Running at Night

Imagine this, at night.  Not cool, Creepy Guy.

When I was in college, I used to make really good decisions. (Didn't we all?)  One such decision was to binge drink at my friend's apartment and then walk by ourselves to the nearest bar.  We're not exactly talking a couple of college-town blocks.  Instead, we're actually talking a few long blocks of city streets that were poorly lit.  I was so smart. 

One night, my girlfriend and I were walking as usual, (inappropriately dressed for the weather no doubt) when all of a sudden a total creeper JUMPED out of a hedge of bushes at us.  No, this was not a fellow college kid trying to be funny. This was an old man who was trying to scare the crap out of a couple of drunk girls. I'm actually not sure if he was old or not because I'm not actually sure that I truly looked at him.  I am pretty sure my friend told me he tried to grab her boob before he ran away.  Again, I'm not positive of this, and I may be making it up to make the story better; I honestly can't remember.  (Erin, do you remember this?????)

We were so cool in college. 

The other night, I got the boys to bed on time for once, and it was still pretty light out.  Since I had been lazy it had been raining that morning, I decided to lace up the sneaks and head out.  By the time I got just about a mile away from home, it started to get dark.  (No need for concern- my old age has taught me how to stay on either main roads or ones with superb street lighting). Just as I turned the corner to head on to a side street, I realized that the first house I had to pass had an entire (huge) yard lined with neatly trimmed bushes.  Instantly, the previous story jumped in to my head. And that is so weird because I literally haven't though about that story since it happened- 10 years ago!

Someone was obviously about to jump out and grab me, so I ran faster.  And then I decided I just really wanted to be home watching reality TV. So I kept my new pace.  By the time I could no longer breathe and sweat was soaking through all three shirts I was wearing, my driveway was in sight.  Not only had I made it, but I PR'd it! 

The moral of the story:  If you want to run your fastest, put yourself in a potentially unsafe situation and then visualize the scariest thing EVER happening to you.  You'll be done in no time. 

Have a healthy day,

J