Women- do you run alone?

I've always run alone and never been worried about it. It's my alone time. Statistically you are far more likely to be attacked by someone you know (sad but true) than by a stranger jumping out from behind a tree in the dark. I used to run with music, but turned down very low so I could hear my breathing, the birds and any traffic that might be around. I don't run at night because there's no lighting where I run and the ground is uneven- I'm way more worried about injury than being attacked.

I have a dog now so I run with her, and I don't listen to music because I'm too busy trying to get her to ignore squirrels.

geez. Isn't it interesting that if a person asks the question 'do you run alone?' the automatic assumption is that there is a danger of being attacked.

I'm more concerned about rolling down the side of a cliff and not being found for ages, breaking my ankle or starving to death, having my eyes pecked out by ravens and my fingertips nibbled by rats. This isn't because I live in a safe place, I live in a city, although carrying weapons is illegal (a gun is a crappy form of defence anyway, think about it, what can you do with a tiny round projectile except use it in an aggressive manner?).

I'm probably more likely to get attacked on a Friday night in the city centre. Hell, I'm LESS likely to walk around alone in the city centre on a Friday night than run alone. I also wear short skirts and sometimes show my cleavage.

Statistically speaking running in the morning is safer than running in the evening. I think this is because the bad guys are all still in bed or something. I run alone and I smile at all the other runners running alone. If I were attacked when running alone I'd just be incredibly unlucky as what are the chances of a bad guy actually being there, at the moment I ran past? Besides which, the more I run the faster I'll be able to run away from them.....

girlinahat wrote: »

geez. Isn't it interesting that if a person asks the question 'do you run alone?' the automatic assumption is that there is a danger of being attacked.

That wasn't my assumption from the title -- I actually thought it was going to be about preferences, maybe, although it being aimed only at women should have made me realize. However, what I and others no doubt responded to was the opening post, which did bring up the issue of being attacked.

The fact is that life in motion puts us at risk. Every day in every circumstance. I trust my instincts when I am out, like others, communicate where I am going and carry a phone. I am not willing to change the balance in my life out of fear.

I run with my dog most of the time. I don't run with music. I run only during the day. I'm not worried about safety. Maybe I should be, but I can't let fear run my life. I'm not afraid of terrorist attacks, school shootings, etc.

I run alone at night with no music and I conceal carry. I'm on the outskirts of town and we have coyotes and loose dogs. I'm more concerned about that than being attacked by a person. I'm far out enough where someone could stop and grab me I suppose but...I don't think much of it.

I run alone sometimes, but not in any secluded areas, not at night, and not with headphones. I'm paranoid of every car that goes by and looks lol.

I generally take one of my dogs with me, never run with anything in my ears, and carry pepper spray and/or an open knife at the ready.

I hit the mountains alone and sometimes so early I wear my head lamp going up before the sun rises. There are a bunch of regulars that frequent a couple of different mountains in the mornings so I feel pretty safe but a couple of the mountains that are less active I bring my big staffy along for the hike and I know he will protect me.

It's pretty hot during the day here so I tend to do most of my exercising in the morning or if I am too tired I'll wait til dark and walk the neighbourhood with my dog.

Must admit, reading this thread and the concerns some of you have makes me feel pretty lucky living in Australia.

I run alone pretty much all the time. I live in a really urban setting though - so with street lights and house lights and such it's hardly ever actually "dark" in the neighbourhood I live in.

What I don't do is run outside once winter really, really hits. I live in Southwestern Ontario and we can get some pretty insane winters in terms of icey sidewalks and roads . . . I'm just not interested in slipping and breaking something. I know a lot of people run all winter outside without issue, but I head inside when it gets to that point. Other than that, I run outside by myself a lot of the year. No issues yet.

I run with headphones, and I have a running watch with a GPS signal in it incase anything happens. I don't usually carry a phone, I know I should, but I carry my keys in a secret pocket of my running pants which has a whistle on it. Since I don't run in secluded areas, if I blew the whistle someone would hear it because my city is really urban and there's always people around.