Run for Your Life {or Your Sanity}

I have retired my Chariot.  If you don't know me at all you might wonder what my Chariot is.  It's my double jogging stroller.  If you know me at all you'd know I've been running with the Chariot pretty much 4-6 times a week since Ethan was born.  Randy has always had to be at work early in the mornings so it was the only way I could get a run in.  Plus, I refuse to wake up at the crack of dawn if I'm up all night with a baby.
Well, now that my baby Parker {who really isn't a baby but he'll always be my baby} sleeps through the night I have done the unthinkable.  I get up at 5:15am so I can run four miles before Randy leaves for work and I've been doing it pretty much every day for the past three months.  I'm a morning person so getting up early isn't hard for me.  I think I've hit the snooze button like once in my entire life so getting up isn't the hard part.  The hard part is running in the pitch dark, especially now that the cold weather has arrived.  But the awesome part about running in the dark is that you run faster, especially if someone is chasing you, which kinda happened to me the other day.
I usually only see one or two other runners out and only a handful of cars.  We live in a heavily wooded area so it's pretty dark even when the moon is out.  This should freak me out but my days of being some cute young thing that gets whistled at by guys in passing cars are over.  I'm huffing, puffing, and sweating profusely.  I figure it's a natural creep repellent.  Plus I run with my phone and if I ever see someone I start talking out loud like I'm in the middle of a phone conversation saying, "I'll be home soon.  If you look out the window you can probably see me."  Any creepy guy with half a brain would stay away, right?
So anyway, back to the other day.  I was running along, listening to some great music while I huffed and puffed, when I decided to cross the street.  I glanced over my shoulder not expecting to see a car coming and definitely not expecting to see a guy only about ten feet behind me.  I literally jumped about a foot in the air, then yelled at him.  "Oh my gosh!  You scared me so bad!"  I heard the guy (he was a runner) sheepishly apologize and mumble something else but I didn't catch it because he quickly turned down a different road and I sprinted away.  Sprinted so fast I had to stop and walk for a short stretch so I could catch my breath before heading home.  Really the whole thing was hilarious.  I was only scared for a split second until I realized the guy was just out running and not some creepy psycho.
In fact, the only psycho person is probably me for getting up so early to exercise.  But having some uninterrupted quiet time sure helps me maintain my sanity.  Just ask my kids.