How safe is it to run alone after dark?

Hi guys, im looking at running after work on the roads but im abit worried about gangs of youths etc that tend to lurk around, has anybody ever had any trouble with things like this?

«1

Comments

  • Tom LuntTom Lunt ✭✭✭

    where i live in stoke is hit and miss, but i feel like im cheating myself on the treadmill at the gym

  • Nose NowtNose Nowt ✭✭✭

    Maybe I'm complacent, but there are very very few places where I wouldn't run.  How many times do you read about runners getting beaten up?

  • Tom LuntTom Lunt ✭✭✭

    thats my point when im thinking about it in my head, you never really hear about it so im assuming most runners are left alone, i could always "run off " if i came into problems, excuse the pun!!

     

  • Tom LuntTom Lunt ✭✭✭

    well said, if i get mugged tonight il blame you dave! haha

  • skottyskotty ✭✭✭

    i doubt you'll be mugged but people will call you names or shout abuse.

     

     

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    I've often been told I shouldn't run in the dark on my own, as it's "too dangerous".

    I then ask why it's so dangerous to run at, say 7.00 pm, when I have to walk home from the station in the dark at 6.00 pm for half the year, but that's not dangerous.  There's never an answer for that.

    As DF says, you're less of a target because you've no wallet, and you're clearly fit and able.

    I get occasional comments from the local yoof, but nothing even vaguely threatening.  Sometimes they try and run along, but they don't last long!

  • Apart from anything else, if you work 9-5 you have to run in the dark at certain times of the year (whether morning or evening) or you'd only be able to do it at weekends.

    Only you know  where the dodgy areas are near where you live - avoid them. 

    But you should still expect to get heckled from time to time. Some people are morons I'm afraid.

  • Its probably just as safe as when you asked the same question last year ?
  • Tom LuntTom Lunt ✭✭✭

    that was regards to running on country lanes you'll probably find and the use of headlights/reflective gear

  • DeanR7DeanR7 ✭✭✭

    tom , what part of stoke?

  • Tom LuntTom Lunt ✭✭✭

    Tunstall mate, my plan is to go up though porthill/wolstanton/basford/etruria and back up to high lane through festival park. Ive run it with friends but one of the guys i normally go with has picked up an injury

  • Tom LuntTom Lunt ✭✭✭
    David Falconer 3 wrote (see)
    cougie wrote (see)
    Its probably just as safe as when you asked the same question last year ?

    yeah thats a little weird.

     last year i was asking about running lights reflective gear etc, probably had a similiar title but different content entirely, so not so much "wierd" i wouldnt say...

     

  • I run late in the dark . People say it's dangerous but I don't feel anymore at risk , young people have never paid attention and don't really bother me , they hang about nearer the houses , like comments above, I don't think runners are really a potential target , we pass by too quickly. Tbh, I think individuals , runners, dog walkers etc, are more intimidated by them , they prob don't give a 2nd thought to us at all and are just hanging about being bored together and generally misunderstood. Anyway the dark doesn't stop me getting on with my life
  • Also-ranAlso-ran ✭✭✭
    Just don't go running in woods. Dog walkers are always discovering dead bodies in woods. Something wierd goes on in woods.
  • As long as you stay alert there shouldn't be any problems. Of course if you run at night with your iPod blaring out you are asking for trouble.
  • literatinliteratin ✭✭✭

    I get told it's dangerous to run through woods/nature reserves alone in the dark, which is probably fair enough if I had an accident or something, but it would have to be pretty incapacitating to stop me dragging myself back to the nearest main road so I don't worry. But for safety I do try to vary my routes and not go the same way at the same time every day.

  • to be fair unless you owned a very good torch the woods in the dark must be pretty hard to navigate! i have my phone with me, i run near a golf course which covers a huge area of fields and not much else, i occasionally pass another  runner, or cyclist, a dog walker maybe, i always assume it would be rare for a would be mugger to wait that far out on the off chance a passer by might come at night with something worth taking , 

    sometimes i run with my spaniel , i guess she may put people off , but i'm sure she would hide behind me for protection of herself , shes a wimp really , good runner though  - she has cool flashing collar for dark runs 

     

  • literatinliteratin ✭✭✭

    Oh, my woods have well-maintained wide paths, so I just have a torch bright enough to illuminate a patch of ground just in front of my feet. But I couldn't do it on paths I didn't know well and I do have to concentrate a bit more. I don't imagine evil rapists or big bad wolves would spend a lot of time lurking in the shadows on the off-chance, but that's why I make sure I'm not the girl who always runs down the same deserted path at the same time.

  • literatinliteratin ✭✭✭

    I went running with about 10 blokes tonight so I think I was safe enough! image

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭
    literatin wrote (see)

    I get told it's dangerous to run through woods/nature reserves alone in the dark, which is probably fair enough if I had an accident or something, but it would have to be pretty incapacitating to stop me dragging myself back to the nearest main road so I don't worry. But for safety I do try to vary my routes and not go the same way at the same time every day.

    I know women who won't run in the nature reserve on the own in the daytime.  I do it often, never felt even remotely threatened.  I don't know what they are afraid of.  When I ask they just say things like "well, you never know..." image

    I don't do it in the dark for fear of tripping over and getting hurt.  I might be able to get back to a road, but I'd still be hurt!

    I am looking forward to light evenings image

Sign In or Register to comment.