malmo wrote:
Which brings up the question, have any of you had a similar close calls?
I've never had a serious close call. However...
When I was in college, I sometimes did some weekend runs alone, and one night I was doing one where I was running on 25 MPH streets, and a car full of what turned out to be HS kids kept going around the block and swerving at me...and laughing of course. It was easy for me to jump up over the curb, so I didn't think too much of it and figured they would eventually quit. Well, they didn't. After the 5th bit of swerving at me, I hid behind a bush the next time and then ran behind the car and read the license plate out loud to them (they had their windows down) and then yelled "you're busted!" The driver of the car stopped immediately and got out and started crying saying that his Dad would kill him if I reported this to the police. He even said he'd give me money. Well, too bad. I reported it to the police. The police officer (city police office, not campus police) came to my dorm room later that night and told me I could press charges if I wanted to but that the judge didn't usually go along with eyewitness accounts but that also this kid's father told him he was going to beat his kid to within an inch of his life. So, I don't know how much of that police officer's story was true, but the kid did seem genuinely afraid of his father, so I let it go there.
Anyway, I do not run on any streets at all anymore. It's just too dangerous. Drunks, distracted drivers, a$$holes who don't care about the lives of others, crazy people. No thanks. I know that runners WANT it to be ok and safe, but it isn't. I don't really want to run along with a bunch of pollution-creating cars anyway.