Sometimes people ask me if I ever get nervous running on trails by myself. The answer is, “not usually.” But today I was doing my run in a park with several small trails. The one I was on is a loop around a lake. It’s not far off the road, but once you’re on the trail it’s very isolated from the rest of the park.
I planned to do three loops, but when I finished the first one I looked around and saw four young men walking on the trail, about a quarter mile behind me.
Ding ding ding! There was nothing especially dangerous or menacing about these men, but my “common sense” alarm went off, and told me to get off the trail ASAP. Luckily I was right near an exit to the main road of the park, so I quickly took it and was back to civilization.
Sometimes when I go to trail races, I wonder why there are so few women, compared to men. Oh yeah… that’s why. A lot of women are afraid to run alone on trails.
I don’t usually complain about male privilege, because I realize I’m a very privileged person. Other than taking normal precautions (not running in deserted areas in the dark for example) I don’t think about it much. Today was the first time in a long time that I didn’t feel like it would be safe to run the route I had planned.
In all likelihood, those men were good people (because most people are). After I left the trail and continued my run on the road, I imagined myself running past them- they might have waved, or high-fived me, or said “how far are you running?” or “good job!” It made me kind of sad that I couldn’t take the risk to find out.
It isn’t all men, but it’s always a man.
If you’re a woman who runs or walks outside, do you ever feel unsafe? What precautions do you take?
