I once saw a couple in an argument in their front yard. The guy was getting into the car with his wife beating on him. He slammed it into gear with the door still open and her holding on and tried driving off. The lady got caught under the car and her screams still haunt me. I don't know what happened after that as I just kept running. Feel bad for not stopping but my 19 yr old mind just said get the heck out of there.
I once encountered a couple having sex, standing up, half-hidden in the bushes but quite clearly visible from the trail. The trail was not a commonly used one, and less than 50 yards downhill from the parking lot, so I guess they figured they could park, have a quickie, and get away with it. Oops!
I had just moved to Berkeley to start graduate school, 40+ years ago, and I typically went running in the pre-dawn hours up in the Berkeley hills with a nice view of the San Francisco bay. One fall morning I looked out toward the bay and saw what I could swear was a giant flying saucer parked along the bay shore, many miles away from me. I looked and looked, and couldn't figure out what this huge, elliptical, brightly lit object might be. I'm normally a pretty rational person but I was rattled. When I got back to my house life still seemed normal--no alien attacks--so I didn't tell my housemates.
Later I realized that the brightly lit object was a horse racing track that had been there all along but had been closed down and therefore mostly dark until the opening day of the racing season, when I noticed it. Whew.
I had just moved to Berkeley to start graduate school, 40+ years ago, and I typically went running in the pre-dawn hours up in the Berkeley hills with a nice view of the San Francisco bay. One fall morning I looked out toward the bay and saw what I could swear was a giant flying saucer parked along the bay shore, many miles away from me. I looked and looked, and couldn't figure out what this huge, elliptical, brightly lit object might be. I'm normally a pretty rational person but I was rattled. When I got back to my house life still seemed normal--no alien attacks--so I didn't tell my housemates.
Later I realized that the brightly lit object was a horse racing track that had been there all along but had been closed down and therefore mostly dark until the opening day of the racing season, when I noticed it. Whew.
That is Golden Gate Fields race track, it is odd looking. I'm old as dirt but not older, so I have a few:
Strangest thing I've ever seen was when a few of us were running at Redwood Park - me and a couple of old Cal teammates in the mid-1980s. Rounded a corner and running our way on the French Trail at what we guessed was 7:00/mile pace was a naked 40-something woman running while trying to sing opera at the top of her lungs.
One of the cooler things I've discovered was when I decided to go for a run along Hwy. 285 at the top of the San Luis Valley above Alamosa, CO on a road trip. Went four miles out into a forested area and stumbled on a turquoise mine - the roads were blue dust at that point.
Memorable run in Boulder, CO in May was on a 77-degree day at Marshall-Mesa. Headed out with a t-shirt and shorts, no problem. 10 minutes in a wind kicks up and it cools bit, don't really notice as I am going uphill. About 15 more minutes in I notice the air is getting sharp and my hands are turning white. Look to the north and see a bank of clouds on a sunny day. It's definitely feeling crisp. Another 10 minutes I am running along a prairie and all of a sudden I see white blossoms blowing across the trail. But there were no trees so it was snow! Finished the 70-something minute run and it was 33 degrees and windy. I have a little Reynaud's so my hands were not happy.
Scary runs - almost stepped on rattlers in CO and New Mexico - never knew I had such good vertical leap! Almost stepped on a cottonmouth in Indiana, two dogs came after me in Winslow, AZ but I stopped and yelled at them for about a minute until they changed modes and walked off. Had many encounters with dogs, coyotes, bears, kicked a rock by mistake and a swarm of baby scorpions came bursting out, also in New Mexico. Also in New Mexico, two coyotes decided to lope alongside me on my run, about 50 meters off to the side for about a mile and a half. This became a morning ritual while I worked at a ranch near Abiquiu.
In Miami on a visit I ill-advisedly tried to manage a run and ended up a mile into Little Brazil - just not a good place for a runner.
Forced myself to do a 1:45 long run in DC in the middle of summer in the afternoon. Near the end I thought I was seeing things as I (covered in sweat) reached a water fountain 2 blocks from the hotel. Drank and dunked my head - looked up and the bank temp read 106 degrees. It was humid and I was unwell for a few days after that.
In SF stopped on the run to use the bathroom and saw feet sticking out from the floor of the toilet. Man had OD'd and died. Some unfortunate teen had come across it first, called 911, and was pretty distraught, so I asked if he wanted me to hang until they got there, which he did.
Also in SF some high school kid was riding along the Marina and hit a cement post that he did not see. He was pretty badly hurt and had blood in his ear, so I had his friend call 911 and then his parents. I waited for the parents to arrive and the ambulance arrived a minute later.
In Portland I was running down Leif Erickson trail and saw a red-tail hawk in the middle of the trail eating a snake. It just kind of gave me side-eye as it devoured its meal. Some mountain biker barreled down the hill at 30 MPH and scared it off.
Saw the Sierra Nevada mountain range from the Oakland Hills this New Year's Day, which is 200 miles away and visible perhaps once a decade. As the years pile on I've seen all kinds of animals, crazy people, weather and sometimes, just raw and beautiful things. Keep your eyes open because there is going to be a lot of fascinating stuff to see on your runs over the years.
Two friend and I made a turn on a seldom used trial on a hill that ran behind the last line of homes next to a wilderness area. A deer jumped up out of its hiding place, took one bound and tripped itself over an plastic irrigation line. I did a face plant into the ground. It got up and staggered away.
Before that Bambi tragedy, I had never given any thought to where did the animals go when they out and about looking for food. They hide in plain sight.
Interrupted a mugging in Uptown in Chicago in the middle of the day. Mugger ran off when he saw I had mace; I was surprised considering I’m a petite woman and I was only about to defend myself if necessary.
Saw a goose crash-land onto another runner on the lakefront, it crashed into her head!
Saw a great horned owl on the lakefront with some wildlife photographers who waved me over, it had a 5’ wingspan and was only a few yards from us.
Caught an offleash pitbull on the lakefront who was an absolute sweetheart of a dog.
Saw 2 perverts take their d!cks out over the course of 10 years of running in Chicago. The joys of running as a woman.
I’ve seen a dead person on two different occasions. Once a guy was on a bench in a park that I run at. He was slumped over with a gun in his hand and a bunch of coagulated blood around him. An obvious suicide. I had my phone and called the police. It was pretty early in the morning and nobody else was around. I ran laps on the path around the pond until the police showed up.
Another one was in the woods at the same park. I stepped off of the trail to pee and smelled some really bad decomp. I looked around and there was a body under a huge tree. I later found out that the person fell out of the tree. It was either an accident or he committed suicide. The tree was over 200 ft tall so it would have been a pretty fast death.
At the same park, I saw two people having sex in the woods. I just acted as if I didn’t see them and went on my way. They looked young, like high school students, and I’ve been there before. No use in drawing attention to it.
I've seen way too many penises on runs. Mostly homeless people, but also 2 professional runners (separate occasions) who shall remain unnamed peeing along the Hollister trail at Nike.
I also saw a switch Glock but I left it alone. Don’t want my fingerprints on that, but I walked close to it and saw the characteristic “button” on the back
Nothing strange while running. But as a kid, I was walking at night and heard a couple having sex in their backyard. The woman's moans, in retrospect, seemed a bit fake. Like pron movie moaning.
Came around a corner up above the lake on a winding mountain road I ran, streched out across the road ahead of me a seven foot snake, the smake had just swallowed some critter because it was still alive moving around inside the snake. I debated on what to do not having a knife on me. After some pause I decided to leave nature alone, if I'd had a knife I would have tried to save that critter,
I was running at 12 pm in a park which isn’t heavily wooded. The park is lit well enough that I can see outlines body shapes , trees, and the ground. This big dog ran up to me. In the dark it didn’t look like a dog. It looked like wolf and I thought it was some cross of a coyote , because we have coyotes In our area. I screamed at the top of my lungs and made noises. The dog stood still. The dog was maybe 4-5 meters away from me. I screamed help , police, any words I could think of. Then I hear the owners whiny voice far away say come here 👏🏻 and the dog obeys his command. The dog wasn’t on a leash in the middle of the night. Whatever could have happened that day, if I kicked that dog or threw a rock at it, I would have blamed it on the owner.
Came around a corner up above the lake on a winding mountain road I ran, streched out across the road ahead of me a seven foot snake, the smake had just swallowed some critter because it was still alive moving around inside the snake. I debated on what to do not having a knife on me. After some pause I decided to leave nature alone, if I'd had a knife I would have tried to save that critter,
Glad you didn’t. No real point in trying to save a partially digested animal. Snakes gotta eat.
I was running at 12 pm in a park which isn’t heavily wooded. The park is lit well enough that I can see outlines body shapes , trees, and the ground. This big dog ran up to me. In the dark it didn’t look like a dog. It looked like wolf and I thought it was some cross of a coyote , because we have coyotes In our area. I screamed at the top of my lungs and made noises. The dog stood still. The dog was maybe 4-5 meters away from me. I screamed help , police, any words I could think of. Then I hear the owners whiny voice far away say come here 👏🏻 and the dog obeys his command. The dog wasn’t on a leash in the middle of the night. Whatever could have happened that day, if I kicked that dog or threw a rock at it, I would have blamed it on the owner.
Sounds to me like the owner was enjoying some off leash time with his dog in the park at an obvious low traffic point in the day, and the dog had excellent recall. Blame the owner all you want, you would’ve been the one overreacting.
I was running at 12 pm in a park which isn’t heavily wooded. The park is lit well enough that I can see outlines body shapes , trees, and the ground. This big dog ran up to me. In the dark it didn’t look like a dog. It looked like wolf and I thought it was some cross of a coyote , because we have coyotes In our area. I screamed at the top of my lungs and made noises. The dog stood still. The dog was maybe 4-5 meters away from me. I screamed help , police, any words I could think of. Then I hear the owners whiny voice far away say come here 👏🏻 and the dog obeys his command. The dog wasn’t on a leash in the middle of the night. Whatever could have happened that day, if I kicked that dog or threw a rock at it, I would have blamed it on the owner.
Sounds to me like the owner was enjoying some off leash time with his dog in the park at an obvious low traffic point in the day, and the dog had excellent recall. Blame the owner all you want, you would’ve been the one overreacting.
We have a law in our city which doesn’t allow dogs to be unleashed anyways, though it’s obviously not enforced. 100% owners fault
We have a law in our city which doesn’t allow dogs to be unleashed anyways, though it’s obviously not enforced. 100% owners fault
I’ve no doubt there are leash laws, but that’s about as responsible of law breaking as you can get from that guy. Control of his dog, hardly anyone around.
Running around at midnight (assuming you meant am and not pm based on the rest of the story), an off leash dog was probably one of the least illegal things happening. I was more focused on how you planned to react to the dog.
Letsrun might be one of the most anti-dog groups of people I’ve ever witnessed. I swear, some people around here would lose their minds over a dopey, happy golden retriever approaching them on a run.