Have you ever had to run for your life?

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bookemdano

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jun 10, 2012
Messages
161
Location
East TN
Running for your life can be due to panic which is bad more often than good
or it can be a strategic maneuver in which your chances of survival are much
better. 13.5 months in Nam, 41 years in law enforcement, yeh, I've run plenty
but never from panic even when interviewing a traffic stop and I look up in
time to see a ton of steel and glass barreling down on me at 70 mph. Having
played that scenario over in my mind repeatedly in the past, I ran for my life
but strategically to just comment on one instance. There are many, many more.
And contrary to what I think you said (and I apologize if I'm wrong) I tried to
learn from every one and pass that knowledge on to others. No I don't want
my daughter to go thru that, but I've tried my best to pass what I learned to
her so if does happen, she hopefully won't panic.
Dano
 
Joined
Oct 20, 2022
Messages
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Location
Oregon
I made a pretty quick exit out of a burning building years back. I made sure everyone else was out- checked the bathrooms and back room. Once I was satisfied all was clear, I bailed. The roof caved in a minute later.

I’m a bigger guy and always been a “stand your ground” guy. Now as an old big guy that’s out of shape, I have to rely on hardware as running isn’t a viable option.
 
Joined
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Location
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Not "for my life" but to prevent injury! While in grad school (and working as a hunting guide for wild pigs), I walked up on a sow with piglets. Made it back to the truck literally about 2-3 steps ahead of her.

Also, while in grad school, I was charged by one of my black bears. Felt like running but I knew there was "no way"! Stood my ground, opened up my windbreaker and bluffed it out=was a false charge and he stopped about 6-8 feet from me!
If you can confuse an animal you can usually control it. In most situations if you don't react as expected you can control the situation. Aggressive dogs start giving orders in an authoritative way.
 
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Maryland
I made a pretty quick exit out of a burning building years back. I made sure everyone else was out- checked the bathrooms and back room. Once I was satisfied all was clear, I bailed. The roof caved in a minute later.

I’m a bigger guy and always been a “stand your ground” guy. Now as an old big guy that’s out of shape, I have to rely on hardware as running isn’t a viable option.
Yeah me too. When you live hard and don't die young you live to regret it.
 

Mike J

Hunter
Joined
Aug 5, 2007
Messages
4,008
Location
GA
I grew up in a suburb of Atlanta. I didn't have to run from livestock. I do remember running from large dogs, police, older kids shooting at us with a Crosman 750, kids with large sticks that had us outnumbered, an angry older man with a .22 rifle in his hands & other stuff. Sometimes we brought stuff on ourselves sometimes we didn't. I also remember making stands when I shouldn't have because I was angry or I just wasn't willing to let someone push me around. I paid the price for that.

I honestly don't regret any of it. I learned a lot. Sometimes it is a good idea to do a cost-benefit analyses.
 
Joined
Nov 17, 2009
Messages
11,330
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Webster, MD.
An exact Ditto, but switch the bull to bear.
Was on vacation in Gatlinburg Tennessee. Walked out on the porch to deposit some garbage in the can and came face to face with a black bear. He went "Woof" and turned to run off the porch and I practically tore the screen door off the hinges getting back inside. Not too sure who was running faster.
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
23,700
Location
Lake Lure NC USA
I have read these posts,, chuckled at most,, especially the ones where I could relate to the scenario.
But I'll not wear out my fingers typing all my "fun" stuff where I had to maneuver myself in a manner to escape death or injury.
Suffice it to say,, "I can relate."

Blessed to still be here. (Thank you Lord!)
 

area51guy

Bearcat
Joined
Oct 25, 2017
Messages
67
When I was a SeaBee, we were shooting a 106mm Recoilless rifle. I was acting as the loader. We had been running thru the rounds pretty quickly and the tube was sizzling hot! I went to load the next round and it jammed with about 2-3 inches of shell case sticking out of the breech. I called out "hung round" to let everyone know to clear the area and then used the "fork" tool to remove the shell. By this time it was sizzling hot also which encouraged me to get rid of it asap! I took it over a small hill just in front of our firing position and gently placed it on the ground. That is when the "run for your life" started. The other guys in my firing team all commented that they had never seen me move so quickly! Oh, yeah, the shell cooled down and did not detonate! Ah, the good ole days!
 

VegasMak

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 29, 2023
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1
Location
Las Vegas
My wife and I were at the Route 91 Festival in Vegas in ‘17. First sounds of gunfire people thought it was fireworks. Seconds later, person less than 10 ft away got hit. People yelled “gunfire” and everyone was off to the races. People couldn’t tell where it was coming from at that point except for the SW corner of property. Being in a mass shooting makes you either rabidly anti-gun or fervently pro-gun. Even though it wouldn’t have helped then, I can’t imagine not having a firearm nearby.
 
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Jimbo357mag

Hawkeye
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Messages
10,307
Location
So. Florida
I remember as a kid running from some angry man chasing after me and my friend for trespassing and tipping over a beehive..... and as an adult I remember chasing after some kid that hit my truck with a bottle of strawberry soda.
 

outlaw_dogboy

Single-Sixer
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Messages
331
Location
Maryland, USA
I've run (or "fled" by various means) from a few things in my life, but I wouldn't have considered any of them "running for my life."

Except for maybe that one time fleeing on my dirt-bike from the drunk in the pick-up truck that thought I trespassed on his land. That was kinda exhilarating, and he may have run over me if he could have caught me.

I was a "free-range" kid as well. Had the usual run-ins with hornets, bees, dogs chasing my bicycle, etc.
 
Joined
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OK
I think that "running for your life" carries the implication that you might not make it. That's why in the OP, I wrote that I thought that was a stupid thing to wish for your children and I stand by that. We talked with our kids often about consequences and stupid people, stupid places, stupid things, etc. Obviously some things are unavoidable but I don't see any virtue in "getting away from the police" or to be honest, some of the other things mentioned.
 
Joined
Dec 3, 2021
Messages
107
Location
OK
I've run (or "fled" by various means) from a few things in my life, but I wouldn't have considered any of them "running for my life."

Except for maybe that one time fleeing on my dirt-bike from the drunk in the pick-up truck that thought I trespassed on his land. That was kinda exhilarating, and he may have run over me if he could have caught me.

I was a "free-range" kid as well. Had the usual run-ins with hornets, bees, dogs chasing my bicycle, etc.
I agree. I've never run for my life but I did have more broken bones than the rest of my family put together. Bicycles, football, brothers. Didn't enjoy any of them and wouldn't wish them on anyone.
 
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Messages
5,171
Location
Southwest Washington
When my brother and I were 13-14, we took a short cut home through the woods. We came upon a small herd of cattle. There was a bull in the herd that didn’t like our presence and charged after us. He was gaining on us as we ran. We were terrified. Just before he caught up to us we came to a barbed wire fence and we’re able to get away.
Yes, we feared for our lives. I lost a shoe during the chase and my brother cut his hand on the fence and that cut required stitches.
 

Paul B

Buckeye
Joined
Dec 4, 1999
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Location
Tucson, AZ
I thik when certain things happer, you have two thoughts. The first is "OMG! I'm gonna die!" and the second is, "Feets, do your stuff. The younger you are the more likely those will be the first thoughts to cross your mind. Sometimes you have them when you're older.

My folks always worried when at age 18 I was dating a girl who lived next to the Fillmore district in San Francisco. That was the black neighborhood back in the 1950's, but apparently not so much now. I literally was at her house after school every day. Ha dinner with her fmily and her mother made the best fied chicken I ever ate. Col. Sanders would cry in shame if he ever ate her chicken. After helping her with some of her homewark we enjoyed ach other until it was time for me to leave which was usually after midnight. The last bus passed through about 11:45 so most of the time I missed it. I had to walk to where I could hook up with the streetcar that took me to about a block from my house. Nothing ever happened.
eaers later, around mid 1966 I was working for a TV shop that had a contract to deliver and set up color TVs. There were four others that refused to do a run into Hunter's point, another black neighborhood Tat so bad it made the Fillmore look like Disneyland. I made two deliveries with a helper who like me was dumb enough to go there. First time we got chased. Second time the van had a few holes that were not there when we left the shop. Told the boss he could either give us hazardous duty pay or deliver them himself. The boss tried one time and then told the department store he was doing the deliveries for that Hunter's Point was one place he nor his employees would do deliveries. That was about the time of the Watts riots in Los Angele BTW. I can't believe I forgot about that.
Pl B.
 
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