Basics of Running

Getting a good stride if essential; stretch your legs out, don’t just shuffle along. The longer your stride, the more ground you cover with each step, and the less energy you expend. Also remember to move your arms, you need them to be pulling you along. I’ve had to deal with too many people who just kept their arms practically motionless, and that does more to hinder you than help.


Oh, wait, sorry, wrong kind of running.

Before I begin, I’d going to mention some stuff on other blogs. Genevieve at Exilis Veritas is trying to map out the locations of Slender Man sightings. This may prove informative in the long run, so if you’re willing to, I’d recommend going to the map and posting any sightings you’ve had of him.
Second: I recently discovered the blog Golom Tulpa Anima. It’s only a few posts long right now, but it has a great deal of information, much of it going over things I wasn’t planning to go into much detail here. So if you’re looking for even more Slender Man information, check it out.

But now onto running. Until the Winter Equinox, I’m planning to post more practical information here. Hopefully some of it will be of use. In addition to this post on running, I hope to have posts on the Operator Symbol, Slenderproxies, and potential weapons of effect before December 21st.

Running From Slender Man

“Runner” is the term that has become associated with people who are hunted by Slender Man, but who stay on the move to avoid him, instead of remaining in a single location. M is the one who popularized the concept, when he created his blog giving advice on how to be a not-dead Runner. Since then, whether or not a blog is being made by a Runner has become a good indication of what the tone will be: If they remain in one place, expect a focus on horror and puzzles, with little hope for them making it out alive. Whereas a Runner blog will usually be on the more optimistic side, and the participants will usually be much more aggressive and genre savvy towards Slender Man.

M’s Rules

These are M’s basic three rules, which are essential for running.

1. Get Up High
According to M, Slender Man has a bit of difficulty finding humans who are high up. The hypothesis M had for the reason was that Slendy couldn’t visualize humans taller than he was, because humans are supposed to be shorter than him. A human taller than he is makes no sense at all. The example for height M gives is two stories plus a roof; I’d stay go with three stories just to be safe.
Ironically, the first of M’s rules, and the one which makes his URL, is the one most likely to be broken. Not to say the rule doesn’t work; there are still many instances of someone hiding in a high place to avoid Slendy. But it’s only a chance that it would work; in Scared, when Drew tried hiding in a high place, Slendy “took a few steps forwards, shot those fucked up things out of his back, and shot up to the roof to see me [Drew]”. There’s also the chance that he’ll just Slenderwalk into a tall building, or send Slenderproxies after you (who have no problem with the concept of people being high up). Even so, there’s no harm in being high up, so it should be done as an added precaution.

2. Keep Moving
The one which everyone seems to remember. Don’t stay in one place for too long. Even if Slendy can just Slenderwalk to your new position, movement appears to decrease the number of sightings you’ll have of him, plus it throws off Slenderproxies, as they need to rely on conventional methods of movement.
Running is almost universally accepted to work. The only place I can remember which didn’t agree was H(a)unting, and there they didn’t say that running wouldn’t work, only that it “isn't for everyone”. Slendy seems to enjoys a bit of a hunt, which might be why he lets so many people run from him.

3. Keep Your Eyes Open
This is part of M’s hypothesis on how Slenderwalking works. That was already covered, so I’ll be brief. Slendy can’t appear or disappear while he’s being observed, or thinks he’s being observed. Therefore, you need to keep your eyes open, pay attention, and if you need close your eyes, have something like a mask or an Operator Symbol to trick him into thinking he’s being watched.
Instances of this not working were covered in the Slenderwalking post.


H(a)unting’s Advice

H(a)unting’s main point of advice seems to be to not freak out and start panicking when you encounter Slender Man. Don’t throw Operator Symbols up everywhere, don’t run screaming when you see him, don’t throw your life away and start running if you don’t need to, do act in a calm, rational manner. If you act frightened of Slender Man, you’re more likely to be killed by him. Keeping your spirits up is the best way to hold him off. Sandra (Oracle) recommends keeping in a small group so that you can all help each other’s spirits, act confident when Slender Man appears, and don’t panic when you encounter a Slenderproxy. Thus far, Slenderproxies tend not to actually try to kill someone, unless they appear to be a threat (such as the Sages). They will attack people, but if Slender Man is hunting someone, he wants to be the one to kill them.


Miscellaneous Advice

-Avoid Large Groups
This is another of M’s. Having a few people with you is fine, but more people draws Slender Man towards you. The ideal situation would be to have a group of two or three people; enough to protect each other and keep everyone sane, but not so much that you turn into a large target.

-IPods are Your Friend
Steve Jobs is the one who will save us all, it seems. There are two uses for IPods. In Ichthyological, Liz used one as a way to alert her of Slender Man’s presence. She would have music playing, and whenever the audio began to screw up, she would know that Slender Man was nearby.
Another use was from Jay (Heroic Sage) in Anomalous Data. While being followed by Slender Man, he had Yakety Sax play on his phone (well, not exactly an IPod, but same idea) to lessen the fear associated with the situation.

-Don’t Accept Invitations
Okay, so you’re on the run from Slendy, you’re staying smart, keeping him at bay, dodging the Slenderproxies, and then you start seeing one location in your dreams, or some unnatural force seems to be drawing you to a place….
Seriously, don’t go, unless you are either crazy prepared, or have a very good reason to risk your life. Going to the house didn’t help J in Marble Hornets, Anthony going to the tree in Lost Time ended with him dead, going to the cave may/may not have ended with Sam of White Rabbit Asylum being killed (depends on whether you think the lack of activity is because she’s just not blogging anymore, or because of what she found in the cave), traveling to the Land of the Ashen Waste resulted in the HYBRIDs encountering Slendy…. Are you seeing a common trend here?
If you are going to accept an invitation from Slender Man, you better have a good reason to do so, or be Zeke Strahm. Most encounters end either in some kind of attack, or if you’re unlucky, outright death. It’s rare to escape completely unscathed, unless Slendy’s still just playing.

-Stay Out of the Woods
If at all possible, avoid large groups of trees. Either forests are his home, or he’s just stronger/more active within them. Going into the woods is always a bad idea; I can’t think of a single blog which has recommended it as a way to stay alive.

-Don’t Be Stupid/Passive
It sounds obvious, but there are so many times I want to slap some of these runners and tell them to start thinking logically. You have so much information available to you, don’t just ignore it. I hate reading people make posts about how they’re planning to go exploring in a forest, when they should know better. Or absolutely refusing to do anything about their situation. If you just sit around your home, letting your life and mind fall apart, you will be killed, go insane, or become a Slenderproxy. Victims who act proactively, who work to extend their lives, who stay smart and on the move, have a much longer life span than their counterparts. And when they do die, they usually go out in a much more dignified manner than someone scrambling to type some desperate calls for help on their home computer as their mind completely snaps.


Useful Links
The Tutorial: http://getuphigh.blogspot.com/
H(a)unting (Advice): http://wwwrunningwonthelp-lya.blogspot.com/2010/09/advice.html