Fear in Fair Hill

The other day Marc and I had planned a trail run. I still hate running. Nothing has changed. But it's a necessary evil, so we were going running. The original plan was to meet up and run right after work when it is nice and bright and sunny. However, as it goes, plans change and we ended up meeting up later than anticipated and didn't head out until around dusk.
We decide to just run a trail near home to try to conserve some daylight. When we get to the trail Marc asks how far I'm going to run. He times his runs, I just run as far as I can and then walk back. So he suggests that I go one way and he heads off in the other and then we'll meet up out on the trail. I say that I don't think this is wise as I always ride the opposite direction and I was afraid of getting lost. He assures me I won't and we head off in opposite directions.
My run started off pretty well for a change. I was going at a decent pace (for me) and I didn't feel like my feet were going to shatter every time they hit the ground. Then I started getting hot. I had asked Marc if it was getting cold out before we left the house. He said yes so I put on a long sleeve t-shirt over my short sleeve one and wore pants instead of shorts. Though it had cooled down, it wasn't that cold. So I'm sweating my ass off and running along; going deeper and deeper into the woods. As I go in deeper I notice it's getting really dark. I start to hear noises. They're kinda creeping me out. Stories of wandering cougars start going through my head, but I keep plodding along. I come to a fork in the trail. Crap I don't know which way to go. I start to go one way and then rethink it and go the other. I continue to move along. I come to another fork and another. Then I'm on a fairly steep rocky downhill. This is odd I think. As I've never come up a rocky decent going up the other way. But I just keep going. I figure maybe it seems worse cause I'm running instead of on my bike. Suddenly I hit the stream at the bottom. There's no crossing. Crap, it's the wrong trail. I'm lost.
It's getting really dark. I pause for a moment contemplating whether I should cross the stream anyway and run across the woods as I know which direction eventually I'll find the trail and run into Marc. I decide against it cause then I'd be running in sopping wet sneakers and it's best to stay on the trail when lost. If I leave the trail then I'm really in trouble.
At this point, I'm lost, I'm getting tired and would normally start walking, but it's getting dark and I don't know where I am. So I turn back to run back up the trail. I now have to run up the steep rocky trail I had just come down. I come to a fork. I try to remember which way I had just come. I keep hearing noises. I figure Marc should be coming up behind me soon. But am I even on the same trail? I don't know how lost I am. I'm running and looking behind me. It's like a scene out of a horror movie where the audience is yelling at the girl in the movie to keep running and stop looking back. I'm tripping all over the place because I keep looking back. I'm completely exhausted at this point, but I can't stop running due to fear. My knees are screaming. I keep looking back. Still no Marc. Where is he? I look again, still nothing, a split second later he's behind me and closing fast. He must have been behind a tree or something when I had looked previously cause he was so close it scared the crap out of me. I screamed and almost fell down as I tripped yet again. I followed him back to the car and then we went home. I will no longer run by myself at dusk, in the woods, on a trail I'm not sure of, or with too many clothes.