Help us out or better still, join us
Since I've been stirring the pot a bit lately, I thought I'd put out something a bit more bland but informative at the same time.
Even if you're not a runner as I am, certainly you've come into contact with runners as you buzz around town in your automobiles. If so, I just wanted to give you some helpful hints on how to help that next guy or gal you see huffing and puffing down the street. These things may not even have occurred to you unless you've done a bit of running yourself. So here goes:
1. When you see your neighbor John or Susie running down the road, don't blare the horn as you pass them by from behind. It scares the crap out of us most of the time. You may think it's a friendly toot, but we're thinking, we're about to get run over. It's ok to beep as you pass them from the front. This way the runner can look up and wave or smile or whatever they have energy for.
2. When you see a runner ahead, don't crowd them by pushing them into the dirt. Most of us are polite enough to run on the white line, to the left of the line or in the dirt shoulder. If no other car is coming towards you, feel free to move over to give the runner some room. I make it a point to watch for cars coming and going. If I hear a car behind me and see one ahead of me coming towards me at the same time, I make a very visible effort to move over to the shoulder if I'm running the road. This way they don't have to stop to let one car go by first as they see me taking the iniative to move out of the way.
3. And for Pete's sake slow down just a bit so the force of the blast of wind as you blow past doesn't knock us backwards. For those of us who are wearing a hat, it's not unusual to have that hat knocked right off our heads. I don't know how many times over the years, I had to go back and retrieve my hat when something in the form of a blur whipped by me pushing me further into the shoulder of the road. Usually if I see a big honking truck my hands are on my head as they tear by.
3. Don't assume that just because you wave at us, that we know who you are or even see you for that matter. Many times people will wave or honk at me. If I'm not familiar with the car I may not know who it was. So then I'm going....I wonder if that's.......? They may think we're rude by not returning a wave, but we may actually not even see you doing this. Some cars have dark tinted windows, and if so, forget it, unless you have some standout feature like florescent green hair, we haven't a clue.
4. Don't throw things at us. That includes beer bottles, trash, a shoe, etc. You laugh but this has happened many times. Actually not to me, but it has to my husband and I've known others including one guy who actually got knocked out by a beer bottle hitting him in the head.
5. If a runner is running at night, please turn down your high beams. We always run toward traffic especially at night. It's very annoying and we can't see a thing. Talk about a deer caught in the headlight feeling......Keep in mind most of the time we avoid the busier road, but there are times when we have to take a route that puts us in a heavier traffic zone in order to get to there.
6. Now here's a strange one for ya. Betcha didn't know this one. It's men who are more likely to give runners extra room on the road. It's more likely women who crowd us almost running us over as they go by. If I see this coming at me, dollars to donuts it's a female behind the wheel. Now there are exceptions to every rule but usually this is the case.
7. Most runners do not appreciate little Fido running after us while you say...."he won't bite." Ya, really? I know one runner who was actually on her bike and got viciously attacked knocking her off. She was hospitalized for days. They had to sew her ear back on. I've known others as well that have been bitten or attacked by housepets. None are more surprised than the owners.
8. If you see a runner on a dusty dirt road, please don't bomb past the poor unfortunate runner that's about to eat your dust. After you whiz by us, we're either coughing or trying to keep the dust and dirt from getting into our eyes. Slow down just a bit until you're a safe distance away as to not stir up too much of a dust cloud for the runner.
9. When you're coming out of a side street, sitting at a stop sign waiting for traffic to let up and you notice a runner coming right up to you, don't pull out in front of the runner unless the runner is a safe distance away. Usually when I see a car at a stop sign, I check traffic. If it looks like the car has no chance of getting out, I will continue running right on by the stopped vehicle. If it looks like the car HAS to wait for me because he could hit me otherwise and I see a break in the traffic allowing him to go, I'll make a point to go behind the vehicle so we're both able to move. It's a bit more work for me but I think it's curteous to do so.
10. If you've decided to get in the act of walking (that's a good thing) and by going to the school track to do so , there are some helpful hints that can make your relationship to the local track runner all that much nicer.
If you see a runner training on the track, give him/her some room. If you're walking laps, take an outside or even middle lane. Most tracks have at least six lanes. A runner or runners will always take the inside lane. Usually if a runner is on the track, it's for a speed workout. It's very annoying to be doing your workout, breathing as hard as you can, and then having to dodge walkers who could just as easily take their stroll in another lane. There's a reason why a runner takes the inside lane. To get the best accurate time for a one mile you start at the line and do a complete lap. Each lap is a 400 meters with four laps making a mile. Everytime a runner has to go outside of the lane and around recreational walkers it adds feet and time to their workout. Everything is carefully timed and recorded for one doing speedwork. The outside lane is the longest lap. That's why you see staggard starts say in a 400 meter race.
Last week there were two walkers walking very slowly on the inside lane talking to each other and even stopping from time to time, just standing there talking, not getting it as I came behind them breathing hard; almost wheezing, obvously in oxygen debt and having to run around them. I felt like saying....move it will ya? They had no clue. Notta.
Even if you can only rememer some of these helpful hints, your local runners will thank you if not verbally, silently. Sometimes I wave if I see a helpful driver going out of his way to give me a bit of room. I usually think they must be a fellow runner knowing exactly what I'm going thru on the road. It's a jungle out there sometimes.