Finally Getting Fit

Today was the Annual Lion’s Club Sweetheart Run for Sight 5K and 12K.

I ran for Sherry.

I won’t lie and say that her story has really touched me.  It scares me.

Last year I was an early morning, in the dark runner.  I would be out and back by 6:30 AM so I could stretch, bathe, get ready for work, and grab a bite to eat.  I had a red blinky safety light, a reflective belt, and a headlamp. I always wore my road ID and carried my phone.

Then something happened.  It wasn’t just that it got cold even though you know I don’t like running in the cold.

It started with seeing snakes.  I hate snakes. I have actually changed lanes while driving in order to run over a snake. They are nasty nasty critters and are good only for the number or mice and rats that they can eat.  Which isn’t nearly as many as I want. I hate rats and mice almost as much as I hate snakes, maybe more.  What if I came across a snake in the dark?  What if I stepped on it?   Uggg.  I shudder.  I began to over-sleep.

Then, I began to notice random dudes walking along the sidewalks at night when I was coming home from dance.  What’s that dude doing walking down our sidewalk?

I live in a rather rural area.  The county did widen the road and put in sidewalks a few years ago due to the increase in traffic from new subdivisions that began popping up.  But really, there’s no reason for someone to be walking around here at 8:30-9:00 at night. People around here just don’t do that.  The nearest shopping center is about 3 miles away. The nearest convenience store is one mile away.  But country folks don’t walk to the convenience store at night. They take their car.  What’s this strange person who is obviously not out for his health doing about on foot at this time of night?  I’ve lived here for nearly 11 years and trust me when I say this is just not normal behavior for people around here.  It gave me a strange creepy feeling.

I had nearly convinced myself that I was being silly when I read Beth‘s post about Sherry.  All my fears come to life.

I cannot describe the coldness and heaviness that filled my heart at the news.  Here was a woman who only wanted to go out and get in her miles for the day, gone.  Such a normal thing.  I wondered: did she have any feelings of foreboding?  Had she seen anything that made her pause? oh god, what if that had been me?  There’s been all those strange people walking about.

Last week I had nearly decided that I was being silly. That even with what happened with Sherry that I couldn’t let that immobilize me.  And it nearly has.  I had to leave for an early morning about. The morning was gray, the sun not yet peaking over the horizon.  My first thought as I turned onto the road was “what a great day to run, I’ll do it tomorrow”  and then I saw him.  Strange dude in street clothes, not fitness gear.  Big hat, dark clothes, walking along.  Second thought “Oh hell, no I won’t be out in the dark tomorrow.”  What the crap is he doing out there?  Where could he possible be going?  There’s no bus stops, he’s walking the wrong way to get to the college, the only thing in his direction is 2 gas stations.

Maybe I’m paranoid. Maybe I’m being silly. But I have to listen to my gut.  I just can’t do it.  I can’t go out there alone before daybreak. Not anymore.  Maybe one day I’ll be able to do it again. But not right now.

Today’s run was for Sherry. For the gutsy courage she had to get out there and get it done before daybreak.  From what I’ve read she was one hell of a gal.