A runner fended off an attacker with a can of mace Saturday night while running in southern Fairfax County.
The woman was running along Hayfield Road, close to Old Telegraph Road, around 10 p.m. when she was grabbed by a man wearing a dark long sleeve shirt and cream colored pants. After using her mace, the two ran in opposite directions, according to Fairfax County Police.
Yes, you can learn a lot about a woman by the contents of her purse, but I think it’s more telling to watch the way she reacts at a finish line, and I saw the whole emotional spectrum while volunteering for DC’s inaugural Nike Women’s Half Marathon.
My job was simple: scan runners’ race bibs as they filed through the finish area towards some seriously glamorous swag. Between the volunteers offering water bottles and foil blankets, a squad of ROTC men in tuxedos hand-delivered Tiffany’s pendant necklaces housed in that iconic baby blue box tied with a simple white ribbon. Whenever there was a lull in the crowd, all it took was a “who wants their Tiffany’s necklace?” yell to get exhausted finishers to smile and “woohoo!”