LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kristen Nelson could go on for days about why she loves that quiet calm of a morning run in Cherokee Park. But Tuesday's jog left her so jolted that she wouldn't go on camera.
"It was just instant alert," she said. "Something is not right."
She said a man on a bike approached her on Park Boundary Road. It was 5:30 a.m., dark, and she was alone.
"He kept peddling closer, and he said, 'Do you know what time it is?'" Nelson said. "And at that point, he threw his bike down and just came after me.
"And I just took off running and screaming as loud as I could, and he was chasing me."
There's a police station about a half mile up the hill from where the man began chasing Nelson, so she said she booked it.
"I knew I got to get 911 on the phone, because if he catches me, I don't know what's going to happen," she said. "And at some point, he turned around, and I knew he did, because he let out some kind of yell or something."
Two Louisville Metro Police officers quickly went looking for the man and found nothing. LMPD is now offering safety tips to runners alone in the park.
"You really want someone to know when you're going and where you're going," LMPD spokeswoman Beth Ruoff said. "Use the GPS tracker on your phone. Always make sure you're able to call 911 and to know your location at all times.
"I personally am a runner, and when I run, I make sure I am always scanning locations to know where I am."
Nelson posted her ordeal to Facebook to hundreds of comments. With thousands in the community training for the Derby mini and marathon race next month, it's been shared more than 1,000 times.
"I had to alert people," she said. "If I had heard a week from now someone was attacked here, and I didn't say anything, someone else's story might not be like mine."
Despite the scare, Nelson said she won't stop running. However:
"I'm not going to be out here by myself," she said.
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