Went to Bear Creek this morning for the SMART TLT workout - did 12 miles (running log to come later).  It was a beautiful day, great running weather, and the park was full of people attending events like soccer meets, cross country races, a boy scout somethingorother, and lots of golfers. 

But among all the people and activities, there was also some loser who broke into 12 cars, including mine.  He took my wallet with all my credit cards,. Luckily, my Treo and Ipod were spared. 

The theft happened sometime between 8:00 and 9:45am at Pavillion 6 at Bear Creek Park.   Before the run, I had put my bags into a Luke's Locker bag, wrapped it up, and then stuffed it under the front seat.  I thought putting it out of sight would be enough, but it wasn't.  After our run, we decided to eat at Panera Bread.  When I got to my car, I noticed something on the ground, right under the driver's side door - a pane of shattered glass.  I stared at it, with a sinking feeling.  I looked inside my car, and noticed things sitting on the passenger seat that weren't there this morning.  One was my bag, which was sitting open.  I walked around to the passenger side, and saw that my passenger window had been broken, my bags pulled out from under the seat, and my wallet was gone.  Crap!   Clearly, the thief took the time to pull out the bag from under the front seat, unwrap it, dump everything out, open my purse and take my wallet. 

Steeve and fellow Striders flagged down a Constable (note: Bear Creek is a County park, HPD responds to City parks).  After taking my info, the Constable said the thief had also broken into 12 other cars that morning.  In fact, they've been trying to catch him for months.  The Constable said he was even doing undercover work, sitting in unmarked cars, waiting to catch this guy.    He also said this guy would only take people's credit cards, which is why he left my Treo sitting there.  Actually, I'm relieved he took "just" my wallet and not my Treo or iPod.  

The best part, though, is that the Constable said the thief was using stolen credit cards at places like Kroger, Target and BURLINGTON COAT FACTORY.  Pretty funny. 

I spent the rest of the day at the bank setting up a new account and trying to get my window fixed.  Unfortunately, I will be windowless until Monday morning……which means I won't be driving to Terry Hershey tomorrow for the Strider 10K/20K run.   

The worst part of this all is that this is the SECOND TIME this has happened to me in 2 MONTHS.  Why me??  What is it with these incidents with my car?  Last September, I was hit by a City of Houston employee (the cops thought it was hilarious that a City employee hit a County employee. harhar).   Then a month later in October, I was hit by a guy without ID or insurance.  

Lesson:  Don't leave ANYTHING in your car, even if it's under the seat.  Put everything into the trunk. 

Lastly, I have to say how awesome the Striders are, especially Steeve, Barb, Michelle and Jessica.  They postponed breakfast to wait around with me, Barb drove to the Constable's office, Steeve insisted I take $20 (as emergency money), Michelle, Jessica and Barb cleaned up the glass and everyone helped flag down the Constable.     I really, really, really appreciated that.   Striders are fabulous!