Oops!

When I run during the week, my runs are dark. I don’t get home until after 5pm and by the time I’m out the door it’s almost dark. Don’t worry, I’m dressed for the dark. My running tights have reflective do-hickies on them, I wear a reflective vest and I also wear a head lamp. I’ve had a few close calls with cars and it’s gotten to the point that I will flash my headlight into a vehicle if I think they don’t see me.

Granted I do run in the street but in the neighborhoods I run in the sidewalks are generally a mess and there aren’t enough street lights for me to be able to see if the sidewalk suddenly slopes for a driveway which means I chance a sprained ankle every time I run on the sidewalk. But for the most part where I run is pretty quiet so there aren’t many cars and I stay as much as possible on the shoulder or in the bike lane. I also never wear headphones and I run against traffic so I can see oncoming cars.

I know there are people who don’t agree with the way I run and that’s fine. To each their own. My point is that it’s dark. There really aren’t enough street lights to see by and my headlight comes in handy for the really dark sections where the street lights are often out or just don’t exist.

Ok, so you get the picture. It’s dark, I’m reflective. I told you that story to tell you this story. The other night I’m about 4 miles into a 5 mile run and headed back to the house. Millers Creek Road is one of those dark sections. On one side of the street you have low income housing and on the other side you have an primary school. The school itself is lit up but the part by the road is an unlit field. The low income housing has good lighting in their parking lot but it’s in the middle of the complex with the houses around the outside and along the street. Millers Creek is dark, really dark and I generally go as fast as I can because it’s kind of creepy, especially in the winter when we have fog because it’s really quiet and no one is out at all. Millers Creek = Creepy.

Of course I happen to be on Millers Creek when, in the dark, I accidently kick a rock I couldn’t see…because there isn’t any light. I hear it skip a couple of times not really thinking anything of it. It happens from time to time.. and then Wham! The freaking rock hits a car. OMG! And because it’s so dark I don’t know which car it hit or where it kit. I felt so bad!

I did stop and try to figure out which car it was but after a while I just gave up and finished up my run. I really hope that I didn’t cause any damage to someone’s car. I know how I am about my car and keeping it as nice as possible for as long as possible. So if your car was parked on Millers Creek and some jerk kicked a rock into last week, I’m soooo sorry!