Jess Oliver was walking through the streets of a Canberra suburb at night when a white van drove up behind her.
A group of young men started hollering at her, asking her if she was having a good night, that they could "make it better".
The van drove past her three times, the men saying if she felt scared, it was because "you should be".
Ms Oliver said they were actively trying to make her feel afraid.
"They were saying things like, 'Are you scared? You should be, you should start running now'," she said.
"I was clear that they were trying to scare me in a really predatory way. It was quite intimidating."
A woman alone is at risk
Women exercising in Canberra's streets and suburbs say they face consistent harassment and abuse from men.
Whether it's catcalling, physical intimidation, or driving dangerously close to women on foot, women are made to feel unsafe in public spaces.
Her experience was terrifying, Ms Oliver said, but it took her a few weeks to process it because of how "desensitised" she is to harassment.
"You experience similar stuff pretty regularly, not quite like that but other lower levels of harassment," she said.
"It's basically such a weirdly normalised experience. It took me a while to realize how not OK it was."
She put in a report with police, but without the van's number plate, it's unlikely anything can be done.
Harassment a common experience for Canberra women
Being yelled at by men while running was a familiar experience for Canberra local Rachel. She asked The Canberra Times not to use her last name for fear of abuse.
In a recent incident, she was out running with her dog in Canberra when she was ran into a man with his dog.
"I stopped so the dogs could say hello and we started chatting, then I went to run off and he's like, 'By the way, you look really hot'," she said.
"As soon as you put on a bit of lycra, it's an instant attraction to people to feel like that they can comment on your body or wolf whistle.
"You almost expect it sometimes as well, like stepping out the door, you're like, 'OK, what are we going to get today'?"
For long-term runner Liesl Berriman, harassment is an accepted part of running in Canberra.
"I remember guys hanging out their cars tooting [their horns] and shouting things out, which made me feel quite uncomfortable," she said.
Men don't understand the mental load that comes with running alone as a woman, she said.
"My husband used to leave the house at 10 o'clock at night and go for a run, and I'd be like, 'What on earth'?" she said.
"As a female, you just can't think about going out late at night without worrying about things."
Women forced to change their behaviour
Rachel Curtin from Canberra Runners said there was no way she'd run some of the trails around Canberra without the group.
"I wouldn't. We run early in the morning and it just feels really safe with the run club," she said.
She believed safety in numbers was a big reason women joined the club.
With the burden of safety on their shoulders, women try to keep themselves safe by not wearing headphones and avoiding dark areas at night.
There's a constant level vigilance, Rachel said.
"I always think, 'OK, if I had to sprint away, how long could I sprint for, could I outrun somebody'?" she said.
"Even holding back on your run because you need to have enough energy in the tank to be able to sprint away from somebody and then keep going."
Stories of harassment while out walking and running come as violence against women is again in the spotlight.
More than 32 women have been killed by men in Australia this year.
And while being yelled at by male drivers on a run or being called "hot" by men walking their dogs may seem insignificant, experts say it builds on a culture of misogyny and disrespect.
Ms Oliver said while her experience rattled her, she was determined to keep living her life.
"I think it's really shit that our freedoms have to be curtailed by this kind of behaviour," she said.
"So I'm very indignantly still going for nighttime walks. But I've definitely adjusted my behavior even more."
