Buzz kill

I was sitting on my sofa tonight, content and tired from my lovely 4 mile run. I'm trying a newish thing: change at work, walk out the door to the trail, run at least 4 miles. I had intended to run yesterday but wussed out when the weather turned wet, cold and windy. Those 20+ mph winds and driving sheets of rain sent me home. Today I watched the skies cloud over, the trees start shaking and decided to run anyway.

My run was faster than expected, a reason for all the wheezing I did. "Faster" is of course relative. One dude on the trail kept passing me, stopping to stretch and then zooming past me again. The only people I pass are meandering along either in conversation or with a pokey pup. But I was consistent in my "speed" and felt great when I finished.

This renewed my newest commitment to consistent runs. I figured it's light enough out that I can gradually increase my mileage to 6 and still finish before it gets dark and creepy on the trail. Little did I know that it's already creepy on the trail. As I sat here tonight, blissed out from a good run, I came across this article. This happened right when I was starting my run, exactly where I was running:

WALNUT CREEK — A woman walking along a trail was robbed of her iPod by a man who claimed to have a gun, an East Bay Regional Parks Police Department spokesman said.

The woman was walking on the Iron Horse Trail, north of Newell Avenue, at 4:15 p.m. when the robber walked up to her and motioned that he had a gun in his waistband, police said. The woman did not see a gun, but handed over her iPod.

Crap! Now what should I do? Continue running and hope this was an aberration? Run the other direction (which has always seemed the creepier route)? Start later? Start earlier? Run on my treadmill (uh, yeah. Right. That's worked well all winter)? Carry a large stick? Run faster whenever I see someone?

I don't think I'll sleep well tonight.