Make a run for it.

[Ashraful Haque]

I've heard 'make a run for it' many times, and I think that I understand what it means. Yesterday I said it but couldn't figure out whether or not it was fitting my context.

I was playing a video game where we only had ten seconds left to kill an enemy. But as soon as the enemy saw us he ran away and hid since he knew that we'll loose the game if we don't kill him in 10 seconds. After the round was over I said:
"He made a run for it as soon as he saw us."

As far as I know the 'it' indicates a place. For example "The train was leaving so we made a run for it." Here the train is the 'it.' But in my context I wasn't talking about any particular place. Was my sentence wrong then?

 

[jutfrank]

No, it was an ideal situation in which to use that phrase. You didn't need it to stand for any particular place.

 

[GoesStation]

I've heard make a run for it many times ….

Please add the required punctuation you omitted from the above.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

No, it was an ideal situation in which to use that phrase. You didn't need it to stand for any particular place.

Does this mean that there's no difference between 'he made a run for it' and 'he ran away' in this context?

 

[jutfrank]

Does this mean that there's no difference between 'he made a run for it' and 'he ran away' in this context?

I suppose you could say that, yes.

 

[GoesStation]

Does this mean that there's no difference between 'he made a run for it' and 'he ran away' in this context?

The first sentence is more casual.