As I was leaving work last night, I was walking to the Farragut North metro, and I was waiting to cross the street at a light. A van made a right turn in front of me, and a man inside made a lewd comment out the window at me. I was disgusted, so I said “You’re disgusting.” And as he drove off, he yelled out “I’m just trying to tell you that you’re so fine!”

I thought that would be my incident of the day, but I was wrong. Later, I had to go for a longer run, and I waited until the sun went down completely, hoping for a break from the heat. I was doing a 7 mile out and back, basically down Connecticut Avenue and back up, which I chose because it’s generally well-lit and well-populated, both clearly important for nighttime running. I live in Cleveland Park, and I was running undisturbed until I got to Dupont, right near 18th Street Lounge, etc. I was waiting to cross 18th at that weird little intersection, and I heard someone saying something to me.

At first I couldn’t tell what they were saying, but I knew it was directed at me. Then I started to make out the words. Someone was saying “Stop running. Come over here.” And then another voice said “Come on over here and talk, he’s from Africa.” (I’m not sure if that was supposed to be a way to entice me or what…) Then I saw a flash of light, and I looked over, and the BOUNCER of one of the clubs over there was flashing his penlight at me. He was the one who had been talking. I said “Yeah, I see that, and I’m really not interested in talking.” And then I crossed the street against the light just to get away from them. The rest of the run passed without incident until I was literally 1/4 mile from my front door. I was feeling great, proud of my run, and then some guy drove by me and actually growled/woofed out the window as he passed.

If I didn’t hate the treadmill so much, I’d probably run exclusively inside.

Submitted by  KF on 6/25/2010

Location: All Along Connecticut Ave

Time of Harassment: Night (7:30-12A)

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