Running can be dangerous.

Last night Matt and I got to catch up with a lot of his high school friends at a wedding.  (Congratulations, Becky and Wes!)  Throughout the evening the subject of this blog came up and we were overwhelmed by the number of people who told us that they have been following it.  There was even discussion of a possible movie and picking which actors would play Matt.  Ryan Gosling won out.  But in all seriousness, thank you all for your kind words and support.  Matt has a long road ahead of him, but he knows the destination.  Since Matt won’t be doing too much running this week before his track meet on Saturday night, I thought I’d share one of Matt’s funnier (at least for me) running stories. 

One Sunday evening I wasn’t feeling up for a run so Matt decided to go out for a few miles before dark.  He ran on the same trail we’d run on for years.  He came storming in telling me that he needed to call the police.  As the concerned wife, I thought maybe he had been mugged.  Not sure what someone would try to steal off a guy wearing only shorts, socks and shoes, but some people aren’t very smart.  But what actually happened is that he was shot by a pellet gun in the buttocks.  He heard people laughing so he yelled a few things I won’t include here in their general direction and said he was going to call the cops.  He ran home and did just that.  The pellet made a huge mark and broke the skin.  After 15 or so minutes a policeman arrived at our house.  Matt explained what had happened.  It went sort of like this:

Matt:  I was running home and was between the two bridges on the path to Eisenhower Avenue when I got shot with a pellet gun.  I heard laughter afterwards.

Policeman:  Can you describe the individuals?

Matt:  No.

Policeman:  Can you tell me how many there were?

Matt:  No.

Policeman:  Can you tell about how old they were?

Matt:  No, but I am guessing kids. 

After a long pause I decided to answer the confused look on the policeman’s face by informing him that Matt is visually impaired.  This seemed to help clarify the situation for him.

Policeman:  Can I please see where the pellet hit you? 

I forgot to explain above, but they were standing on the landing with our front door open.  The policeman was this very large guy that likely lifts weights…frequently.

Matt:  Um, sure, but can we close the door?  It hit me…on…my lower back.

The policeman pushes the door closed.  Matt then turns around, lifts his shirt up and shorts down.  The policeman inspects the area and then pulls out his flashlight to get a good look.  The wound was pretty visible so I’m not sure what the flashlight added, but all of a sudden I just started cracking up.  I couldn’t help myself.  By this point I knew Matt wasn’t in need of medical attention so I was able to see the humor in the whole thing.  The policeman said he’d send someone out there to investigate.  We found out a bit later that the perpetrators were gone.  I guess they weren’t dumb enough to stick around after Matt told him he was calling the police.  We were a bit more aware of our surroundings after that and thankfully have not had any repeats.