Well that was an experience I didn’t need at 3 AM.
Soooooo I got pepper sprayed on my run this morning.
Inadvertently. Indirectly.
Let me explain.
So we’re still in the “go run at 2 AM because it’s too damn hot during the day” period of the summer, and that’s what I did this morning. I did my usual route on the river path towards and through Bowness. Bowness is pretty quiet that time of night (I run through there around…3:00-ish?), but I do see one or two “regulars” walking around as I’m heading toward Bowness Park.
This morning, though, there appeared to be a confrontation going on in the parking lot by the Esso station. A man and a woman were arguing very loudly. There were two guys at the bus stop next to the gas station and I heard one of them say he was going to call the cops, so I figured I would just keep running and let the cops deal with whatever was going on.
I was running on the sidewalk next to the parking lot; there was no traffic, so I ran out to the other side of the road to get as far away from the confrontation as I could (the sidewalk, conveniently, doesn’t exist on the other side of the road across from that lot. Because why would it?).
Well, apparently I didn’t get far enough away, because at that moment she must have blasted him with pepper spray or something and I ended up getting the downwind gust of it right as I ran past. Right in my eyes, right in my mouth.
My eyes immediately started tearing up big time; I produced about a gallon of snot in half a second and I could feel the sting of the spray down my throat since I was breathing hard from running.
I had to stop behind the church about half a block away and just snot out the entire contents of my sinuses for about five minutes before I could see/breathe/function again.
So let’s pause for a second. Any reasonable person, upon getting (slightly) pepper sprayed during their run, would probably stop, right? Get a taxi or bus home and take care of the damage.
But remember: I am not a reasonable person.
So I kept running.
My reasoning was that I’d get to the water fountain in Bowness Park faster than I could ever get home regardless of transportation method, and I could use the fountain to wash out my eyes/mouth/etc. The water fountain was about a mile and a half away and it actually wasn’t too bad running down there. Once I got to it, I flushed the hell out of my eyes and mouth and even washed the insides of my ears a bit. I don’t know the physics of pepper spray so I figured I’d just try to stay away from touching my shirt/running pack as much as possible in case they got anything on them that would transfer to my skin. Then I continued my run for about three more miles, turned around, and headed home.
And took a proper shower once I got there.
So yeah. Not the ideal way to start the day and interrupt a nice run, but whatevs.
At least I didn’t get point-blank blasted with it, I guess.
Today’s Running Question: Can I Beat the Storm?
Answer: Nope.
I could see the clouds encroaching, but I could not outrun them. Got blasted with wind and very cold rain for about five miles.
But the payoff was nice:
Yesterday:
So since yesterday was my blogiversary and thus my blog post had to be dedicated to that, here’s what else went on yesterday that I didn’t mention:
I did my virtual Bloomsday run!
I typically run seven miles out and seven back to get my 14, but I decided to just tack on the extra 0.46 for Bloomsday on the end of the seven miles out. That took me to the end of Bowness Park. It looks like they’re either rebuilding the Stoney Trail bridge or are making a new one so that there is a bridge for each direction of traffic.
Either way, I love this bridge. It’s so tall and almost surreal.
Oot and Aboot on the Scoot
I’ve mentioned the Bowness Scooter Gang on here before, but just in case anyone wants a fantastic read on the proliferation of Reddit-driven Scooter Gangs in Calgary, here y’all go:
This is the best thing to ever happen to the Calgary subreddit.
Flavors Gonna Flave
One of my favorite things I’ve “discovered” on my walks is the giant Stoney Trail bridge that shoots over Bowness Park.
The first time I walked into Bowness Park I had no idea where I was going (as per usual), so I just kept walking west. The further in you go, the less “park” it becomes and instead becomes much more “wood.” Then, when you’re in the thickest part of it, bam!
This giant concrete structure just comes out of nowhere and swoops over the park. It’s so surreal-looking against the woods that it’s almost startling.
But in a good way. I really like the contrast.
Anyway. I discovered this last summer but only just took my first picture of it, so you get to hear about it now.
Happy birthday.
Eigenblogger 