turned onto my side of the block, I saw them pull up to the stop sign of the middle street. I moved onto the sidewalk so that they could go on by. they didn't move. I was at least 100 yards from them when they stopped so they had plenty of time to go before I got there. Since they stayed put, I got back into the street and crossed in front of them a little ways away from the car thinking that they were just waiting for me to pass so I would get out of their way quicker so they could go. They still didn't budge. That's when it started to really creep me out. Fortunately, I was just coming up to my house so I pretended to be finishing up my run, paused my Run Keeper app, and went inside. Only after I had made it inside and closed the door they finally left. I watched as they left our neighborhood. After a minute or two, I stepped back outside to make sure they were really gone. I still had 5 minutes on my run interval so I went back out. I did a lap of our block in just over 5 minutes which is unheard of for me. I decided as I was hitting the opposite side that I was going to finish out the interval and call it a night.

There have been a few times when I have seen strange cars or people acting weird but they usually don't really get to me. Most of the time, when they realize someone is out and about, they leave. Most of the time, it is just a possible affair(I interrupted a late night rendezvous once) or a domestic spat(recently I witnessed a huge fight resulting in the guy jumping in his truck and speeding out of the neighborhood). I just stay our of their way and pretend to not really notice. The only people that have ever bothered me were actually the MPs. I confused the heck out of two last year and they sat there and stared at me as I ran by then they gave me weird looks just before they left the neighborhood.

Tonight there could have been a reasonable explanation for the paper guys stopping. Maybe they were getting a new batch of papers out of the back seat before they moved on to the next neighborhood. I don't know what was going on but for the first time, I felt like I just needed to go home. One of the things about our neighborhood is that I am never far from somewhere that I could go to if there was any real trouble. Our really close friends live opposite us in the neighborhood so even when I am on the other side of the block, there is a house near by that I could head to for help. I think what may have creeped me out more was the realization tonight that after next week, that will no longer be true. They are moving so I am losing a little piece of my safety net. Fortunately, it is a small neighborhood and by running at night, I have learned who the night owls are. I know which houses I could go to and find someone awake.

This isn't going to keep me from running and it isn't going to keep me from running at night. The only thing that might change is that I may make sure Mac runs with me on Wednesdays, just in case or until I can learn the paper guys' pattern and see if them stopping in the neighborhood is a normal occurrence. I still feel safe here and I am not worried about running alone at night. Most nights I'm not really alone. There are several ladies that sit out on their porches and smoke late at night and once summer is here, there will always be a crew outside on the middle street. They used to make a game out of waiting for me to pass by each end of the street. I would here them laugh and say "There she goes" as I made each lap. I may try to be a little more conscious of what's going on but it's not going to stop me from getting out there.