Southern Idaho 09/20/22: A 24-year old woman was on her morning run, training for a half marathon. She was running through a primarily rural area with homes scattered throughout. During her run, she noticed a red car drive past her. The male driver slowed down and stuck his head out of the side window to look at her. A few minutes later, he repeated it, driving past the jogger and slowing down to stare. The 3rd time he drove past, she was sure he was following her.
She had noticed the car and driver immediately, but took special note the second time he drove by her because it gave her a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. When he reappeared a third time, she knew she was in trouble. Although her car was close by, she ran to the closest house, rang the bell, and asked if she could stand in their yard while she called the police and her parents to come pick her up. The red car sped off.
How did this incident make the news? Because she had been filming herself training with a selfie stick and posting live on TicTok. It was captured in real time, with her thought process verbalized. She was thinking about Eliza Fletcher, a runner who was abducted and killed just a few weeks earlier in Memphis.
Fortunately, this story turned out differently because this woman was observant, trusted her intuition, and made an effort to get the attention of others. She knew not to run to her car, which would have further isolated her.
Running in isolated areas by yourself has an inherent danger. If you don’t have a partner to run with, at least carry mace and be observant of what is around you. If you run with earphones, keep the volume low so you can hear what’s going on around you, and vary your route each time you run.