So my level 25 - that's right 25 - Dumner is strolling down the road from Helgen towards Riverwood and who do they bump into on the road? - a frikkin ancient vampire killing a vigilant of stendarr. After being massacred about 10 times without denting the vampire's health in any way, the only way I could take her was by sneaking up behind her - and with 61 sneak and dark brotherhood boots I still needed an extended invisibility potion to get close - and then it took two backstabs (luckily the second happened quick enough to count) despite wearing the dark brotherhood gloves and the huge bonus they give.
I have never randomly run into an ancient vampire at that low a level before. I think I just learned what "outclassed" means.

It is nice that the game will throw things at you that are a challenge.

Yep, and we have been waiting since Oblivion for this kind of thing to return. Actually running into a challenge once and a while makes the game more fun.

I don't expect to win every fight. In fact sometimes I have to admit my lost and run away. Especially a low level vs something that is clearly a high level creature.

Agreed with the above posters. The first time I got mauled by a Frost Troll on the Throat Of The World, I cheered

I love things like this, it keeps you on your toes. I was caught off guard by a Master Volkihar vampire at level 46-47 on expert and was quickly killed because I never got a chance to heal(shock magic) and was rendered to slow to run away(frost). I was a little more careful in caves for a while after that.

Personally I love having Monty Python moments and even shout out in real life "RUN AWAY!!"

Honestly, these kind of scenarios sort of annoy me. If I encountered an overwhelmingly strong enemy in or near a dungeon, this would be different. Plodding down the interstate? Not so much. Bandits, sure. Ancient vampires and evil necromancers? It feels so silly when I bump into them just outside of town. Like what, they needed a breath of fresh air and decided to step out of their tombs for a stroll?

That, and I learned pretty early on exactly where enemies would spawn around Whiterun. It came to the point where I'd intentionally dart off the road and swim across the river because I knew there'd be some sort of evil wizard around the next corner.

Ha! There should be a mod that changes the background music to the Sir Robin song when your character runs from a fight.

[EDIT]: Found a you-tube link to the "Brave Sir Robin" song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4SJ0xR2_bQ

there are areas on the map that will almost always have spawned enemies/npc's when you return at a later date. the road as it goes left and right from helgen to riverwood is one such spot.

Whenever you start to get comfortable and feel like you have things under control, the game manages to throw an "oh [censored]" moment right at your head

has happened to me a few times last time i was Lv 20 i think and it was at nigth just outside a ruina started to go down the montain and there it's was a high lv vampire figthing 2 vigilant of stendarr, needeless to say i got rammed by the vampire at a distance quite easelly, i like this kind of things worst umbalanced experience i had was when i was Lv 5 on my first play and that was really a WTH moment hehehe

I′ve never run away, since I always managed to take down any enemy I encountered. In the worst case scenario I could just spam my atronachs and kill the enemy by damaging them step by step.

It would be nice to investigate and try and find out why they're where they are and why they're intent on slaughtering some poor sap, though it is fun to leave it to your imagination.

I remember when i traveled to Ivarstead for the first time... It was dangerous,really dangerous to be outside!
I got killed by the same sabre cat x) 3 times or more.
Then the frost troll.. and oh.Master vampires! i hate them so much D:

Why kill the vampire? The vampire did a good thing.

Me, too! I have had to "RUN AWAY!!" from caverns a couple of times and come back later when I was stronger. It makes the combat more realistic for me. (and more fun!)