Monday’s run was short and turned odd.  Not just because of my achy calves and silly shoes.    Remember my rule?

I headed to lake path after work on Monday with the hopes of doing a few laps in the new Brooks.  I am still having troubles breaking them in and my legs are giving me fits.   I was optimistic though.  I stopped once to retie my shoes- again.  Skipping the arches and using every lace hole near the ankle.  What are those called?

Anyways, my first lap was ok so I was hopeful to get in a few more miles.   On the second lap I noticed a woman with 3 dogs coming my way.  That in itself wasn’t odd, I see her and the dogs every time I run that path.  What’s odd is that she is usually with an older gentleman.  I didn’t see him that night.    I did see another man a few yards behind her though.   He caught up to her and I could see them talking.    Well, him talking and her walking.    He dropped back and she continued on but I heard her ask what color dog he was looking for.   I noticed that she waited until she was farther from him before saying something.  Hmmm.    I continued heading the way I had been running.

Hold up, the man had turned around and caught up to me on a walking break.   He started asking me if I had always been heading in that direction.  I was thankful that I could hear him even with my headphones (Aftershokz for the win!) but I made a big show of pausing the music.  I had no idea who this guy was, I didn’t want him to know I had heard his previous conversation.   He said that he couldn’t find his son.  That maybe he had run ahead.  Wait, what?  You just asked the other women about a missing dog?!?!?!   He also didn’t sound overly concerned either.

Ok, once again, another creepy run at the lake.  Time to get the heck out of dodge.   I picked up the pace and ran ahead.  I was keeping an eye out for a kid running though, just in case my paranoia was running in overdrive.    Around the corner, across the bridge and no kid.   Down a side street, half a mile later and almost back to the parking lot.   No kid.  Last curve to my usual stretching station and wait, what do I see?  What looks like a 12 year old boy… walking a dog.   Hmmm.   So I slowed and asked him if he had been looking for his dad.  He gave me the side eye.

Great, now I am the creeper.    He said yes so I told him that I thought he was about 1/2 mile back.     My calf had been twinging the last 1/2 mile so I decided to just call it a night.

So it turned out to be nothing creepy but it’s sad that you just never know.  And because of that you can never take things at face value.   My rule of thumb for running alone is that everyone is a creeper and needs to be treated as such until proven otherwise.  Does it potentially help keep you safer when alone?  Maybe?  But it also leaves a foul taste in your mouth when you mistrust honest situations.

Does this mean I am going to be less cautious on future runs?  Not likely.

Do you run alone?

Ever encounter a creepy situation?