2009 Royal Victoria Marathon

2009 Royal Victoria Marathon
Jane, Me and Dee manning the shirt swap

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Man with gun

So, here I am, new to the Ottawa area and looking for running routes. I've found a running partner, April, who is also new here, having come from Cold Lake, Alberta. We head out from our neighborhood and down the Trans Canada Trail, heading East through downtown Stittsville bypassing the Golbourn Rec Centre. We turn north and head down a trail between the houses. It's quiet here and very pretty. Half a kilometre down the trail we run across a bridge over a small creek which I later learn is Poole Creek. The trail comes to an end at a neighborhood street which we follow across Hazeldean Road and continue north into another subdivision. We see bush ahead and I've noticed when driving that there appears to be an old road. We run over the heaps of dirt stopping vehicle traffic and end up on an overgrown dirt road. We run about a kilometre heading towards Carp Road. We round a bend in the road when April suddenly says "I'm not very comfortable with this". I then notice an adult male about 200 or 300 metres ahead of us. At first he appears to be walking and I'm thinking that there are 2 of us and just 1 of him. Suddenly he raises his right arm level with his shoulder and pops off 4 or 5 shots into the bush. We stop and I'm thinking "holy shit, is this for real". Yes, it is real. We back up, turn around and start running hard. I glance back as we reach the bend in the road but his back is still turned to us so it appears he is unaware of our presence. We run for another 5 minutes until a new housing development is in sight. We stop to catch our breath and then realization sinks in.

Follow-up: I later report this incident to police who advise not much can be done given the elapsed time. I know this but just wanted it put on the record. I've never run with a cell phone but perhaps it's not such a bad idea.

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