Message posted by: Lauri F.

I received this in an email from one of my running clubs this weekend. Even though this happened locally, we can all use an occasional reminder about safety.

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Subject: Incident at Lower Perkiomen Trail

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to make you all aware of something that happened to ——— the other day. She is fine, but it started with a call that no parent ever wants to get.

On Monday night around 4:30 p.m. ——— went running on the Lower Perkiomen Trail down by DaVinci's pub in Collegeville. Around 5:40 she called me tell me that she had been attacked by someone. She assured me she was OK, but rather shaken by it all. It wasn't until I actually got to her about 15-20 minutes later (after what seemed like forever), I got the details.

She was almost finished her run when in a rather remote part of the trail about 1/2 mile from DaVinci's Pub a man came from out of nowhere and hit her in the head with a large tree branch. This knocked her down, but she was able to get up, rather confused by it all. The man hit her several more times on the head trying to make her unconscious we think. All the while she was fighting back, using some techniques she learned in a self-defense segment of gym class (going for the attackers eyes/neck). At one point he calmed down and said that he knew her and she should come with him. She continued to fight back and eventually the man gave up and ran away. He ran straight back, thru the woods and, according to the police, up a "wall" to a parking lot near Ursinus where the police think he drove away. ——— watched her attacker run away and then tried to run back to her car, all the while looking behind her.

It took a while for her to find someone to ask for help. This surprised her because it all happened in the middle of the day in a place where she passed many, many other people … though during it all no one was around. She doesn't have a great description of the man because he was wearing an orange camouflage scarf around the lower part of his face. She thinks he was medium built, white, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt. She's not sure of his hair or eye color.

We had her checked out at the hospital and she is going to be fine. She has several bumps on her head and a number of bruises/scratches, but otherwise is fine. He didn't take her ipod or ring. We can only imagine what the man had in mind. I hope this doesn't change her adventurous attitude (especially with her leaving for college in NYC in just a few weeks), but we all realize how very lucky she was.

Let's make this a wake up call for all of us!

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