Midwest Voices

Yael T. Abouhalkah

The Kansas City Star

As a distance runner who races down KC area trails at all times of the day, I’m disgusted by the attacks several men have perpetuated on women in recent months on or near some of those trails.

Here’s the latest story, this one more positive because at least this guy is going to jail.

In preparing for Monday’s Boston Marathon, which I qualified for in 2011, I have been running often in recent weeks on the Trolley Track Trail south of the Country Club Plaza and the Little Blue Trace Trail in Independence.

And on three separate occasions in recent weeks, when I have mentioned to some of my female running friends that I often go on some training runs at night, they have simply said to me:

“I can’t do that.”

It’s a jarring reality for women that they have to even think about being alone on a trail at night.

For that matter, they also sometimes say they have to be careful during the day, which is when some of the recently reported incidents have occurred.

To be brutally honest, I don’t give running at night a second thought, and am outraged that women can’t have the same thought process.

Yet they can’t, and shouldn’t, it appears, given some of the problems women have had in the past with attackers.

I wish it were different. But I understand that my fellow female runners are being realistic, smart and savvy.

I know some can run in groups, at night and during the day.

But it’s still so unacceptable that a simple thing like distance running for women on KC’s trails can be so negatively affected by the few people out there wishing to do them harm.

Comments

1. 

   Deborah Phillips

   1 year, 1 month ago

   Congratulations on qualifying for Boston!

   Last year while training for a half marathon, I decided to try out the Trolley Trail because I see so many people using it while on my way home from work at UMKC, and because I wanted to try a new route for a ten-mile run. My husband went along with me, not exactly ON the trail but following as best as he could in the car, waiting for me at numerous points along the trail. I went farther than I probably should have…all the way to 85th Street. My husband told me turn around because the neighborhood was getting worse, and especially not to go through that little woodsy stretch. I admit I was glad to take this advice because that stretch had been rather “creepy.” I did not like the Trolley Trail for a variety of reasons that had nothing to do with safety, but I also admit that I would never want to run it completely alone. I do run at night or early mornings, but I carry pepper spray and I’ve never felt unsafe in my own neighborhood (northeastern Overland Park.)

   Good luck in Boston! I know that it’s all about preparation, but there are certain elements beyond your control in any race, and that’s where luck comes in!

2. 

   Angela Kussman

   1 year, 1 month ago

   I always find it interesting when men don’t understand this aspect of women’s lives. It is a fact of life for us to be wary of being anywhere alone. A jogging trail, crossing an empty parking lot, walking down a dark or empty street. We are always aware that there’s a threat. There’s never a time we feel completely safe to go about our business alone in public. Never. Men feel the freedom of doing whatever they want, like jogging at night, without a 2nd thought. We have to wonder if every sound we hear behind us is someone about to mug, rape or kill us. I think you’d be hard pressed to find a woman who can say she always feels safe. We take self-defense classes and carry pepper spray or some sort of weapon, and that helps us feel more in control if something were to happen. But there’s still always that worry that something WILL happen. Feeling safe when we’re alone is a luxury we don’t have.

3. 

   Richard L Wagner

   1 year, 1 month ago

   I guess this is what is known as “gender privilege’.

   I ride my bicycle at night, and walk my dog at night. Having two teenage daughters, I don’t let them run at night. It is not fair, but I am more interested in their safety than being “fair”.

4. 

   Yael T. Abouhalkah

   1 year, 1 month ago

   Deborah, thanks for the kind comments.

   Angela, I have to agree with the sentiments you expressed. And yet still be outraged that I do.

   Richard, you’re right: Gender privilege in this issue goes just one way, toward the man.

5. 

   Richard L Wagner

   1 year, 1 month ago

   Pretty frightening avatar, Yael.

Sign in with Facebook to comment.