Some of the anecdotes in this thread made me realize that we’ve all ran through some weird / interesting / plain crazy places while mapping our city. What’s your best CityStrides story so far?
My personal “favorite” was running through the local red light district at 9 in the evening. The red light district in Brussels is in one of the worst places in town (and far too hilly, for the record), and due to circumstance, I started my run too late. I have never felt quite as out of place as I have when weaving through some of the shadiest people you can imagine doing some window shopping.
Definitely my run in the meatpacking district of Copenhagen. It’s always been an area with lots of hookers and drug addicts, but now it’s a hip foodie place. I’m not sure there is many hookers left but there is plenty of drug addicts. I thought it was a good idea to run it very early in the morning, but that just made it worse, because the only people around was the drug addicts. It was actually pretty sad and scary to see some of them totally strung out and frozen in a weird pose.
There is a supervised injection called H17 where the can safely inject their drugs. So if you are in Copenhagen, this is the street to avoid in the nighttime. Slagtehusgade - Kødbyen
Scariest part is the street name Slagtehusgade, it literally means Slaugtherhouse street
LOL!!! Yeah, that is not the neighborhood to end up in. When I lived in Vedbaek back in the 90s I showed up in that neighborhood completely Tuborged up, and to this day, I’m not sure how the “little rich American” made it out without broken bones.
As for the OP question - I worked in LA for a few years and there are neighborhoods that you can stumble on really quick like and go “Uhhh… this is not the right place for me.”
OH! And lest I forget - Get off the beaten path and close to the riverbank in Jaco Costa Rica. I dare ya. If the dogs don’t eat you, you stand a good shot with crocodiles.
Last year on a sunny September Friday evening at 5pm in Glasgow I encountered a group of people waiting for their dealer. I decided against walking to the end of the road at that point to get the last node, nodded, went on my way and went back another day!
This year on a bitterly cold January Sunday lunchtime I was back in Glasgow and walking down a city centre lane as I thought it would be better to tackle it when it was a non-business day. I’d checked to make sure I couldn’t see anyone but 2/3 of the way down I discovered a recessed door with an unconscious guy with his sleeve rolled up and the needle still in his arm. I tiptoed past and later called the non-emergency police line to check he hadn’t succumbed to the cold. Much to my relief they couldn’t find anyone but I did have to explain to them why an older woman was walking down the lane on her own. They did say to me that normally they wouldn’t recommend doing that but ‘if it was my thing …just to be careful’.
Now my boss checks with me when I go into work after doing a weekend of walks to see if I encountered any more drug deals or potential dead bodies! Who knew that CityStrides could be such a potentially dangerous pasttime.
I’ve encountered all sorts of poverty on my runs into cul-de-sacs and dreary alleyways, but it was back in February that I actually felt quite uncomfortable. Was in a sketchy area in the suburbs of Loures along the river north of Lisbon. I turned to run out a small dead-end road next to an apartment complex, which was full of people and kids so I didn’t think much of it. But as soon as I turned in there, EVERYONE was staring at me and some of the kids started following me. I had my headphones on and turned them off to interact with the kids, who seemed playful enough and were yelling joyfully at me as I got to the turnaround at the end of the parking area. But as I ran back out, a number of the adults who had been hanging out near the buildings as I ran in had come out to the street to menace and yell at me, warning me not to come back, some seemingly trying to run out near me and block me as I sped up while looking dead ahead. Glad I got the street done, I certainly will heed their advice.
I will say I feel a bit conflicted in situations like that. I don’t enjoy being treated that way, who would? But I don’t think the people reacting like that have a lot going for them, nor would they be sympathetic to my CityStriding objective…they just want to be left alone, even though their road is technically public. I certainly don’t want to come up as voyeuristic and respect the privacy and autonomy of people, whatever their socioeconomic strata. Anyways, it doesn’t happen much thankfully, and I certainly avoid areas where I’ve had interactions like that.
Was trying to grab the nodes on this little section of W 134th St, but didn’t realize the actual street was on the upper level. Ended up running into this desolate, needle-strewn, dark-as-night-in-middle-of-day alley with a dilapidated RV ominously parked at the back.
Felt super scared for the <1 minute it took to pop in and out, but was all safe and all fine. A non-representative corner of what has otherwise been a great area to run in.
This is probably my craziest yet. I have been wanting to run this gated community and particularly their nice marsh trail. I noticed while kayaking one day that there was a small beach next to a drain pipe on the edge of the raised trail, so one morning I paddled to the beach, climbed the dunes to the trail and ran the trail and the neighborhood.
In one of Stockholm’s suburbs there is an island called Lambarön, where about 50 people live. They all have their own boats, so there is no public transport to get there. There are of course no cars, but three roads that are on the official Stockholm map, even if they are only for foot and bike. It’s only about 130 meter across the water to the island, but I’m not a very confident swimmer… considered alternatives like borrowing a kayak, hanging around their mainland pier to hitch a ride, waiting for winter to see if the ice would be safe for walking, but finally I bought a cheap beach air mattress, and with that as a floating help I managed to swim across. Did it an early Sunday morning to avoid boat traffic
