"Shoot," I thought to myself, "I don't want to go running in the dark."
I live in a pretty wooded area that is not especially well lit. I started to think about what moves I could use to fight off a bear, or any other wild animal, should I be suddenly attacked. I didn't have to think for long.
"Nooo, it'll be fine! Buck up!" I told myself.
My house is on a a quiet little street between 2 important main roads that have plenty of traffic and wide shoulders, and part of my route would be on a trail that had a street on one side, and a large fence on the other that I can only imagine must be to keep large, wild animals from easily attacking innocent runners. I have also run this same route several time now, so I know the terrain well.
"It'll probably be fine," I told myself (not the most reassuring thing to say...), "besides," I continued in my pep talk, "it probably won't even be dark til like 9pm!"... right. Content with my theory, which was based on absolutely nothing, I laced up my shoes and headed out the door.
I decided I wouldn't bring my MP3 player along for the evening run. That's a lie. I couldn't find it, and I didn't want to waste anymore daylight looking for it, so I just took off without it.
"Just me and my thoughts for 4 miles," I said as I trotted down the busy street, listening to the zoom of cars pass. The temperature was perfect, and the run was going very smoothly; I even passed a nice little group of middle aged women out for a walk, and they said "Hi" to me and gave me a little cheer! (they were also smoking pot I realized after I passed them). However, my theory about daylight was proving to be wildly incorrect. It was getting dark fast, and I still had at least a mile and a half to go.
I was still running on one of the main roads, so the lights of the passing cars and occasional streetlights lit my path. As I started up the hill that would take me to my quiet little street for the last stretch of my journey, the sun was gone, and a heavy feeling started to build up in my stomach as I thought about about what was left of my run. You see, the part of the street where I live is pretty open; there are some scattered trees, but the houses are spread far apart, and it is mostly open field between them. However, between the main road where I was running and my house is a curvy section of street that is surrounded by thick woods, and NO street lights! And, of course, there is no way to reach my house without passing through it!
"Joder!" I said out loud when I reached the top of the hill and turned face the dark, scary street. A few lights from the houses were shining eerily through the tree branches, and slivers of moonlight glimmered on the black pavement. It felt like the opening scene of a horror movie when the soon to be victim is out doing something stupid and you just know they're going to die, but it's a movie, so no matter how much you yell at the dumb girl running through the woods alone at night, she doesn't hear you, and then she's all surprised and terrified when a bear jumps out and kills her, and you're just watching and shaking your head like, "I knew that was gonna happen!" Ya know what I mean?
I was nervous.
"Just keep running, just keep running," I sang in my head in the voice of Dory from Finding Nemo. "Dory is hilarious!" I thought, trying to distract myself.
Suddenly, my worst fear came to life! I heard twigs snapping and the rustling of leaves coming from the bushes right next to me!
"Fuck! Shit! A bear!!" I yelped.
In a flash, I felt a wave of warmth shoot from the back of my head through my entire body. My legs doubled their speed before my brain even had the chance to tell them to.
"Well hello, adrenaline!" I thought as I felt my charged up legs carry me away from my attacker. Mentally I was terrified, but physically I felt like a super hero! My arms and legs pumped fiercely as my lungs and heart worked to fuel my body! I was a running machine!
I was Usain Bolt.
I didn't stop running until I got out of the woods. I turned my head back to see if I was being chased by whatever beast had emerged from the bushes, and nearly stopped cold in my tracks when I laid eyes on it:
A rabbit. A fucking rabbit! It was huge, but it was a rabbit none the less...
"Me cago en tó!" I cursed to myself before bursting out laughing. The freakishly large rabbit ran off after he heard me.
I felt my super powers starting to wear off. I slowed my pace to a jog and recapped the moment of terror that I had just experienced.
"It was just a rabbit!" I thought, shaking my head and continuing to laugh. I wish I could have been watching myself go through all that! Maybe by some stroke of luck one of my neighbors caught the whole thing on tape...
Giggling, I jogged under the shining moonlight until I reached my house. I have to admit, for as unsure as I was beforehand about running at night, this was one of my favorite runs so far.
