Amazon.com Widgets
---

Running Alone in the Woods · 12 October 2024




I have stopped running alone in the woods.


Some people think it is crazy, but I like to run. I cannot do it every day, but I try to run as often as I can. My goal is at least three times a week, but you know how goals go. Sometimes you hit them. Sometimes you do not.


At any rate. I like to run.


Now I am not an alarmist or anything like that, but I have decided that I am not going to run in the woods alone anymore. It is not that I am afraid of the boogeyman or anything like that. Quite the contrary. My fear is more practical. I do not want to get mauled by a lion.


Mauled by a lion! I know. That is crazy talk. But it has crossed my mind. Oh, not an African lion. A North American lion. A mountain lion.


It is certainly a farfetched idea to think that I might get mauled or even eaten by a mountain lion. Even if it has crossed my mind. But it is not out of the realm of possibility. After all, animals are coming closer to civilization the more civilization encroaches on the animals’ domains. Still, it is doubtful that a mountain lion is that close to where I like to run. Which is mostly in my own neighborhood.


I still think it wise not to run in the woods by myself. After all, there are other creatures in the woods that could maul me. Bobcats live around me. And then there are the deer. I do not need to get kicked by a deer. Or even impaled by a deer’s antlers. Again. Probably not going to happen. But then again…



Now that I think of it, meeting people in the woods could be scary. Not that I think the worst of people, but that is just it. Sometimes the worst in people comes out when you are alone in the woods. I might rather meet the lion.


At any rate.


(Well, I think this post is running out of steam. It was not quite what I was thinking it might be. But that is okay. After all, I am merely aspiring to be mediocre. So having something substandard is par for the course.)


When it comes right down to it, I am really not afraid of running in the woods by myself. But it would be better to run in them with other people. After all, if we did end up meeting a lion, I would not need to run faster than the lion. (Sorry to end on a bad dad joke. But like I said, I am still aspiring to be mediocre.)

© 2024 Michael T. Miyoshi

Share on facebook
---

Comment

Commenting is closed for this article.