MARCH 2024 Monthly Running Challenge

My training plan had 4 miles scheduled for yesterday. I went to a neighborhood that my husband and I have been walking/jogging/running/biking in for about 18 years now. We’ve always parked in the same spot, along a wooded area between two houses so as not to park in front of anybody’s yard and to try to keep the vehicle more or less off the road to give drivers room to drive. Yesterday afternoon I drove there, parked as usual, and started what I was hoping would be some interval training for a total of 4 miles as per plan.

At the 1.9 mile mark I was about to pass by my car when a man stopped me and asked me if that was my car. I said yes and he proceeded to threaten me for parking on his property. I told him we’ve been doing this for 18 years and no one has ever told us we couldn’t park there. He said he’s lived there for 10 years and never saw a car there and believed I was lying. I apologized and told him I’d move my car to the street away from his property. He said if I did park on the street he’d call the police on me. He told me that since I didn’t live in that neighborhood then I couldn’t be there. I told him I’m a mother of 9 and a grandmother of 16 and probably one of the kindest, nicest people he’d ever meet, so why should he call the police on me. His wife came out and she was a bit nicer. She gave me a suggestion of an area where I could park that was considered community property and that parking there was allowed.
I was so upset I couldn’t continue to train.
I decided to drive to our local sheriff’s office and asked to speak to a policeman to get clarification on my rights. He said that neighborhood has state maintained streets and totally have a right to park there and walk/run, whatever in those streets. I explained to him about the man and his threats to call the police, so I just wanted to know if I could continue to go to that neighborhood. Policeman said yes, I was fine to do so.
Anyhow, needless to say by then it was dinner time and I didn’t have the motivation to finish my miles. I did drive back to that neighborhood again on my way back home to find the community area where I could park and asked another couple who was walking in the neighborhood to point out the area where it was fine for me to park so that I know for the next time I decide to go back there.
We live in a somewhat rural area and this neighborhood is large and has always seemed like a safe, neighborly place for us to train. All the other neighbors I’ve come across walking or walking their dogs have always been very friendly. I simply never expected that someone would ever think I of all people would be a threat to them.