It happened again, you guys. I was out on my morning run and paranoia hit hard and fast. I mapped a new route last night but decided this morning I was going to stick to one of my familiar routes with a twist. I told my husband I was going to do it backward.
I queued up CharityMiles, MapMyRun, and Pandora, and was out the door jamming to some 90s tunes. It started off as a superb run. I felt awesome, I was singing to Alanis (pretty ironic, don’t ya think? I don’t know… Seemed like the right thing to say…), and the weather was perfect. A little muggy but not too hot and not too cold. About a mile into my run is when “disaster” struck. I saw a car (oh no!) and it did a u-turn and was driving slowly toward me. It creeped along and I said, out loud, “oh my god, it’s happening!” I got my mace locked and loaded (this seems to be a common theme these days), ripped my armband off, called my husband, and sprinted to the nearest main road. As I was turning the corner, I saw the car do another u-turn.
I ran as fast as I could out of there with my husband on speaker. The poor guy thought I said I was in a car! I’m sure he had his own panic attack right then and there. As soon as I got to the main road, I calmed down and told my husband I would just run home from there. But as I started back, I decided how awful it would be to let my paranoia get the better of me. I called my husband back — this time without taking off my armband because you know, Siri can make calls for me (insert eye roll here — why did I not think of that until just now?!) — and I told him I wasn’t going to punk out and I was going to finish my run.
Lo and behold, I get to the end of another side street and I saw the same car! Gah!!! I turned around and went back to the main road. After that I ran home. Not worth the risk of abduction, or at this point, panic-induced heart attack. I got to my house and I still had .4 miles left to go for my scheduled 3.5. I wasn’t going to let my irrational delusions get the best of me completely. I ran up and down my road until I hit the total 3.5 for the day.
Thinking back on it now, I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry. And truthfully, it was really strange that this car did not one but TWO u-turns near a female solo runner. Even if they were looking for a house, I think I was somewhat warranted to freak out just a little bit, given that it wasn’t even 7:00 am.
My takeaway from my now three unwarranted scares in the same area? I’m not running there anymore. I’m going to stick to main roads and even though the side streets are very peaceful, quiet, and have very little traffic in the mornings, it’s all the more reason for me to be where there are cars and people. The homes in my ‘hood are very close together and the chances of something happening to me are probably very slim, but you never know.
SO! On to less sobering topics… Who has been keeping up with the plank challenge?! Holy lord, it’s getting tough! 30 seconds, though it doesn’t seem like a lot, is kinda hard for me! I look at the August Plank Challenge calendar and see we are supposed to end up at 5 minutes. For real?!
And I’m so pumped because today is the day! The day I graduate to the big leagues! My Garmin is coming! My Garmin is coming! Ah!!! I can hardly contain my excitement!
The rest of the day I’ll be laying low with the kids. We’ve been really busy over the last couple of days. It gets kinda boring at home sometimes but it’s nice to chillax and not be on any schedule. Hope you have a fabulous Tuesday!
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Have you ever had a completely irrational paranoid run before? How did you mentally recover?
Do you use a GPS watch? Which one and what do you love about it?
