Have you ever had to run for your life?

[JimC1953]

The one time I can think of was at the office. Someone called in a bomb threat and when we called our "campus security" they said, "go look for it".

So we decided better to call the State Police. When the troopers arrived they said, "we have to go look for it, and since we don't know your building and don't have keys, guess some of the hospital exec staff have to go with us." I was with one trooper and we were heading down the stair well to a basement when an air exchanger shut down with a loud noise. We both sprinted up the steps and standing at the top the trooper laughed and said, "good thing you were running fast or I would have gone right over you on the way up!"

 

[zaitcev]

I got socked by street thugs once, but miraclously didn't go down because I landed with my back against a tree. So I rebounded and ran straight and again by a coincidence I sprinted along the shoulder of the track, while the attackers were shuffling on the ice and lost me. My scarf and sweater were soaked in blood, when I got home.

 

[WV460hunter]

Growing up my Dad had lots of cattle. We often ran all over the farm dad would ride a horse . We ran . I ran alot I was fast . Well, I ran track in high-school ran high hurdles and shuttle hurdles the 400m 800m too and I was good at it. For a tall guy 6'5" (I was 6'3 ½" in high school) grew when after I graduated . I quit growing about age 20. Any way . I became a LEO I ran in basic let me tell ya. Ran the mile and a half in 10 minutes. Even at age 24. Well over the course of several year I changed careers and at age 34 in 2007 became a railroader specifically a bridge man. I remember it like it was yesterday. I had been on the railroad for 5 yrs.11 months And it was (this was 5 months before my 40th birthday )January 20 2012 at 2:45pm. We were redecking a 656ft long bridge that had B&O spacing ties and changing them to C&O spacing which was a closer spaving. As usual as the foreman I would walk across the long bridge knock down my work order sign walk back get in the truck and we would leave for the day. Well on that fateful day after walking across and knocking the sign down I had just gotten about 150 ft back across the ridge which was 80 feet above the Monongehela River. When oht of no where a train was blowing through my remaining minutes of my order . I had no where to go the 80 foot jump wasn't an option I may hit the steel before making it clear and I simply started running . It was as if I ran the last race of my life with every stride I ran harder and focused forward never looking back knowing from my track days that that would mean certian death. The Old B&O spacing was 8"-10" apart and alot of the ties was skewed even. The train was bearing down on me with every stride and I could even feel it's vibrations in my boots when my feet would touch a tie and the bridge wiggling . I have never ran so hard in all my life knowing each bound counted. I know the Lord above fave me that little extra. To make matter worse we had our new ties staged in stacks on the end of the bridge I was running toward . I just made it to the end of the bridge and instantly assessing the stacks I dove out of the track landing between two stacks and instantly the train went by. I dont know the train was 70 cars long or so and passed quickly . I know it took me the entire time it passed to stand back up. I was holding one hand on one stack the other hand on the other stack and my knees knocking legs trembling. After the train passed I walked as well I could over to the gang truck were I got up and sat down still breathing hard. I said did you see that. One old crew member laughed and said yeah I thought it was gonna kill you only missed you by 10ft. I never have and never will run that fast again in my life. That train was doing 30mph. That's a true story .

 

[caryc]

WOW! But you didn't say...was the engineer blowing his horn at you?

 

[WV460hunter]

WOW! But you didn't say...was the engineer blowing his horn at you?

No the bell was never rung the horn was never blown , I was for sure I would be fired . Nothing was ever said . I truly don't think he knew I was even there.

 

[WV460hunter]

Also I never found out who the engineer of that train was either.

 

[caryc]

No the bell was never rung the horn was never blown , I was for sure I would be fired . Nothing was ever said . I truly don't think he knew I was even there.

That's kind of what I thought. I think it would have been even more terrifying if he had been leaning on that horn. Anyway, glad you made it.

 

[Mobuck]

I have on occasion run to get out of the way of something like a tree falling the wrong way or aggressive livestock. Dad always said "Don't run away until you have determined that is the best option. You're more likely to get hurt or hurt yourself running away from something that wasn't really going to hurt you in the first place" (or some similar words).
There was that one time when my bacon was rescued by the 106 recoilless on a Jeep. I guess I was running for my life that day.

 

[Ranger]

That would be one heck of a video. Did the trains have cameras on front back then?

 

[caryc]

Sounds

That would be one heck of a video. Did the trains have cameras on front back then?

Sounds kind of like a Charlie Chaplin movie although I don't doubt his story one bit.

 

[Ranger]

I don't either.
I think all trains now probably have cameras on the front (for liability protection).

 

[DocAriel]

I was out walking when I saw someone breaking into my neighbor’s car. Took out my cell phone and called the cops (didn’t have my neighbor’s number on my phone) when the thief saw me. He started shouting that he was going to kill me (used other words!) and started to run towards me waving what looked like a crowbar or a jack handle. I wasn’t a fast runner, even back then, but I took off at my best speed. Guy was young and tall and very fast, kept shouting curses and gaining on me except … his pants kept falling down! He would stop to hop around while pulling them up and I would use that time to get a half block ahead and eventually made it to a main street with him a couple of blocks behind.
Never been so thankful for goofy fashion trends!

 

[Hvymax]

I don't either.
I think all trains now probably have cameras on the front (for liability protection).

I bet it would be hilarious to watch.

 

[Hvymax]

I was out walking when I saw someone breaking into my neighbor’s car. Took out my cell phone and called the cops (didn’t have my neighbor’s number on my phone) when the thief saw me. He started shouting that he was going to kill me (used other words!) and started to run towards me waving what looked like a crowbar or a jack handle. I wasn’t a fast runner, even back then, but I took off at my best speed. Guy was young and tall and very fast, kept shouting curses and gaining on me except … his pants kept falling down! He would stop to hop around while pulling them up and I would use that time to get a half block ahead and eventually made it to a main street with him a couple of blocks behind.
Never been so thankful for goofy fashion trends!

Iginanse be a Cibil Rite!!!

 

[XUSNORDIE]

running for your life is usually the result of panic.
but...if you have an f14 barreling down on you that missed a wire with a collapsed wheel on a flight deck, well, youd run for your life. ive seen a lot in 8 years on carriers.

ive been on a few railroad bridges when young. you feel panic, then reflexes kick in.

I can relate to the flight deck thing....saw many a bird that made me run. Being CAG ARM/DEARM you are in a vulnerable place during recovery. No telling where some where going end up....especially the wave offs that decide to land anyway. On one deployment a F18 the deck so hard the snubbers on the LAU-7 broke and the Sidewinder went skating down the deck towards us.....I literally froze and couldn't run. It zipped right by me and off the bow. Watching it later on the plat everyone was like "whos the dumbass ordie?".

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!

My Son is at Port Hueneme right now for CM A School. He's definitely loving the young Seabee life....I can't wait to hear his future stories. He goes to ECS (Expeditionary Combat Skills) after A school....I'm sure some will come out of that. He has FTX after that and then his first deployment with a NMCB out of Gulfport MS.

I've had a couple moments where I had to run and hide from either a bad injury or possible death. Perks of my career when I first started lol.

This one is funny:
I did have to "ride" for my life once......riding dirt bikes in a farm field we shouldn't have been in as kids, ....we heard a "shot", stopped and heard yelling....we took off and heard another "shot". We took off...I made that l75 Enduro run like Bob Hannah on his works 250 ... When we got back to my friends house my tail light was shattered, and there were holes in the back of my seat with pieces of rock salt. We were afraid to tell our parents or police. We never went on that field again.

 

[caryc]

I don't either.
I think all trains now probably have cameras on the front (for liability protection).

So they can get a picture of who they just smashed to smithereens?

 

[wolfsong]

Does running towasrds saving someone's life count?

 

[caryc]

Does running towasrds saving someone's life count?

X 2

 

[Ranger]

Garyc: No. To prove who they just smashed to smithereens was on the track when they shouldn't have been (i.e. not railroads fault). No first hand knowledge; but guy who was in charge of railroad safety for a major rail line told me that at a BBQ one evening at an emergency management conference many years ago.

 

[caryc]

Garyc: No. To prove who they just smashed to smithereens was on the track when they shouldn't have been (i.e. not railroads fault). No first hand knowledge; but guy who was in charge of railroad safety for a major rail line told me that at a BBQ one evening at an emergency management conference many years ago.

OK, I'll give you that. But, you just did something that I've been fighting with all my entire life. People can look at my name "Cary" and they see "Gary". Even looking at it in print. I've been curious about that for my entire life why people do that. Please don't think I'm picking on you. As I said, I've seen that for over 70 years and I've always been curious as to why? I guess they think that I just don't know how to spell my name.
By the way, my parents named me after the actor Cary Grant. I always wished I could have looked like him. Lots of people these days probably don't even know who he was.