When Kelly Herron, 36, took a break to pee four miles into her 10-mile marathon training run through Golden Gardens Park in Seattle, a reported registered sex offender followed her into the public bathroom and proceeded to attack her, taking her down to the ground and beating her in the knees and legs, according to an account Kelly shared with ABC News.

"My biggest running nightmare became reality," she wrote in on Instagram in a caption.

Having taken a self-defense class at work a few weeks earlier (🙏 !), Kelly knew just what to do: She fought for her life while screaming, "Not today, mother fucker!" — a phrase she now refers to her as her battle cry, according to ABC News. Kelly clawed her attacker's face, punched back, and refused to give up until she'd escaped his grip, according to an Instagram that features her fitness tracker's GPS going absolutely bonkers throughout the ordeal:

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Luckily, Kelly was able to make a run for it. Once she escaped from the bathroom, a passerby helped her lock the man in the bathroom using a spare carabiner.

ABC reports that Kelly's alleged attacker is facing charges of second degree assault and attempted rape, and being held on $750,000 bail. And it's something that seems to be making Kelly feel at least feel a bit better: "My face is stitched, my body is bruised, but my spirit is intact," Kelly wrote on Instagram.

Elizabeth Narins Senior fitness and health editor Elizabeth Narins is a Brooklyn, NY-based writer and a former senior editor at Cosmopolitan.com , where she wrote about fitness, health, and more.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io