Creepy Encounters of the Long Run Kind

Yesterday I went for my weekly long run.  Wait…let me back the train up.  3 weeks ago I went on my weekly long run, came home and promptly caught some kind of Cold From Hades, did lots of sleeping and drinking of fluids and absolutely no running for 3 weeks.  The cold finally leaves my chestal area, I give it a couple more days of rest just to be sure and then Saturday hop on the treadmill for a 30 minute run.  So I decide Sunday that I’m good to go for my long run, I scale it back some but decide I can handle a 50 minute run.  And I did, but that’s not the point of this story.

About 20 minutes in, I’m feeling good, and then I see a guy in a hoodie walking down my side of the street toward me.  Now I have a decision to make.  Do I cross the street and show my judgment (which can also be perceived as fear)?  Do I stand my ground and show my “I’m not afraid of you face”?  Do I take a side street thus avoiding an encounter, but take a chance that he will follow and now I will be in a less populated area?  Do I ponder how a man out running wouldn’t have to think through all of these scenarios?

In the end, I stand my ground and stay on my side of the street so as not to seem intimidated, but I give him a wide berth.  Far enough away that he would have to move faster than me to grab hold, but close enough that I can still see his creepy glass eye and hear him say “You lookin’ good”. 

(An aside here: When I hear people yell/cat call/whistle at me while I'm running I am so flabbergasted.  I want to stop and yell back "Really?  I've been running for an hour, my hair is a giant frizz ball, I'm sweating in places I didn't even know I had, and there's a strong possibility that I sharted during that last mile...but really?  I'm looking good to you?"  But I digress.) 

I pass people on the road all the time.  I’ve had all manner of things yelled at me out car windows.  But this guy here, he Freaked. Me. Out.  I had a bad case of the heebie-jeebies and it stayed with me the rest of the way.  I varied my route back trying to keep the right mix of population with “not likely to run into that guy again”.  In fact, I kind of carried around a violated feeling the rest of the night.  You feel like you live in a safe place, you’re out and about on a populated street during daylight hours, but then you get a little reminder of what kind of place the world can be and might be.