Tuesday night I went out for my normal short, easy run. Since I run at night and it was one of the coldest nights of the season so far I really didn't expect to see anyone along my route. Even when the weather is nice I don't normally see other people very often. Well, Tuesday was different this week.
First I came upon a teenage girl standing in the middle of the sidewalk
texting. She didn't know I was there until I was 2 feet from her. She
jumped about 8 feet and screamed. LOL! It was awesome. I think she
needed clean undies. Hopefully she learned something about situational
awareness at night in parks. Not everyone is a Ninja Runner out for
lulz.
Next
I came upon an older gent out walking his dogs. No biggie. Totally normal occurrence. He was on
the right side of the street, I was on the left. Then suddenly he
swerves over to the left DIRECTLY in front of me so I have to swerve out
to the middle of the road to miss him and his giant dog. Of course the dog
immediately starts yanking on the leash and barking. The guy yells
"Hey! Watch where you're going!". Wha...?! Who cut off who Mr. Cranky
Pants? Well, I briefly considered flipping the guy the bird, but
thought it would be better for everyone if I just ignored him and went
on my way.
What an adventure for a Tuesday night run out in the wind and cold.
4 comments:
I had an interesting encounter with a dog this last weekend. Made me give serious consideration to starting to carry pepper spray. I do hope the teenager learned a helpful lesson there.
I always have mixed feeling when I scare someone. Sometimes I feel bad, but sometimes it's funny. Once I was running on the Appalachian Trail and surprised a hiker - he almost punched me in the face!
Jeff - Oh my! Yeah, everyone reacts differently to being startled. The young texting lady started to laugh about it after her initial shock, so it was all good.
Jen - Yeah, I worry about loose dogs too. Especially the quiet ones that run up behind me.
Good point about being aware of your surroundings no matter where you are. I dont recall ever having scared somebody but I would say close to startling them, but its been a group of runners taking up the entire trail.
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