Post by Carmen Hernández on Jul 25, 2020 3:07:25 GMT -7
Carmen was usually an early-riser. Not because she was a natural early-bird, but because she was a busy young woman with a full schedule, and she had morning classes to get to. And because she preferred to do her workout first thing in the morning instead of in the evening - the only other time she could freely decide her schedule - that meant that she was up before the sun was most of the year. This time of year, however, the sun's schedule synced with hers, which was nice.
Especially because it was a Saturday and she didn't have class - which meant that she could have slept in, but she knew from experience that would old throw her off and make it harder for her to wake up for her next workout. Routine was important, after all. But it did mean that she could take her time with her workout and also with the sun actually out she figured it would be a good day for a long jog in the park. Any other day of the week she'd be in the gym, but that was because she had a limited amount of time so she felt that she had to be efficient and get the most out of the time that she could - this was a day she could run to her heart's content.
When she started her run, activity at the park seemed to be just getting started too. She wasn't the only one hitting one of the many trails through the park this early, which was good because she was quite aware of the amount of crime in the city and she'd be more concerned that someone would feel like they were isolated enough to try something. Not that there were enough people that she wasn't out of sight of anyone for somewhat long stretches of time, but it was hard to be sure that nobody was within earshot if she were to scream, and that was good enough. One can't live completely without risk, after all.
Having done this before, she knew that as she continued her jog the number of people in the park would increase. The early-morning walkers and joggers would be joined by more and more commuters - those people who were both unfortunate enough to have to work on a Saturday but also fortunate enough to have cutting through the park as a part of their commute. And there were also those who would gradually fill the park who were there for more relaxing activities, though the numbers of those would peak long after her jog was over. But when she went for a long jog, she went for a long jog, so she'd have plenty of time to people-watch as she followed her favorite trail, which was always fun.
Though sometimes her people-watching including having to look out for other people - other people on the trail were either faster or slower and sometimes there were intersections between the trail and other pathways through the park, so she couldn't allow herself to be too distracted from the trail in front of her. This was something she was usually very careful about, but on this day while she was midway through her run she was distracted by an incoming text on her cellphone. She was pretty sure that it wasn't important, but it was a weird time of day for anyone to contact her so she thought that she should at least see who it was, just to be sure.
All of that would have been fine, except she made the mistake of thinking that she could handle checking without having to pause her run - in retrospect it wouldn't have hurt anything for her to pause just long enough to look at her phone, but hindsight is 20/20. Instead, she took her eyes off the trail ahead of her so that she could look at her phone at what proved to be the exact wrong moment, and before the name on the message could register with her mind, she was distracted by the sudden impact of herself running right into another person.
It was a pretty significant one too because even though she wasn't a big woman by any means she was quite solid for her size and had been going pretty fast. Fortunately, she was young and sturdy so even though she fell right onto her butt she knew she wouldn't be very hurt - she even managed to hang onto her cellphone, so that was fine, but having not seen who she ran into her first instinct was to not worry about any of that and instead worry about whoever she ran into. Please don't be a kid... was her immediate thought, because that would have made her feel horrible.
Especially because it was a Saturday and she didn't have class - which meant that she could have slept in, but she knew from experience that would old throw her off and make it harder for her to wake up for her next workout. Routine was important, after all. But it did mean that she could take her time with her workout and also with the sun actually out she figured it would be a good day for a long jog in the park. Any other day of the week she'd be in the gym, but that was because she had a limited amount of time so she felt that she had to be efficient and get the most out of the time that she could - this was a day she could run to her heart's content.
When she started her run, activity at the park seemed to be just getting started too. She wasn't the only one hitting one of the many trails through the park this early, which was good because she was quite aware of the amount of crime in the city and she'd be more concerned that someone would feel like they were isolated enough to try something. Not that there were enough people that she wasn't out of sight of anyone for somewhat long stretches of time, but it was hard to be sure that nobody was within earshot if she were to scream, and that was good enough. One can't live completely without risk, after all.
Having done this before, she knew that as she continued her jog the number of people in the park would increase. The early-morning walkers and joggers would be joined by more and more commuters - those people who were both unfortunate enough to have to work on a Saturday but also fortunate enough to have cutting through the park as a part of their commute. And there were also those who would gradually fill the park who were there for more relaxing activities, though the numbers of those would peak long after her jog was over. But when she went for a long jog, she went for a long jog, so she'd have plenty of time to people-watch as she followed her favorite trail, which was always fun.
Though sometimes her people-watching including having to look out for other people - other people on the trail were either faster or slower and sometimes there were intersections between the trail and other pathways through the park, so she couldn't allow herself to be too distracted from the trail in front of her. This was something she was usually very careful about, but on this day while she was midway through her run she was distracted by an incoming text on her cellphone. She was pretty sure that it wasn't important, but it was a weird time of day for anyone to contact her so she thought that she should at least see who it was, just to be sure.
All of that would have been fine, except she made the mistake of thinking that she could handle checking without having to pause her run - in retrospect it wouldn't have hurt anything for her to pause just long enough to look at her phone, but hindsight is 20/20. Instead, she took her eyes off the trail ahead of her so that she could look at her phone at what proved to be the exact wrong moment, and before the name on the message could register with her mind, she was distracted by the sudden impact of herself running right into another person.
It was a pretty significant one too because even though she wasn't a big woman by any means she was quite solid for her size and had been going pretty fast. Fortunately, she was young and sturdy so even though she fell right onto her butt she knew she wouldn't be very hurt - she even managed to hang onto her cellphone, so that was fine, but having not seen who she ran into her first instinct was to not worry about any of that and instead worry about whoever she ran into. Please don't be a kid... was her immediate thought, because that would have made her feel horrible.