Open letter to dudes strolling down bike paths:
I imagine that you and I had very similar thoughts yesterday afternoon. “What an unseasonably mild day! Why don’t I take advantage of it and spend some time on the rail trail?”
So, I pulled on my running tights and sneakers. You pulled on your trenchcoat. I slipped my hands into some thin cotton gloves, you grabbed your thick leather pair. I ran my hands through my hair so it wouldn’t be sticking up too crazily, you smoothed your mustache.
Great! We’re both ready to enjoy the day! But wait. I look like a runner, while you look like you pulled your wardrobe from an episode of CSI. I’m sure you always wander around looking a tiny bit like a serial killer, which is surely inadvertent on your part and inaccurate on mine, but maybe when you know that you’re going to encounter lots of young women who are by themselves in the woods and are maybe a little bit paranoid about bike paths anyway because of rape/murder cases that were exhaustively covered in the local press when they were kids, you could try to tone it down a smidge.
Behaviors to avoid- frantically feeling around in your pocket for something as I approach you (a gun? a knife? a stick of gum?), stopping suddenly as I come up behind you (preparing for the attack?), stopping after I’ve passed so you can watch me run away (creepy outside of my overblown sense of danger), mumbling to yourself, carrying visible containers of booze, and ducking into the woods as I approach.
Sincerely,
A lady whose heart can’t take the strain of running and being totally creeped out at the same time
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