Creep

I went for a run yesterday. I've been trying to achieve the goal of running from downtown Davenport, over the Arsenal bridge, through downtown Rock Island, then back over the Centennial Bridge back to Davenport. I just can't do it. It's not like it's some insanely long distance or anything like that. It's that something always stops me. I am destined to never achieve this goal.



Because my husband went golfing yesterday, I earned some time to myself (we try to trade off hour for hour of earned non-kid time). My tentative plan was to run my little route, then end up back in downtown Davenport to take the weekly free class at the Davenport School of Yoga.



I started heading for the Arsenal Bridge, assuming that the span would be open (to barges and therefore closed to pedestrians) like it is every other time I try to run over the bridge. It was actually not open, so I was able to run on it. But the weird thing was that there were a bunch of newtrucks and cameramen and stuff. I had no idea what was going on, I couldn't see any sort of action but I later read that a deer was trapped on the rollers of the dam. So sad! It kept trying to swim away to safety but kept getting swept back to the rollers. The paper said they couldn't rescue it so they euthanized it. Poor thing! But I guess I understand. You can't exactly throw a life preserver out to a deer. But why were the newtrucks there? Did they want footage of killing a deer? Weird.



(Also weird is that every time I try to type "deer", I end up mistyping "deere". I'm so indoctrinated.)



So anyway, I made my way over the Arsenal Bridge, and headed along the Rock Island side. I saw a family of ducks swimming on the river. There was a mother, a father and about 12 baby ducks. I made note of the fact that all the kids kept following the mom, right underfoot (underwebbed foot), while the dad kind of just floated near them doing his own thing. I felt a kinship with that mom duck. I know that feeling that you just can't get your kids to get away from you for a second. I'm assuming the mom duck told her kids the same thing I tell my kids when they're hanging all over me in the evening..."Go play with your dad! You haven't seen him all day!" (Not so much for their benefit, or for their dad's but because I need one freaking second of not having kids attached to me) It was kind of good to see the issue in an interspecies issue.



I ran over to the Centennial Bridge and started my second run across the Mississippi River. I was so excited that I was actually going to be able to finish this route!



Um, not so fast. As I got on the bridge, I noticed a guy on a bike behind me. I kind of slowed down and moved to the side and motioned for him to pass me (it's a pretty narrow pedestrian path on the bridge). He just waved and kept riding really slowly behind me. I kept going for a bit, then stopped again and waved for him to ride ahead of me. He rode his bike right up next to me and got off.



I said "Just go ahead, I'm slower than you are."



He said "Oh, no, I've got plenty of time. I'm in no hurry."



He didn't exactly look like he had any place to be ever. He was very skinny with long ratted dreadlocks and was missing his front teeth. He looked very bum-like.



I said "Just go ahead. Seriously." I was getting kind of mad at this point because he was giving off serious weirdo vibes and I really didn't want him following me. Who knows when some weirdo homeless guy might become psychotic and decide to throw a fellow pedestrian off the bridge? You know? I wanted to keep my eyes on him. He was creeping me out.

Then he creeped me out even more.

He goes "But I like watching you from behind" and grabs for my arm!

Agh!

So I started saying "Just go away! Go!" He wouldn't, so I ran off the bridge the way I came on it. I kept looking back to see if he had left, but he was just standing there, almost daring me to try to come back across.

I hate weirdos.

I ran back to Rock Island, and was going to run back via the Arsenal Bridge, but I was too freaked out. I didn't want to meet this creep again. I called my mom to come and pick me up, which she did because she's awesome (I called Mario too but knew it would take him forever to pack the kids up and drive all the way from Moline and I wanted to get away from the area pronto.)

So anyway, I've given up on my plan. I'll have to find another route. It's one thing to deal with crazies on a bike path. It's another thing altogether to deal with them on a narrow path on a bridge with no escape route, with traffic whizzing by on one side, and certain death by drowning on the other.

My mom brought me back to D-port to my car and I did end up taking the yoga class. I think it helped calm me down a little.

Creepy!