I got attacked this evening in the park. It was just after 10 pm, so it had been dark for less than an hour. I was practising some jumping and rolling on my own, near some skateboarding ramps. I heard 2 men arrive somewhere behind me, and felt it was time to move on.
I walked a few metres away from the skate park and did some stretching. All this time my back was to the skatepark so I couldn't see the two men. I heard one of them shoult, presumably to get my attention. Then he walked up behind me and shouted again. As I turned round he punched me hard on the jaw. I think I must have been moving away from him at the time because I didn't get the full force of the strike. In any case, I've been hit far harder by my martial arts instructors both in the UK and Japan.
He tried to punch me quite a few times and may have kicked me as well. Each time I was moving back so I don't think he actually managed to hit me after the first strike to my jaw. While this was happening I asked what it was about. He just kept trying to hit me so I moved back again and started running.
The man chased me, shouting "Just wait until we catch you". His friend joined the chase as well. I've been jogging in the park almost every day for the past couple of weeks, so I knew exactly how far it was to the park exit, and what running speed I could maintain. I looked back at one point about 20 seconds after I started running, and saw the guy a couple of metres behind me. For some reason I knew he and his friend wouldn't be able to catch me, so I just kept running.
When I got home I had a glass of water and looked in the mirror. My jaw was red and slightly shiny where I had been hit, but there was no bruising. My left leg hurt a lot, maybe the guy landed a kick or punch there, or maybe it was just from the running. My left knee is often a bit sore after running, so that may be the cause of it.
All in all, a strange experience but not a terrible one. I'm so glad for the hours I've spent running and for all the martial arts training I've done.
2 comments:
Crikey, that's bad. I'm just thinking, if that was on Wednesday, that was before we talked, right? You sounded OK - respect, I'd be in a right mess.
Another reason to return to Japan?!
that sucks. what kind of world do we live in!?
glad to hear you were not hurt seriously.
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