Creepy McCreepy

This weekend we made the decision to travel to Iowa and stay with my husbands family.  My in-laws.  My brother and sister in law and their almost 1 year old, Jacob.   It's only 3 hours away, and we spent the night on Thanksgiving and Friday, leaving on Saturday after a football game.

I LOVE where they live.  Love it.  It's in Knoxville but seriously it's more of a tandem of Lake Red Rock, which is the largest lake in Iowa, which means...wildlife.  Like, deer.  Everywhere.  All-the-time.  My father in law says he sees coyotes running around in speedy, silver groups.  If you're there in early spring, you can look up and see bald eagles and where they are nesting.  All you have to do is walk less than half a mile to see these majestic birds, and just walk anywhere to see any other wild animal.  I love it...and couldn't wait to actually run through the closed (for winter) campgrounds.  Just me, my music, looking for deer.  Running.

I put on my cold gear, which was too much, I knew I was going to be hot, but it didn't mind.  Off I go.  Now, I'm out running and about to enter the campground, and notice the gate is wide open.  This fall, the weather has been SO nice, nice enough to allow people to drive in and walk or run, even hike the awesome trails...so the park isn't really 'all' mine, and that's fine, I can share.

I'm noticing my run is more 'labored' than usual, I blame the Thanksgiving meal and my lunch that day.  I always say "fuel your runs", because it's so true.  Crappy food = crappy run.  (but really it was ok, and totally worth it).   I have both ear-buds in, just like I'm not supposed to but there is zero traffic, and as always I'm focused on my surroundings and aware of when loud, little red trucks with chain-smoking men are about to pass me.  Stupid truck has now ruined my 'only me' run, but it's a big campground, so whatever.

I'm finding my groove and look up ahead to see a pretty huge, ginormous, almost 90 degree hill ahead of me...with that little red truck parked at the top.  Now facing me.  Parked.  I think to myself "well, I can turn around and avoid the hill and The Creeper", or just keep going.  I kept going.  I think I chose to keep going because if I turned away, I thought that would show fear.  (oh, and he's not parked in some real parking place, he's just parked on the side of the road, opposite side of me)  I finally make it to the top of the hill and just ignore him totally *whew*.  As I'm passing him, I'm inhaling his cigarette smoke but he's now up there and I'm running down here.  I'm realizing as I run, this campground has one way in and one way out, probably like most state campgrounds, but that meant that I may have to see him again.  That small, wrinkled, weathered face, with a ciggy dangling out of his mouth.  But guess what?  He passes me again, so now he's leaving and now I'm feeling safe-ish.

Of course I have to run up that hill again, and now who's parked AT THE BOTTOM OF THAT HILL?  Are you kidding me?  My mind races and I think to call my husband, but I know his phone is downstairs and off.  I look right and left and there are huge ravines perfect for hiding bodies but if I got past a ravine, it's surrounded by water.  I actually stopped running to gauge the real or not danger here, and I knew I could outrun him, not a bullet, but him.  P.S.  I'm very dramatic.

I run down the hill.  I pass him...but now his truck is slowly rolling WITH ME.  WHO DOES THIS?  I died.  My arms went numb and I quick turned left into an RV camping area, he is still on the main road...I think.  I walk through that camping loop and when I want to leave, he's parked outside that loop.  I march up to him and pull out my phone and take a picture of him.  I shout  "WHAT?!?!?! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Him:  "I'm just waiting for my wife, she is walking our 6 pound dog".  (he chuckles when he says 6 pound dog like that's cute or something)

WTF.

Me:  "She's not right here, get away from me".

I walk in front of the truck and take another picture of him behind me.

I use every fiber of my being to get out of that park as fast as I could.  I never saw him again.  Creepy fucker.

I realize he quite possibly was there to walk his wife or dog or whatever, but he did harass me.  I wasn't there for his entertainment.  Maybe he missed that memo.

Ended up being over 5 miles of physical endurance and 10 lifetimes of mental strain.

Creepy, huh?