Things that go BUMP in the morning.

3-4 times a week my alarm goes off at 4:40am so that I can get my morning run in. I love running in the morning before the world (and the sun) is up. It gives me time to myself to think about whatever I want, or to not think at all and just jam out to my eclectic running mix. Most mornings are peaceful; I relax, and enjoy every part of my 30 minute run. Other mornings, like today, are stressful. No, stressful is not the word… scary. Scary is the right word. Only because I totally freak myself out.

A little back story.  In my younger days (we are talking college here, so not THAT long ago) I was addicted to Law and Order SVU. SVU stand for Special Victims Unit, so all of the rape, child molestation, abduction crimes. I could sing the introduction song, I was in love with Detective Stabler, and I could spend ALL day watching a SVU marathon!

That was until I became a mother. Now SVU scares the CRAP out of me, it makes me worry, even more than I normally do (which is a lot). I have now been SVU free for about 2 years, I still sleep with a hammer next to me when Dave is out of town, but I feel a little less like the Crazy Worry Lady.

Then this morning my Crazy Worry Lady got mixed a little bit with Zombieland when I was out for my “relaxing” morning run. Mind you, this is 4:50am, so the moon and the stars are still out – no sun.  As I was running past Horizon Elementary I see like 4 people walking back and forth across the playground. No, I did not imagine this, there were 4 people just walking around the darn playground in the DARK! Of course I wanted to know what the heck they were doing, but I high tailed my butt right by them as fast as I could while thinking about zombies tromping through a school playground eating all the kids. The funny thing is I HATE zombie movies…

Then a little bit later I got the weird feeling that someone was following me (which I sometimes even get when I am in our basement alone, so I’m sure no one was there). So naturally I planned my escape route (through that back yard, over the fence (I hope they don’t have a dog) and around the front of the house with all the lights on) and prepared to zig zag back and forth to distract my assailant. The individual following me must have decided I was not a good target, so I made it without using my escape route.

And finally when my run was almost over, I was feeling much more relaxed and ready for the day when the BIGGEST toad EVER jumped and touched my leg. He didn’t just nick my leg; he like jumped directly into my leg and then hopped away. Toads are gross.

Hopefully my run tomorrow will be a bit more relaxing then my run this morning.