The thing I love most about running is the freedom it affords – the chance to drop all of my cares and enjoy being outside with nature. Last week that freedom was interrupted when there were two attempted attacks on women on the W&OD Trail.

On Wednesday, a women walking on the W&OD Trail was attacked by two men who came out of a wooded area, but she managed to escape when a biker rode by and startled the attackers. Then on Thursday morning about twelve miles west of where the previous day’s incident occurred, a female off-duty sheriff’s deputy was running on the trail and managed to escape without being touched when she saw her would-be attacker approach her with a box cutter. In both cases the women were alone on the trail, but escaped physically unharmed.  

For the last few weeks I’ve been running mid-day to try to acclimate to the heat as I prepare for Ragnar DC coming up in three weeks. As a result, I have been running alone instead of running with my MRTT friends in the early mornings. Fortunately, my runs have been uneventful and I aways see a few runners and a ton of bikers while out on the same trail where these attacks occurred.

Saturday morning I chose to sleep in a little instead of getting up at 5 AM when my annoying alarm started blaring. By the time I got up, my running friends were coming in from their 6 AM runs as I prepared to head out. Bill suggested we drive out to the western part of the trail where it’s much more shaded and said he would bike while I ran. I envisioned him biking a few miles out, swinging around to check on me, and then heading out again. I really wasn’t concerned about my safety because Saturday mornings find the trail heavily traveled by runners, bikers, walkers, and even the occasional horseback rider. 

Instead of riding ahead and getting a really good workout himself, my saint of a husband rode right behind or in front of me because he didn’t want to leave me alone on the trail, even for a few minutes. We had a great time and even discussed the possibility of me getting a bike so we can ride together. While I had a great ten-mile run and I finished drenched, Bill didn’t even break a sweat.

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Looking forward to this week, I’ll change up my run to avoid the trail, and I know I won’t be running alone on it anytime soon.

Here’s how the rest of my week went down…

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Fitness tools beyond the equipment in my gym that I used during the week included: 

Cameras used for blog photography include:

 

  • Questions:
  • Do you think my husband was being overprotective or a sweetie?
  • Where and when do you run? Have you ever had any scary encounters with other people while running or exercising? 
  • Did you race this weekend? 

 

Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap.  Be sure to check out not only the hosts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

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