This weekend, we taught E. the game Red Light, Green Light. We’re not sure we remember the rules quite right, but we played it that two of the three of us raced, while the third yelled out the “red light! green light” commands. If you didn’t stop on the red light, you had to go back to the starting line (which E. had to do nearly every time).

It was a lot of fun and reminded me how hard it is to stop on a dime.

Little did I know it was going to be a test run for saving my life this morning.

I’m trying to get back on the exercise wagon, so I woke up early to go running this morning. DadJovi had a lot of work to do and wanted to leave the house by 7/7:15, so I knew I didn’t have a lot of time to run.

Despite the fact that I felt like I was running through a rainforest and was carefully eyeing every slightly overgrown lawn after our Snake in the Grass weekend, I managed to run the entire 2 miles I set out to do. Hurray for no walk breaks! It’s amazing how fast you can run when you know you *have* to be home by a certain time. Or maybe I was running because I was afraid snakes were chasing me. Hey, whatever works.

I don’t know about you, but when I get near my homestretch, I become like a horse returning to the stables — I get a sudden burst of energy and run faster than I have the rest of the run.

Near the end of my run, there’s an intersection with stoplights. I had the green and I gave a quick glance to the left and saw all the cars were stopped (it was a one-way street). So I took that first step off the curb.

And then time seemed to slow down and I felt like one of the Charlie’s Angels (without the good hair … or abs). As I was about to plant my foot for my second step, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a car flying up to the intersection. I’m not known for my cat-like reflexes, but somehow I was able to stop mid-stride and get myself back on the curb … just in the time.

The driver had been looking left and was about to fly through the intersection to make a right on red. It’s a good thing my red light reflexes were better honed than hers. Who knew that playground games could be life-saving?

You should have seen the look of terror on her face when she realized that she had almost hit me. Good. I hope it scared the shit out of her.

I’m so sick of careless drivers who have no awareness for their surroundings. I constantly have to race across streets with E. because I’m terrified that some jackass is going to run a red light. And I have reasons to be scared — this spring, Orlando was named THE most dangerous city for pedestrians in the nation (click here to read about it).

So drivers, I’d really appreciate it if you slowed the hell down and started looking BOTH WAYS before crossing an intersection. If I get killed doing something that’s supposed to make me healthier, I’m going to be really pissed that I didn’t just stay at home eating cupcakes and watching OWN.

What are your stories from the road? Have you ever been hit? Almost hit? And do you prefer to flip the offenders your middle finger of affection (to quote Judge Perry) or do you settle for the stink eye?