I ran yesterday and was too tired to post anything. I finished my W7D2 run of 25 minutes with someone following me for the last 8 minutes!
Usually I look around when I run. Even more so when it's 10:30 pm at night and I'm running with headphones on. I won't hear a lot of stuff. But it's a really good habit looking over my shoulder every minute or so, sometimes more or less frequent. I saw a cyclist earlier in my run without lights on his bike, but he didn't really seem like a threat. But at about the 14 minute mark, I saw a red vehicle up ahead that slowed down as I approached the corner...it kind of went quarter-speed as it made its turn and I could tell I was being watched through those darkly tinted windows. It was terribly obvious, but I was watching back. We were about 50 yards apart and closing. But this car continued on its merry way, then decided to go down a back alley which I knew was weird. So I turned the opposite way, going down the other end of the street.
There is a police station on the corner near where I live. This is near my running route. Correction, it's the city police headquarters. There are patrol cars coming out of this thing like soft serve at Sizzler. So it's typically safe. This is the weirdest sketchy action I've noticed so close to my route.
I chalk up the weird, slow car maneuver to someone's curiosity of a jiggling, blue electron cloud of a running man, then hook a left on my running route. I'm about 22 minutes in at that point. I get to the opposite corner of the police station, and I'm running right at it. I see the car again. He's gone down the alley, hooked a right (at least...there was a lot more driving I could have done in the time it took him to drive there), and met me at the intersection. He's sitting at the stop sign. I'm about 20 yards from the intersection. He's not going. I'm watching him the whole time as I stomp along. I'm about to hit the intersection, so I give it my best "boy my legs kind of hurt at 24 minutes" sprint and as I begin to cross his car speeds up past me. I didn't want to get hit by this really weirdly acting vehicle. All of this weird interaction has my mind racing. My heart was already racing because of the running. I decide to stop and stand in front of the police station. If you were to take a picture of me at that time, you would see through the dimly lit atmosphere, a slightly overweight mexican gentleman doubled over with a hand on a lamppost and a sign behind him that read POLICE STATION, YOUR MOVE. I wasn't making much of one. I needed my cool down walk, but I also wanted to wait out this stranger. He made a U-turn at this point. I didn't see him do it, but he came back down the street within seconds. This was the most obvious indicator that he was following me. I'm not sure of the sex of the driver, but I'm going to assume male because I've never had a female stalk me in a crappy red car made to look like a sports car.
The car then hooks a right on my street and I make eye contact (I interpolated, the windows are so dark that I'm staring directly at where the driver would be sitting) the entire time the car passes in front of me. It's going about 20 mph the whole time. I'm sure they saw the police station sign and I'm sure they were somewhat oblivious of this fact before. I stand there until the car gets to the light, about 30 yards down the street. I just stare at the vehicle sitting at the red light. When the light goes green, the driver makes a right turn. This is curious because there is absolutely no traffic out, and no reason to make a right on a green light because the driver had the right of way to make the right at any time. Instead of sitting there for 15 seconds with no blinker. I am a scientist. Too much evidence.
At this point, I run to my place. I call the cops. The conversation goes something like this:
"Hi police department"
"Yeah hi I was running outside RIGHT outside the headquarters and I noticed someone following me in a red car that was outfitted to look like a racing vehicle, maybe like a honda with a spoiler and red dragon tattoos, I suppose they're more like decals, is that the right-"
"Sir do you mean the hq on x and y street?"
"That's correct, and I just want an officer to be aware"
Because this dude (or maybe several dudes) was looking for trouble.
Be safe out there folks. Some people are always looking to ruin your day.
I ran 2.3747 miles in 25 min. Thanks for the data pedometer. This translates to a mile every 10.53 min. Whoa! Marked improvement.
Running sucks. It's going to suck, and be difficult, and you're going to hate it. But the more you do it, you'll get better at it. And your stamina will sharply increase. And you might hate every step, but you will shock yourself at the ability to make another step, and then another. And the next thing you know, you're being chased by a car.
The first minute was not bad. The next ten were terrible. My calf hurt but it just needed to get started. The rest of my leg muscles felt okay. My breathing was fine, but I labored a bit because I was still digesting. Keep in mind that I ate over 6 hours before. It's difficult to run during the day when you haven't eaten within 4 hours, and are not hungry. I usually take down a big meal if I want to run later, then drink water all day until my run. The water helps me digest. This approach has a window of about 1 hour where it's optimal to run. I hit just outside of the window, but the run was fine.
I guess my pace is picking up. That's pretty neat. I hope that I can show a lot of improvement next week as well, and I can't wait to do a 5K in January. This is ridiculous that I've come this far in such a short time. I've noticed a significant different in my body composition (I have HIPS? What is this balderdash?).
Well that was exciting. I hope I don't get stalked next time. I guess the lesson is to hold your ground in those types of situations, and don't be afraid. But don't be stupid either. Don't run at 10 pm at night (I may continue to do this but I'm going to make an effort not to). Run a safe route. However, even if you run a safe route, sometimes the environment can be unpredictable. That's the trufus, Rufus.
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