So last night around 10 I went for a run. Kinda dumb of me, I know, but my family lives in a small town in a neighborhood that is pretty well lighted at night. I assumed I would be safe.

At one point during my run, I noticed a man/boy (not sure) who was across the street from me sprint to a tree and drop. He disappeared from view. At first I assumed he was doing pushups but than realized that he was actually in the street, pressed down against the curb, hiding in the tree's shadow. I couldn't even see him and wouldn't have known he was there if I hadn't seen him in the first place. I ran by on the other side of the street, glancing over at him every few moments to make sure he wasn't following me. After I was about 100 feet away I looked back and saw him lift his head up and get off the ground. He looked to be an older boy, or a man. I'm not sure how old he was.

This really frightened me. I ran home fast. But what made me even more nervous was after telling my TBM siblings about it, they mentioned that this sounded like one of their friends- and this came from 2 of my siblings, at different points in the evening, talking about 2 different boys they knew. Weird right? Both these friends of theirs are TBM. It seemed really strange that my brother and sister thought it was normal for an 18 year old boy to be out late at night hiding in shadows from people. They said they could see their friends playing "ninja" and trying to hide from people.

I think it's creepy. What are your thoughts? Is this a normal male activity? I seriously thought this guy was trying to sneak up on me, luckily I saw him.

as you were seeing part of a game some guys were playing. I don't know what is "normal" ... but I do know that some guys do some really silly things!

On the other hand, it's always wise to be careful and be aware of your surroundings.

AND DON'T RUN THAT LATE! I used to love to do it too, it is peaceful and you can really zone out. But even in a "safe" area it just isn't a good idea.

Never hesitate to cross the street to avoid a stranger or even walk in the middle of the street if you *must* be out at night.

I love running at night! But last night was my last time I think. I'll stick with early evening from now on. Thanks everyone for your responses!

If you can get up that early! It is still quiet and it is safer.

I had a VERY STUPID friend that used to run in Golden Gate Park at night. That girl was stuck on stupid in SO many ways. I did mention it to her father and he made her stop.

TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS!

It COULD be kids out playing late.

Or it COULD be older kids with a "Peeping Tom" problem.

And knowing how sexually repressed TBM adolescents are, my money is on the latter. Peepers can evolve into worse categories.

Don't run at night. Just don't.

~VOW

I think he was probably a peeper and didn't want you to see him/bust him.

And, if you're going to run at night, at least carry pepper spray or something.

Sounds weird.

Best not run late at night with a weird person about.

By the way. When people say: "Oh, that's only so-and-so. He's harmless!" What they mean is: Harmless... as far as they know.

The number of times someone "harmless" has turn out to be anything but harmless is numerous.

Don't ever let yourself forget how scary this incident was...pull it out every time you even consider running in the dark. Many women disappear (never to be heard from or found) from doing just what you did in so called safe towns. Things happen in small towns all of the time.

We've had several young women murdered. One was my kids' age. She disappeared and they eventually found only her jaw bone.

My daughter was always getting on my case because I wouldn't let her walk to her friend's house. This girl disappeared at the same time--and my daughter's friend lived 2 blocks from the murderer--we later found out.

Just because you live in a small community means absolutely nothing--just that you might have a false sense of security.

I walk at night pretty much every night.

It's a safe neighborhood. But people have told me I shouldn't every so often.

Once, I was walking at dusk and a woman in her yard asked me why I didn't have a big club or stick with me.

I said: "I can't live my life with that kind of fear."

Yes, if we use anecdotes, we can scare ourselves out of anything and prove or disprove anything if we just rely on "I heard"s and "my friend told me"s.

The likelihood is that if I walk at night, I'll probably never have a problem if I'm conscious of my surroundings and don't walk in bad neighborhoods or go to do drug deals.

I understand people want to be safe and maybe the OP shouldn't be running if weird guys are in her neighborhood trying to hide from her. I probably wouldn't either.

Once you start allowing yourself to be frightened by normal life, you start limiting your life more and more.

I just don't like living and thinking that way.

Well, I was attacked once while walking across a campus at night. That campus had always felt safe to me. I'm going to tell you bluntly that there are some guys who *will* take advantage of the fact that it is dark and you are far from help.

When I took martial arts lessons I noticed that even the black belts walked in pairs after dark. Their thinking was, why take the risk?

A few years ago a kid pulled up in his truck alongside me and made stroking off gestures. I was trapped in undeveloped land on my left and right. No way to escape and no one around. I yelled for him to get out of here and turned to run home. He could have raped me and no one would have seen. He sped passed me and away and I was so scared. Now I am afraid to run.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/2011 11:49PM by suckafoo.

men trying to intimidate women. And the men (who are actually pretty intimidated by life, including women) have no intention of trying to rape or murder the woman they're trying to intimidate. They just want to see fear.

I've had several instances where I was in an isolated place and a man did something like that to me.

My guess is that the man who drove up to you and was stroking himself or whatever he was doing could have easily grabbed you and raped/murdered you if he wanted. Is that true?

I wonder how many women this sort of thing happens to and they get out of the situation and think how lucky they were when in actuality the man had no intention of doing anything anyway.

I don't know. I'm just tacking this onto my earlier post.

I just hate the idea of living a life with the fear that something may happen to me constantly present in my mind, limiting my choices. It's sickening.

I agree. I still run, but now with a bit of caution.

Staying safe requires some limitation of choices. Don’t live in constant fear; but also, don't live in denial! (as in “I assumed I would be safe.”)

Run 1) when, and 2) where, the chances are that you are relatively safer than otherwise.

When I called the police they told me that it was a bad neighborhood, and advised me to use another route. You might ask your local police where your safest place to run would be.

Not normal...glad you are the observant type. And don't run after dark.