It's a jungle out there

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

I arrived at the park and changed outside the ranger station bathroom (someone was inside and taking too long). I was walking back to my car when I heard someone calling to me and turned to see Justine, a Park Ranger.

Justine and I met several years ago on my most bizarre Metropark experience. I had been doing a run and come across a man attacking a sapling. He was doing a Ninja Turtle routine on it and when he spotted me, said he needed to release some anger. I was back at my car at the conclusion of my run when I heard a gunshot. I’m not a member of the NRA, but I’ve been around guns enough to know when I’ve heard one. I thought of the tree whacker and ran in the direction of the gunshot. Not recommended.

I never found him, but reported the incident at the Ranger Station. A couple of days later, I was there for another run and again, heard a gunshot. This time I was sure I knew its location…and headed that way. If you’re wondering why, it’s because both of my daughters were on the cross country team at that time and ran, with the team, throughout the park every day. If someone was randomly discharging firearms, I was going to locate them. I did.

I was walking along the river when I noticed a man laying on the bank under a tree and pointing a handgun towards the sky. He didn’t see me and I slowly backed away. Once clear of him, I jogged back to my car and returned to the Ranger Station. Justine was there and quickly took charge of the situation, making calls for backup while driving me to the location so I could show her exactly where I had spotted the man. She and another Ranger, guns drawn, approached the man still lying on his back, and convinced him to drop the gun.

I discovered later that he had been trying to muster the courage to kill himself, but he was not the man I’d seen attacking the tree. Some time after that, I was questioned in greater detail about the tree incident and came to find that his body had been discovered – a suicide victim.

What are the odds? I’d managed to prevent one and seen the other just before he’d killed himself. The odds of my seeing them both were very low, but suicide in the Metroparks is not such an uncommon occurrence. I run alone all the time and will continue to do so for the sheer convenience. I suppose it’s okay almost all of the time, but I think we all need to be aware that things are happening in those magnificent settings that could endanger us. If you can get a training partner…do it. They could come in handy.

Almost forgot. I managed another one-hour plus run, which went smoothly. I’m getting tired, sore though, so John and I have planned a ride. Grab your umbrellas.

Run duration: 64 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 140.

Calories burned during workout: 1100.