Running Safety: No Tolerance

Yesterday was another awesome day off. I was lazy in the morning before heading out for a 7 mile run around downtown. It was really warm but still such a beautiful day.

Orlando is a smaller city but there’s a draw to it that I can’t resist. Especially on Sundays, all kinds of families, tourists and dog walkers congregate around Lake Eola. Along the lake there is a Sunday farmers market, cool eateries and a little setup where you can rent big swan paddle boats to take out on the lake.

Look- the babies are getting bigger!

Less than a mile from my house I was walking as a cool down, listening to music and enjoying the last part of being outside… when a dirtbag on a bike rode up from behind me and grabbed my butt.

I was in shock. Did that really just happen?

I cursed him for doing that and started to chase after him once I got my bearings. I felt violated. I felt so angry. I ran home, hopped in my car and circle the area for a solid 10 minutes. He was nowhere to be found.

I called 911 to report what had happened and an officer met me at my house to file a report. I gave an account of what happened and the best description I had of him. A female officer took the report. She said something similar happened to her when she was cycling and she was so glad I called. Two cops circled the area to try to find him.

Every two minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.

54% of sexual assaults aren’t reported to the police.

97% of rapists will never spend a day in jail.

(source)

This may have been “just” a butt grab that didn’t injure me physically, but it left me feeling violated and scared to walk my streets. Someone who thinks it’s okay to do that might be the person who thinks it’s okay to assault another female runner… or worse.

Kristen sent me a recent story of a guy who grabbed a woman’s butt in . She protested so he came back and started attacking her. Luckily someone heard her screaming and cops came quickly to arrest the guy. Check out the story and video here.

Bad things happen all the time- and that’s more of a reason to take a no tolerance stand. If anyone does this to you, call the cops. Let it be added to the records. Be aware. Imagine how you’ll react if this or that comes at you.

I’m being fitted for a hideaway knife this week and will be taking an intense self-defense class at my box soon. If anyone ever tries to do that (or worse) to me again, I hope that it’ll be me teaching them a lesson.

How do you stay safe when exercising outside? How would you have reacted if you were me?

Tagged as: runnng