Day 3: Nightmare on Elm Street

Date: January 20th 2011, 8:15 pm
Distance: 3 miles
Weather: Full moon, bitter cold, and not the slightest wind

I decided to take this run a little easier. It was a combination of me not wanting to repeat the 5k of death and the tuna casserole telling me to slow down. I had barely gone 50 meters before I realized that I was under dressed. It was cold (26 F to be exact) and here I am running in shorts and a mesh long sleeve (shirt from the Ogden marathon). My fingers were before I finished the first mile.

I was running a route 1.5 miles up Timpview and back, but as I was going up something seemed really strange. It was pitch black and I could barely see. There were no streetlights on my sidewalk and though the moon was full, it was just above the mountains, not providing much light. Also, there were hardly any cars on the streets... like one every 2 or 3 minutes. Then I realized I hadn't seen any other runners. In fact, I went the whole run without seeing a single other runner. For those of you who have lived in Provo, you'd understand how strange that is. It's like driving through Arizona without seeing a cactus.

I made it to the half way point without any issues. On the way back I got spooked cause while I ran past a driveway somebody I didn't see slammed the door of the car that was parked there. Soon after, I slipped on some black ice but recovered. Then I heard music in the field next to me and saw somebody out there alone in the black night with a shovel and a head lamp digging a hole in the frozen earth while listening to a radio. Wha? Tell me that's not odd.

The only pedestrian I saw was a man walking slowly with long blonde hair who I passed around mile 2. After breathing in his cigarette smoke for the next minute or two my shirt snagged on the branch of this shrub. It was just like the cartoons where the kids are running through the haunted forest and the spooky trees grab at their shirts while they run away.

So I figure the street was haunted (and thus the lack of runners). I'll save this route for a day run next time. I'd rather not take my chances.