My friend Deb and I met at one of my favorite parks today at 5 p.m. to walk. (OK, I was late, I showed up at 5:05.) We both love this park with the trail that goes around the lake, but neither of us feels comfortable walking there alone. The temps were in the high 30s and the skies were cloudy, with a few sprinkles earlier, so it was fairly isolated today.

While in the middle of our second loop we noticed two men behind us. They ran for a little bit, then walked. Then they would run a little, start to get close to us, then walk. We were a little bit unnerved by this, and weren’t quite sure what they were doing. It looked like they were wearing camo, but we didn’t get a good look. (I even took my keys from my pocket and held them between my fingers, just in case.) They finally caught up and ran right past us. They were wearing military camos with what looked like 40 lb packs on their backs! Obviously, they were training to run with a pack.

We both laughed, but each of us was glad we weren’t walking alone! Once we got back to the starting point, we were recovered enough that I talked Deb into doing one more lap.

Three laps – more than 3 miles – on a Thursday! Despite the scare, it felt great!

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