What Goes Bump (or Pop) in the Night

My Long Run on Saturday included an event that I wanted to write about and get your opinion/feedback on. Usually I run in the mornings on the Alpharetta Greenway for my long runs. Last Saturday I had a change in plans, or more correctly, my plans were changed for me. Friday night I spent the night in the Hospital Emergency Room with Joshua getting 4 stitches in his forehead. That is a whole other story but suffice it to say he was one of the monkeys jumping on the bed and we know what happens to each of them in turn… Getting home at 4 am, I slept until noon. So following a full day of activity I finally got out around 9pm for my long run.

Instead of running at the Greenway, which has convenient markers each half mile, I decided to run a double loop around my neighborhood and adjoining wetlands/park. I plotted out a course that would be just over 9 miles and headed out the door. Due to the late hour I wore my headlamp that I usually wear on my early morning runs. Fairly early in my run I heard a noise in the distance, from the general direction of an apartment complex next to our neighborhood. Pop-pop-pop…pop-pop….pop-pop-pop…pop… I didn’t get an exact count on the pops but there were several. From that distance it really is impossible to distinguish between firecrackers (they have started selling them for the impending 4th of July) and gunfire. As it was so far in the distance, I just filed it away and continued my run.

About an hour later I was well into my run and was now in the park running around some of the man-made wetlands and ponds. As it was after 10, the sun had fully set and I was depending on my headlamp for lighting. I rounded a corner and approached a loop around another pond and noted what looked like a light from a flashlight about 1/8th of a mile off, just off the trail. This park is a favorite of mountain bikers and the first thought that went through my head was "wow, that is one dedicated biker." As I continued to run I noticed that the light wasn’t moving, it was staying in the same general area, just off the path. My mind tried to explain this as "maybe he has a flat tire" but that, or any other explanation I was thinking, just wasn’t feeling right. Then, as I continued to run around the loop in that direction, when I got about 120-150 yards away, the flashlight all of a sudden turned off.

My mind went into overdrive. Why would they turn the light off? Did it correspond to when they saw me? Maybe it was a bike and it went around a corner? In the dark, not a house within a half-mile, the mind and its natural defense mechanisms can do amazing things. Fairly quickly my mind retrieved the memory of the popping noise. Then I realized that where I was I was actually closer to the apartment complex than to our neighborhood. It was through a tree line and a fence but where that light was is only 250 yards from the closest apartment building… Could this be thugs disposing of "something"? Or is this just some kids out messing around in the woods after dark? So many questions with ZERO answers.

That’s not entirely true. I was getting an answer but I was choosing to ignore it. My "gut" and the Holy Ghost were YELLING at me, turn around NOW and run back the way you came. Three things betrayed me. One, my feet, they just kept moving. In a world of maintaining pace and stride, the unnatural act of stopping and turning around, just didn’t compute in my head. Two, my planned run, I knew the exact distance of the route I had mapped out but if I turned around I would have to go on to Google Earth and re-measure that segment of my run. And even then, it would be a guess as to my exact turn around point. And third, my biggest hurdle, my ego. I can’t be afraid of a flashlight or noise or anything while I’m out running… If I let this one win, what would I do the next time I heard a howl early in the morning, or the crashing of some bushes? Where do you draw the line when your mind’s imagination takes over?

For good or bad, I kept running. As I approached that stretch of the trail my heart rate peaked, and not because I was already 7.5 miles into my run or because I had picked up the pace. This was different, this was pure adrenaline from the fear and concern that I had made the wrong decision. As I ran past the area I made a point of not shining my light off the trail, I just ran straight ahead, looking straight ahead, like I never saw the flashlight in the distance. Just as I convinced myself that there was nothing there I heard a small rustle and a distinct "Shhhh Shhhh Shhhh" from the bushes. Sweat soaked hair on the back of my neck still found a way of freeing itself from the moisture and sticking straight up. My ears perked, straining to hear more. The bullfrogs droned from the adjoining pond but my heightened senses functioned like noise cancelling earphones finding a way to filter the frogs out to listen to the bushes more intently. But there was nothing but silence from the grassy knoll. Somehow my mind started developing exit strategies and contemplating the question of what a bullet to the back would feel like. Would I go down with the first shot? How many could I take and still run? I reached up and turned off my head-lamp thinking "I’m not giving them a target, let them shoot in the dark!" As my eyes quickly adjusted to the tree filtered moonlight I kept a focus on the white concrete path, I quickened my pace, lengthened my stride, and never looked back.

It was a good quarter mile before I slowed down, if only slightly, and turned my light back on. Even then I wouldn’t turn around and my ears strained to listen for running feet other than my own. I ran straight home from there (that was my designated course anyway). I debated whether or not to tell my wife and decided to share the experience with her. Not a mistake, but I took my scolding and her point about 5 people back at the house that depend on me making the right decisions and listening to the Spirit when it is talking did not fall of deaf ears. I debated whether or not I should tell the Police but I settled on the argument of "it still could have been your imaginations, lets see if there was any crime reported in the news before I get the police chasing random flashlights". Watching and searching the news for the next two days, nothing showed up.

It could have been, and most likely was, nothing nefarious. But what would you have done? Have you ever been in a similar situation? What did you do? Inherently I think that late night in a park is far more dangerous than early morning in a park or late night around the neighborhood. I think I have decided that if I have to run after dark again, I will stay on the neighborhood roads and not loop into the park. That is sad because the park is nice and I often see wildlife but ultimately I don’t want to have to make this decision again and my family IS more important than any enjoyment I get from running.