ISO 400 | 17mm | f 8.0 | 1/250 sec

There are only a few things that really get my adrenaline going – heights, intense confrontations, performing in front of an audience of thousands of people, and the realization that I need to run for my life. 

The sensation of being chased is not typically a warm, fuzzy feeling.  Usually your hands turn cold and clammy, your heart-rate increases to the point where it feels like it will burst out of your chest, time begins to slow to an agonizing crawl, and sights, sounds, and smells become very noticeably bright, loud, and pungent.

I’ve been fortunate not to have encountered too many situations in which I’ve had the urge to run.  There was that one job when I helped bust a drug trafficking ring and got ambushed by goons.  That was rather exciting.  And there was also that time when I almost got caught smuggling sensitive legal documents through a security checkpoint at a nuclear research facility.  Fortunately my legs serviced me well and I managed to make a hasty exit before they could apprehend me.

Occasionally I’ll have dreams that replay those sequences in my mind and I’ll find myself waking up in a cold sweat.  The nature of the dreams vary every time, but the feeling of the chase is always the same.  And what’s worse is that during these night visions my legs always feel like lead and my pursuers always seem to be gaining on me.  I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to nightmares like these, but if I can keep these situations from happening too often in real life, I’ll probably survive.