If I may make a suggestion about women running not specifically related to this situation.



Make eye contact with others when running and look around. I would say that at least one third of the women I see running never even look at me run by. There are a few who have never made eye contact that I have passes dozens of times over the years. (I don’t think I look creepy enough that it is specifically related to me.)

If you never look you well never be able to determine what or who the potential threats are out there. Than there are the women who never look around and have on an mp3 player. You may as well be running with a sign on that says “easy target”. I run on a creek trail where there are thousands of places a bad guy could hide. You only have five senses, if you don’t use sight, you block out hearing, which leaves touch, taste and smell. None of which are good at keeping yourself from being attacked.



Look around, look behind you every once in a while, don’t make yourself an easy target.

Dave

I almost missed this, reading Moo race reports. I've actually been thinking about the flashlight thing. When I had to change my route on Mon., I actually almost went down a few times when the sidewalk unexpectedly changed directions on the less familiar route. I haven't found anything about the car, except I did find out one of my neighbors up the way takes the NY Times and the WSJ, so maybe it was a newspaper delivery guy. Frankly, I also haven't run early morning since Mon. I plan on going out tonight.

As for eye contact, I'm one of those geeky enthusiastic runners. Even if you're across the street, you're likely to get a big wave from me.