IMPORTANT NOTICES…

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.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Solvers by phone at 1-866-411-TIPS/8477, e-mail at www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or text “TIP187” plus your message to CRIMES/274637 or call Fairfax County Police at 703-691-2131.

Tuesday June 11, Washington, D.C.

A bicyclist on the Metropolitan Branch Trail in Northeast Washington was attacked and badly beaten by what he counted as more than a dozen teenagers near Third and S streets, NE. According to a Washington Post report, he said they took nothing from him and suffered a broken bone near his eye.

Monday June 10, Chevy Chase, Md.

During a storm on Monday afternoon, a Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School student, Joshua Davis, was apparently killed when a tree fell and struck him while he biked on a side trail off of the Rock Creek Trail, according to Montgomery County Police. He was close to the 9200 block of Jones Mill Road in Chevy Chase.

Saturday June 1, Vienna, Va.

Around 8:30 p.m., a woman was charged with driving while intoxicated and felony hit and run after she drove nearly five miles to Vienna on the W&OD Trail from Reston and hit a bicyclist, who was thrown from the bike onto the trail’s shoulder, and nearly hit a handful of other trail users.

Saturday June 1, Arlington, Va.

At approximately 11:17 a.m., a woman was reportedly cut in the upper left side of her torso by a man who jumped out of the brush as she was walking along the Four Mile Run Trail. The man ran away, she suffered superficial injuries but remains hospitalized Monday, according to the Arlington County Police Department, which has not released any information on the assailant. The attack happened between the N. Ohio Streetand Patrick Henry Drive overpasses over I-66. 

If possible, run with someone when heading to an isolated area, carry identification and when possible, alert someone to your planned route.

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!”

I saw the proud. Scores of half-marathon rookies exchanged high-fives and hugs with complete strangers; they then asked me if I knew their time yet.  Oh, and where are the necklaces? I saw women run to those necklaces, as if the previous 13.1 miles were the warm-up for this moment.

I saw the relieved. One woman marched right up to me, stuck her bib out, and exclaimed “scan me!” before marching on to the food and foil blankets.

I saw countless Boston shirts, hats, pins, and bracelets that I couldn’t help but feel Boston strong and Boston proud all morning.

I saw some interesting nutrition theories being tested. At the start of the race, a woman set a can of Diet Coke by my feet as the crowds inched forward. Another strapped a bag of chocolate chips to her belt. Perhaps they’re on to something.

I saw tutus. Actually, I saw a lot of tutus.

I saw more iPod headphones in that three-hour span than I have in my entire life. Finishers showed no shame when doing a little dance in the middle of the crowd as race-day playlists came to a close. How they still had the energy to dance after their race is beyond me.

The finish line may have featured high-fives from Joan Benoit Samuelson and Shalane Flanagan, but those ROTC guys were definitely the center of attention. I asked one of the dashing young gentlemen how it felt, and he said it was like the Grammy’s.

But instead of red carpets and extravagant gowns, we had pavement and all those tutus.