10/02/2026
Running Paranoia
Where I trail run, the chances of actually meeting another runner are slim. Most days, it’s just me, the countryside, a challenging hilly route on varied West Sussex terrain.
So when I turned onto a bridle path and noticed a runner on the very same bridle path about 50 yards behind me, I knew instantly…
This was not going to be a “gentle run” as intended anymore. For this began my very own silent psychological battle.
I didn’t want to look over my shoulder, far too obvious. That would be suspicious, desperate and weak. Instead, I pretended externally that everything was normal whilst internally my brain started conjuring up panic that the gap was closing… fast.
Naturally my fight flight paranoid impulses took the best of me resulting me in doing one thing… speed up.
Just a little at first. Then a bit more. And then… noticeably more.
My trail runs are usually “out and back,” which meant one brutal truth: I had another 35 minutes before I’d reach my turning point and finally see my mysterious pursuer face-to-face in second place. Thirty-five minutes of mental torture.
With five minutes to go, I hit the infamous uphill section of Lancing ring nature reserve known as Steep-down, a cruel joke of a name with an elevation gain of approximately 100 meters.
At this point, I switched into full emergency mode:
“Running like I’ve just stolen something.”
Heart pounding. Lungs on fire. Legs threatening mutiny.
Pain is temporary, I told myself, but the humiliation of being overtaken by another trail runner? That would haunt me at least until breakfast.
I powered on. I conquered the hill.
I reached the peak and collapsed onto the waymarker having nothing left in the tank,
And… nothing.
No footsteps. No shadow. No rival.
My “tailing runner” had vanished, completely.
It turns out he must have taken a different fork, probably 30 minutes earlier dropping him into Sompting. He’d performed a Houdini act while I was busy destroying myself in a battle that only existed in my head.
So, was it worth it? Well… yes and no.
On the plus side, I returned home fitter and stronger than planned. I’d gone out for a gentle run and accidentally completed a high-intensity ego workout.
On the downside, my paranoia very nearly pushed me into cardiac arrest fuelled by nothing more than pride and the refusal to admit that I’m over 50 and sometimes it’s perfectly healthy to… let someone go.
Or, in this case…
Let someone who wasn’t even there
