I'm trying different routes around the neighborhood. And what better time to do that then the fall, when it's dark and creepy?
(giggle)
DailyMile has a great mapping feature.....and google does as well. But neither of them show you what your path will look like at 5 am. A snapshot of the street you planned to run down....but one that shows you it will be COMPLETELY PITCH BLACK!!! In the daylight, the entire route I ran today is happy, cheerful, and safe. At night, it's something out of a Freddie Kruger movie. :-)
(that might be a slight exaggeration)
I mean, the neighborhoods are safe and all...but darn. For the first time since I've been running outside in the morning, I actually got spooked.
I'm running along a well traveled road. I actually HAVE a sidewalk to run on....which (if you don't count the ankle destroying condition of it) is a plus! But....there are NO streetlights.
None.
And there are no houses.
Nada.
I live in a decent sized city...yet when I ran this morning there was a deserted field to my left (an old soccer complex that is grown over and resembles NYC in I Am Legend) and a cornfield to my right. Between me and the cornfield is a row of creaky, spooky, mean looking trees.
I have my headlamp, but the darkness is eating (and spitting out) any light it's producing. If I didn't know better, I'd say I was running into a black hole of some sort. :-)
Up ahead, quite suddenly, I notice a HUGE black mass on the sidewalk. It's as wide as the sidewalk, and nearly as tall as I am.
My running came to a dead halt and I raised my head to point my headlamp in it's direction. I assume it's a deer as I scare off no less than 10 -12 of them every morning.
Nothing there.
I put my head back down, it's back.
Standing there, in the middle of the sidewalk.
I'm left with a pretty important choice to make. Do I turn around and run home with my tail between my legs....as fast as my legs will carry me??? Or....do I continue on, and hope the shadow monster will make my death quick and painless?
I opted for not chickening out.....and hoped for quick and painless.
I'm alive to tell the tale. So...score one for Nej!
My run after that was pretty uneventful. I ended up cutting it short by about a mile, after noticing the time.
(stupid uneven sidewalks and the shadow demon totally KILLED my pace)
I did really enjoy this new route.....now I just have to work up the nerve to run it again. I suppose as long as I don't look ahead to where I'm going, I should be OK. :-)
4 comments:
You are a much braver soul than me! LOL. I'm a major chicken for running along in the dark. I ran past a bus shelter the other day, with a friend AND a dog, and when I saw my reflection in the plastic I jumped. HAHA
I once had a cat jump out and attack my shoelaces during a dark run. It scared the crap out of me. Sometimes dogs will chase me, but usually the cats run away in fear. I guess this one got fixated on the shoelaces and failed to recognize the much larger creature attached to them in the dark.
My neighbourhood is very safe and I'm not afraid to run it in the dark but there are parts of the route that haven't got street lights. I've run a few times in the dark early in the morning but when I almost fell over something which I didn't see I gave up.
During Winter I will run after work on weekdays when I have at least daylight for most of the run. I don't really like it, running early in the morning is much better.
@ Brian - I'm laughing...sorry...but that's hilarious!! One ballsy cat!! :-)
@ Fran - During the winter I leave for work in the dark, and come home in the dark. I guess I just have to get used to running it no matter what. :-)
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