Is it Safe for Women to Run?

I used to run in New York City. Could I do it today?

Photo by Filip Mroz on Unsplash

I read about what happened to Eliza Fletcher. She was horribly killed while out for her morning run. I can’t imagine how she suffered. She leaves behind a husband and two little boys. It’s a tragedy.

While there has been an outpouring of sympathy for Fletcher, including those organizing to “finish Eliza’s run”, there have also been people criticizing her for running.

Yet, running empowers women. I know, because I used to run.

I no longer do because I am going through chemo. But I used to love the feeling of freedom I had when I ran.

I grew up in New York City and when I was in high school I was on the cross country team. We ran 6 miles a day in Central Park after school. We started the run together, as a team, but quickly split apart based on our own pace. So for long stretches it would be just us as individual runners.

I never felt unsafe. This was 30 years ago or so.

Occasionally we’d be approached by strangers, but we’d just keep running.

Of course, I wouldn’t have advised running after dark. But in the daylight it felt safe. None of my team mates had any incidents.