I am frustrated. I am mad. Most importantly, my heart breaks for the California family that lost their little girl earlier this week when she went out for a run and never came home (http://www.sandiego6.com/mostpopular/story/Chelsea-King-missing-Poway-Rancho-Bernardo-jogging/zTLAKar0XUGyf78trbfHvg.cspx) . We all hear the safety lectures about running alone, but do we listen to them all of the time? To answer that honestly- my response is a solid “No.”

I love running. I’m not the greatest and I am certainly not the fastest, but I get amazing benefits from throwing on my sneakers and getting out there. As much as I love those runs with a good friend where your pace flows effortlessly because you are too busy catching up on life and 8 miles blows by like nothing, there are still days when I prefer to run alone or have no one to run with when my running opportunity arises. One of my favorite things about running are those runs by myself where there is nothing else competing with me except the sounds of outside, my feet hitting the ground and my thoughts as they run wild. You know what I am talking about- those runs where your legs start to feel light and you just go. You can hear your breath, your heart beat and you come home refreshed, energized and proud. I love it. I love the smells. I love the rosy cheeks. I love the scenery. I love the “good” tiredness afterwards..... and creeps like this guy are taking it away. Now, I am just plain pissed off.

We shouldn’t have to worry about running alone. We shouldn’t have to worry about assholes out there just waiting to hurt other people, but apparently it’s a reality. I can't speak for anyone something like this has happened to, but I think it's safe to say that they didn't lace up their sneakers that day believing that something like this would happen to them. The mother in me is enraged. My child should be able to enjoy running and all the benefits of solitude that a nice, long, uninterrupted run brings. My child’s mother shouldn’t be at risk of being hurt or worse for taking an hour for herself to clear her head. Schedules can’t always be coordinated with training buddies to ensure someone else is out there. I don’t know what the answer is. Maybe I need to look at investing in that treadmill sooner than planned. Maybe I need to drag a family member into this crazy triathlon, running business and force family running time. I don’t know. For now, my thoughts are with this family and I am really sorry for their loss. For now, I am just pissed off that this is actually something that runners have to worry about.

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