Well, it’s official. I’m scared of my own shadow. I didn’t think it possible. I thought that was just fictional Roger Rabbit type fare, but nope, the other night it became clear, it can happen in real life. It happened to me – multiple times.
What, you don’t think that’s scary? Turn out the lights and you might change your tune…
I was out on a run with my favourite running chick and speedy – a reunion run of sorts – we were running along a super dark corridor, so dark and scary our speeds on the Garmin almost always increase along that 2 km stretch. When out of the corner of my eye, I saw a couple of dark figures coming at us, I swear I nearly jumped out of my shoes. My stomach dropped into my ankles, my throat clenched right up. And in the milliseconds that followed, my head was awash with frantic thoughts. We were on a dark stretch, there was only a thin pedestrian patch for us to navigate, On our right, a train of cars sped past, on our left a rocky barrier. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to get out of harm’s way. Oh freaking hell.
I was ready to let loose a scream, a shrill, don’t you dare mess with me you dirty sucker kind of scream, when it suddenly dawned on me that it wasn’t a couple of hooded n’erdowells coming at us, but rather the shadows of me and my favourites. So glad I didn’t start screaming. I tried to laugh it off, swore up and down I wouldn’t be fooled again. Oh how wrong I was. That same run, about 20-25 minutes later, the sight of my shadow in a cement barrier next to me had me speeding up with fear all over again. What the???
The dark skies were to blame. We started our run at 6:30, and while last year, I was all over that time for runs, it’s been several months since I ran that late. These days, I’m out at dusk or shortly after, and normally I’m trekking down a lighted boardwalk, not super dark city streets. And yet, stupid shadow or not, I wouldn’t have changed that run for the world.
I was with my favourites and that is always a good run 😀
Trio of sneakers reunite
FAVOURITES RUN:
- 6:20 p.m. BG before: 11.1
- Temp. basal: -30 per cent (1 hour)
- Distance: 8.05 km
- Average pace: 6:40 min/km
- Time: 53:37 minutes
- 7:30 p.m. BG after: 8.1
- Temp. basal: +50 per cent (1 hour)
It wasn’t our speediest of runs, it wasn’t our longest of runs, but it was a most enjoyable run. Given that the girls had gone out on a hard 10k the night before, and given that I’ve totally been slacking off as of late, and that we haven’t seen each other in well over a month, an easy socializing pace took precedence for this run. And that’s okay! 😀