It was about two months ago when this happened.

Recently it got very cold in the mornings to go out for my runs, so instead I started

running in the evenings, and that comes with its own set of problems.

Not that I'm complaining or anything, but running alone as a young girl that night is

something that my parents always worried about.

When my dad found out the first time, he gave me a flashlight and a pepper spray thing

that I still haven't figured out how to use.

The first week or so of running at night went smoothly.

Only thing I found uncomfortable was running with my music on, because of the nagging feeling

that somebody would be running behind me, and I wouldn't know it.

So I started lowering the volume until I finally decided to run without music, and instead

had to hear myself breathing loudly as I ran through the streets of my new neighborhood.

It was a Monday, and it was especially cold with the fog starting to roll in.

That's what it's like in Southern California, which most people don't know.

The fog near the coast is for real.

I kind of like it, but everyone that I ask hates it because of how slow traffic gets

in the mornings because of it.

My short run takes me down my street through the edge of a park, and then around another

street that ends up at the main avenue before I turn left again to make the round trip

back to my house.

It all went around an elementary school with large fields.

Looking around a corner by the park, I could see the figures of three men with hoodies,

...