What every female rural runner feels

Natalie Ruth Joynton's op-ed was published in the Washington Post today, "What every female runner feels."  A short excerpt follows: 

I live in rural northern Michigan, a region celebrated for its cherry orchards, shoreline state parks and small-town tourist attractions. People travel from all over the United States to experience what I do every day on my regular morning run: the mist rising off the water, the towering beech trees, the rolling hills. Each day running these dirt roads restores my sense of wonder.

She then recounts the stories of number of women who have been murdered while running in rural places, including Mollie Tibbetts, killed in the summer of 2018, while running near her hometown, Brooklyn, Iowa.  Part of the point is the vulnerability associated with being alone in a rural place, often out of sight of the watchful eye not only of law enforcement, but also of people who can help--or help deter an attacker.  It's an issue I wrote about here and here.