Obstacle to Running

I used to say I hated running on a treadmill too! I used to run around the neighborhood and carry mase with me just in case. However, I had a scare with a guy waiting for me to run by him on a motorcycle at night and since then have not run outside alone. You have 2 Choices the way I see it. #1 Run with a friend for safety. #2 Get over your hatred of the treadmill.

I have changed my thinking completely about the treadmill. It keeps you on pace so you are less likely to slow down or even stop like you might outside. You know your improvement because you can gradually increase your speed on it. It is easy to set up speed workouts and inclines and you are less prone to roll an ankle or hurt yourself like you might by running outside on uneven ground/trails.

You can run in front of a tv and watch a show so your mind is not bored from running in place or you can do my fav which I am constantly getting new music for my IPOD and run to the beat and "get in the moment" It is great I Love it and I believe you can too if you give it a fair shot.

I have changed my thinking completely about the treadmill. It keeps you on pace so you are less likely to slow down or even stop like you might outside. You know your improvement because you can gradually increase your speed on it. It is easy to set up speed workouts and inclines and you are less prone to roll an ankle or hurt yourself like you might by running outside on uneven ground/trails.

You can run in front of a tv and watch a show so your mind is not bored from running in place or you can do my fav which I am constantly getting new music for my IPOD and run to the beat and "get in the moment" It is great I Love it and I believe you can too if you give it a fair shot.

Agree. I find running on a treadmill is good as I know how fast/far Im running to keep a good pace.
Could you run with a friend? Or find a running partner on a running website? Can you run in the middle of the day? (dont know what time the attacks happened)

It is very scary and traumatic when there is an attack on a path or route that you run frequently. Growing up, I swam year around, and part of my cross-training was to run. I was in middle school when a guy reached out of a car parked on the street (out of a line of many cars parked on a city street) and tried to pull me in. I pulled away, ran as fast as I could from him, my heart in my stomach the whole time. Needless to say, it scared the crap out of me and to this day has made me cautious.

The first thing that I did was start running with Mace. They actually make some very portable mace dispensers just for runners. The nice thing about mace is that it works on errant dogs as well, which was a big problem in the last town where I lived. (I have never had to use Mace on a run, just to be clear.) I guess some women are even carrying stun-guns made for runners. I haven't seen one of those, but have heard about them.

I stick to well-traveled sidewalks where there are cars and people frequently coming by.

I would like to say that I run only during daylight hours. I don't, but I also live really close to downtown where there is pretty much a steady flow of cars and people. Anyway, the safest thing is to run in daylight.

That being said, there is always a danger of being attacked while running outside. There's also danger in leaving the grocery store parking lot at night. There's a risk of getting robbed every time you stop for gas. There are potential dangers everywhere, but we can do our best to mitigate them and still enjoy our outdoor runs, shop safely, and generally live our lives.

In terms of your specific situation... have the police caught the attacker or attackers of the two women? Was it the same person? If they haven't caught the culprit, I would personally go with the others' recommendation of using a treadmill until they do find the rapist. If the attackers have been caught, I would say to go back to running outside but take some protection with you.

Best of luck. I hope that you find a way to run again, indoors or out.

I would look for a running group in your area. I couldnt imagine not being able to run outside! Maybe look for areas that there are more people and you may have to do loops in that area to get more miles but its still outside!