How to get over fear of running in public?

re read again, my first comment stands, go for it, I love parkruns

Sorry!….I didn’t read thread properly ,thought you were worried about people looking at you!

Go to a parkrun, people of all shapes, sizes, ages and ability. You will get lost in the crowd and no one will notice you.

Have you got a parkrun near you op? I feel they are a very safe space and you would be made very welcome as a walker to start with too

Would a running buddy help?
See if you can find a local couch to 5k group.

maybe build up confidence by walking the routes first?

Have you thought about looking for a local running group ? Maybe on runtogether.co.uk either for a social run or a C25k ? I’m a slooow runner with a running club and lots of our C25k runners start off exactly the same but after a while don’t worry about it. Don’t disregard local running clubs either, as they may have groups of all types - look to see if they talk about social running.

On a practical level, look for somewhere you know, that is open or well lit. Not too isolated. Maybe main roads through a new housing estate. Plan your route in advance, take your phone and down load the Three words app (in case you need help) , you can also subscribe to Strava and share your location with one other user so you husband can see where you are. You could also try running early when no self respecting baddie would be awake ? Finally you can also see ‘heat maps’ of local running routes. If you want to listen to music get some bone conducting headphones so you can still hear what’s going on around you.

One other way of thinking about it is would you walk there ? If so then why not run , you are there and past any area so much quicker.

I've been a tubby runner most my life, OP. I've run alone down country lanes and round urban streets. The very worse thing that happened to me was a guy trying to run alongside me down the street, claiming he wanted to be 'friends'. This was a dark, very early morning in London. I told him to F Off and he did.

Other than that, I have never encountered anyone shouting anything at me. But you could wear earphones for this and just focus on you/your music. Don't look at others and they might as well not be there. Like you, whenever I see someone running I tend to think 'good on them' and nothing more.

If you want to run country lanes then how about walking them first? Would you feel safer walking? You can then interject the walk with quick burst of running that will still help improve fitness and you slowly learn it's not so scary?

I Run in an area I feel safe and wear headphones and listen to music or a podcast. If someone shouts at you, that says more about them than you. I‘m not a natural runner or have a runner’s physique but once you’ve done it once the fear will lessen