Later this month, the clocks will change and it will be time to embrace the longer night of upcoming winter. Surveys show that an estimated 22% of the population are afraid of the dark as adults and women are 6 times more likley than men to experience anxiety when running at night.
The underlying reasons for these startling statistics are complex and link to both our evolutionary past and our perception of personal safety - as well as our own previous life experiences .
In this session we'll hear from host (and co-founder of Girls on Hills) Dr Keri Wallace, who will speak about her own research and personal journey to overcome her fear of night running.
Despite being afraid of the dark, Keri ran solo through 17 hours of darkness in the middle of Scottish winter 2024, to set an FKT for the West Highland Way (solo unsupported). Why? To challenge her fear of the dark and shine a light on this often overlooked barrier to trail running in the winter months.
Keri has previously experienced a number of negative encouters while running at night, inlcuding having been physically assaulted while out alone. In her early career, she was a scientist, studying Natural Sciences at Cambridge University and specialising in evolutionary biology, animal energetics and the neural mechanisms of behaviour (incl a PhD in neurobiology). Her background led her to take an interest in the evolutionary origins of fear and carry out a survey into the behaviour of trail runners in winter (comparing urban, suburban and rural night running).
Join us for Keri's personal story of setting a new FKT and the results of the Girls on Hills survey (with over 1000 trail runners' responses). Keri will share practical advice for managing fear of the dark and strategies for limiting its impact on winter training.
Keri is also author of guidebook Running Challenges, the writing of which first sparked her interest in this project - the result of a notable absence of female solo unsupported FKTs on popular running trails in the UK.
The Into the Dark project was sponsored by Petzl and INOV8, who supported the making of our short-film PREY which is now available on YouTube.
*The session will be recorded, so don't worry if you can't make the exact time or date.
