Is It Safe to Go Running Right Now?

With the recent murders of several women who were jogging alone, some are wondering whether it’s safe to run solo at all. (Photo: Getty Images)

If you live in a city, or even in a relatively quiet neighborhood, few days are likely to pass where you don’t spot a woman running or jogging. However, with the murder of three female runners in the United States in recent days, women may start to question whether it’s safe on the street or trails.

All victims were young women, all were alone, and all were killed within nine days of each other — all unrelated coincidences, say authorities. New Yorker Katrina Vetrano, 30, was running in a secluded area known as “the Weeds” inside Spring Creek Park in Howard Beach, Queens on Aug. 2, where she was found dead.

Alexandra “Ally” Brueger, 31, was shot and killed while running alone in Michigan. Google employee and New York resident Vanessa Marcotte, 27, was jogging while visiting her parents in Princeton, Mass., and her body was discovered hours later on Aug. 7.

According to reporting from the New York Times in covering Vetrano’s case, many residents nearby Howard Beach know which areas to avoid. “People don’t really run in there,” 24-year-old Vincent Davino told the paper. “I wouldn’t let my mom go in there, because she’s a woman by herself. Everyone in Howard Beach knows: ‘You don’t go in the Weeds by yourself.’”

Others have been quick to echo this sentiment for areas in their neighborhood, like seasoned Boston runner Becca Pizzi. The 36-year-old has recently begun to exercise an abundance of caution. “Every time I go out, my guard is up,” Pizzi said, according to ABC News. “From North Carolina to Boston and elsewhere, I’ve been harassed, whistled at, barked at. … Who wants to live like that? Unfortunately, we have to.”

There’s a certain hysteria that follows scary incidents like these, especially involving common activities such as running. For instance, the Central Park Jogger case raised public anxiety; the attack on 28-year-old runner Trisha Meili in New York’s Central Park left her in a coma for 12 days afterward, and the case became one of the most highly publicized of the 1980s.

According to N.G. Berrill, executive director of the New York Center for Neuropsychology and Forensic Behavioral Science, a string of similar incidents cause the public to question everyday habits — especially among women, who are made to feel particularly vulnerable to violent crime. “Any rape, or other vivid news item, tends to alert people in a particular locale to danger,” he tells Yahoo Beauty. “Statistically, the incidence of rape is very low. But even if it’s low, all it takes is one to heighten people’s awareness — which isn’t a bad thing.”

Berrill says it’s common for people to experience triggers after seeing crimes on the news. Maybe you’re jogging on a path that looks similar to one you saw the victim had jogged down on TV, or maybe the sunlight is fading and you get a creeping sense of apprehension.

While you shouldn’t give into hysteria, you should absolutely be aware of your surroundings — and get out if you don’t feel right. “If you’re exercising, you should be wary of secluded areas,” says Berrill. “The incidence of crime does go up at night; people are out and about doing leisure activities, and there’s a cover of darkness. It’s a shame people have to be so cautious, but it’s smart to stick with a partner and stay around people.”

Anything can happen, so you have to be aware of how certain people and situations make you feel. Humans are wired to sense danger, so listen to your gut. “We all have some capacity — truly sensory, a combination of observation and intuition — to read behavior that sticks out to you as out of place, inappropriate, or aggressive in some way,” Berrill says. “It might even be micro-behaviors that you pick up on and can’t pinpoint, but still tip you off. Why gamble?”

Berrill says he’d give any woman — or person, for that matter — the same advice he’d give his twenty-something daughters. “Use common sense,” he says. “The smartest thing you can do is be around people. If you want to jog, do so with a loving partner. Take a whistle with you, that might startle an attacker.”

He adds: “And if you get this tingling sense of ‘This might not be a good situation,’ get up and get out of there,” he insists. “You may never know what might have happened, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

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