Why do so many posters here find running in the dark so undesirable?

I'm an old guy whose speed has slowly vanished away with each succeeding decade. Once I was pretty fast. About being able to run faster in the dark is of course not true, but one thinks that the darkness aids speed because we lose sight of what we are passing as we run. Without that frame of reference we feel that we are running much faster than we really are.

When I was living in a well lit suburban community I once read of a man who lived in a rural area who stopped running in the dark because he literally ran into deer too often. That brought a chuckle. Not long afterwards I was running a dark park near a forest and I almost ran into a deer, quite a large buck at that. The deer and I were equally spooked.

malmo wrote:

This is what Goatman Road looked like, literally.

http://oi66.tinypic.com/11ta7aq.jpg

So you wadnt scared o meetin the Goatman malmo?

I work full time and have 3 kids so will get out whenever I can. It's dark when I get to work and dark when I leave at this time of year. I use a headtorch am happy to do any session in the dark. If I'm doing something fast I'll make sure the ground isn't too rough. I often do off road tempos in the dark without problems. I'd rather run in the light but would much rather outside in the dark than on a treadmill.

I can understand there are safety reasons depending on where you run, particularly for women but if you're making any other excuse you're just soft.

crybaby wrote:

malmo wrote:

This is what Goatman Road looked like, literally.

http://oi66.tinypic.com/11ta7aq.jpg

So you wadnt scared o meetin the Goatman malmo?

Yeah, especially after my high school XC teammates took his refrigerator and deposited it at one of our rivals front lawn in the middle of the night. Around Christmas. We left a Xmas card with a poem. and scattered worn-out running shoes about.

No wonder you had an epiphany. You knew the Goatman prefered young flesh to old. Adrenaline is a wonderful motivator and he couldn't catch you. Others weren't so lucky.

I live in two states and I don’t like running after dark in either place. My home town has cougars. The 4-legged kind. My (hopefully) temporary other city has drive-by shootings. Daylight is my friend in both.

It's obvious that you're a clueless man. I'm a woman and I can tell you I will never run in the dark again. I've had way too many creepy things happen to me in the dark and while running to combine the two. Just during a short 5 minute walk from the train station to my apartment in the dark I had a man try to follow me home. I've had men I pass in the park during my runs look me up and start following me on Strava - I made my account friends only recently when that option became available because of this. I've had men drive alongside me during my run and try to talk to me. How many women have you heard of being assaulted on runs during the day time? Sometimes these are just crimes of opportunity - maybe the perpetrator wasn't out looking to assault someone but realized they had a relatively risk free opportunity. Just not worth it to me. I'm either running in daylight or running on the treadmill.

I'm a woman, and I've been running outdoors most days of my life, almost always alone and usually at least partly in darkness, for about 40 years while living in seven different cities and visiting dozens more on travel. I have experienced plenty of verbal harassment and an occasional creepier interaction (e.g. being followed) but have never had a serious issue with an ill-intentioned human being. I have, however, encountered a few bad dogs and have had several very scary near-collisions with cars. As a cyclist, riding only during daylight and in dry weather, I've had a couple of minor-injury crashes and several more very scary near-collisions with vehicles.

It's not silly to worry about personal safety when running. Everything has its risks, and you just have to evaluate the risks and rewards of each activity. To me, running on a quiet street in the pre-dawn darkness feels far less dangerous than riding a bike on a narrow road with fast traffic in broad daylight. I have no problem with the former but try to avoid the latter.

Bob Sacamano the fake one wrote:

There are constantly posts asking about how to avoid running in the dark while working full time. I truly don't understand this. I've been a 4:00 am runner for over 2 decades, and I think it's great. Go for a run under the stars while the world is quiet, clear your head before heading to work, enjoy that satisfied post- workout feel all day...greatness.

Why are so many of you scared of the dark?

I'm older now, and don't see as well as when I was young. When I have to run on the sidewalk this means I can't run at full pace because there is too much danger of tripping/falling. For early morning runs I can run partly in the street but even then not always (I'm in a big city where there are always people out and some traffic at all times of night). Parks are not illuminated or even are closed (the big ones) at night and in early morning. There are streets with terrible potholes and bad lighting. It winds up being hard to do anything but an easy, slow run.

There's no danger from people - or less than during the day at any rate - so for me the issue is simply visibility and the chance of a fall compromising ability to run hard.

Still, in the winter I run in the dark every day because there's no way to avoid it.

Because the night is dark and full of terrors

Coach J46 wrote:

For a decade I ran in the dark and enjoyed it immensely. I lived in a suburban town in which the roads were choked with traffic from 7 AM (or before) through the evening. When I ran between 4:30 AM and 5:30 AM the streets were like a ghost town. Visibility was good as there were many street lights. Fast forward to a decade ago. My new home is far away from any metropolis. The streets are extremely dark and the major roads have either no shoulder or a very narrow one, totally the opposite of where I once lived. I never run early mornings as it is now dangerous.

I'm glad someone experienced this! People who like running at night must live somewhere like your previous home. Where I and many others live is much more like the second situation. Running at night is awful and to be avoided as much as possible. I will run at night, but since graduating college, where I could run in a place more like your first situatuon, I have never enjoyed it.

Also, early morning is a lot different than evening. 4 am and 7 pm are both equally dark this time of year, but 7 pm is real bad due to traffic. 4 am is bad and there are still cars out - where anyone has to go at 4 am I don't know , but its a lot more manageable. Hard to get a fast run because of the poor lighting, but if I had no other option (ie no opporunity to run in daylight for several days) it would be a lot more pleasant than any time before 10 pm.

Female here too and I completely agree with you. It’s daylight or treadmill for me unless I have someone or people to run with in the dark.

It’s just not worth the risk for me.

too many street thugs . society is in the beginnings of total Anarchy.

Just Passing Through wrote:

Mostly, I just hate being blinded by the headlights of approaching cars. When I do run in the dark it is mostly in my rather suburban neighborhood, roads and sidewalks. Not heavy car traffic, but when are car comes at me, I really can't see the ground at all for several strides.

FWIW, my perception when I run in the dark is that I'm going faster then I really am.

Completely agree with all of this.

East vs West wrote:

too many street thugs . society is in the beginnings of total Anarchy.

Folks, I don't know how many ways we can say it. America is not safe. Women feel scared to go out at night. Bad people everywhere. Bad lighting. Science being rejected in the name of religion. Kings of the marathon wearing their crowns built on 4% of our salary. What I propose is a committee of public safety. This committee to be comprised of myself as well as upstanding citizens Louis Saint-Just, Georges Couthon and some other fine men from our echelons of society will protect us. We will use the latest advancements in science in pursuit of our goals. In fact to prove how committed to science we are I will ask an engineer, Citizen Carnot, to join our committee.

male privilege wrote:

It's obvious that you're a clueless man. I'm a woman and I can tell you I will never run in the dark again. I've had way too many creepy things happen to me in the dark and while running to combine the two. Just during a short 5 minute walk from the train station to my apartment in the dark I had a man try to follow me home. I've had men I pass in the park during my runs look me up and start following me on Strava - I made my account friends only recently when that option became available because of this. I've had men drive alongside me during my run and try to talk to me. How many women have you heard of being assaulted on runs during the day time?

Almost every abduction, rape, or murder occurs during the day. Sorry to let facts get in the way of a good rant.

I like running in the dark, but only if there are adequate street lights (something that, as I've looked for houses over the years, is sometimes harder to find than I expected). I like getting my run done first thing, and I like that it are fewer cars/people out & around.

That’s not the point. This statistic is likely skewed by the fact that more people are out during the day. by running in the dark/at night, you are putting yourself in a more vulnerable position where there is less likelihood for a passerby to help or see you. Most rape, assault, and murder are also committed by someone you know. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be leery of strangers. Also I realize the question I wrote at the end was confusing. I know of several runners who have been assaulted during the daytime, which makes me all the more likely to take precautions at night and run in well traveled areas in the day. But i am guessing you are a man who has never had to worry about this yet somehow thinks yourself an authority on the subject because of some article you read online once.