Footpath Rage

[DesignatedDriver]

yeah. need a rant. Monday morning and all....


Was stuck behind a car doing 50 in the outside lane of the motorway. gettin sooo pissed off, i think i gave myself a nose bleed.

then i get were i am going and walking down street. stuck behind some [nope]head walking slowly. and as if that's not bad enough, they randomly stop. is it just me, or does anyone else feel like twisting their stupid heads off their shoulders. Now, i'm not by nature a violent man. but that really gets me angry.

then i started to remember back to events i've done. in my prime i used to be quite quick. although in those days you didn't get your run-in split, i still liked to give it my all.
the number of times i got stuck behind a slow moving orienteer. now by my thinking. if there is a single file track on the run in, surrounded by long grass (for example) surely the slower moving person should be running on it? they aren't movin fast anyway? what difference does it make to them if they take an extra 3 seconds?

the number of times i have nearly broken an ankle, having to run around some OAP (its not just the elderly by the way, in case you think i am having a go at them) on the run-in, is frightening. by the law of averages, one of these times i will break my ankle.



i think i have a nose bleed again.

DAMMIT!!!!

[Rich]

i think i have a nose bleed again.

DAMMIT!!!!

It probably because your fingers always up it!

[DesignatedDriver]

nah - thats the only way i can stop the blood seeping into my keyboard.

or dashboard.

(as i share my time between the two)

[Guest]

Saw the opposite on day two of the Scottish. Where the run in was very rough. A foreign 'elite' came through will arms flailing all over the place and very nearly knocked a youngster moving pretty quickly over onto the rocks. I considered the foreigner to be irresponsible, not because he was trying hard but because he was taking up an abnormal amount of the run in by his running method and was threatening all on the run in where ever they were. I don't like being obstructed by others but also object stronly to being pushed/shoved by others as I would not do it and don't expect others to.

Hocolite

[Kitch]

I have always found a little pre-emptive warning to be most effective.

No, not balling, "Ooot Ma way!" at the top of my voice.
But, loud coughy, snorty, hacky, "!'m clearing my throat", "I'm going to gob and its going to be messy" noises.
Works like a dream.

[DesignatedDriver]

"I'm going to gob and its going to be messy" noises.

i like it!

will be trying that one.

bodily noises always get a laugh from me.

lowest common denominator!

[bedders]

yeh day 2 of the scottish was quite bad, I nearly floored my granddad on that run in...whoopsie daisy

I usually just scream some garbled combination of words, and they probably think I'm a crazy mental patient (specially with the zebra pants), so they think its in their best interests to move, or something like that, after all getting trampled by a zebra is probably quite painful

[DesignatedDriver]

... after all getting trampled by a zebra is probably quite painful

mmm. little known fact about horses (part of the zebra family ) if you lie down in front of one while its galloping, it will step over you.

could be an interesting etiquette on the run in. someone comes charging down the taped avenue, and everyone lies down in front of them!

[OCM45]

Kitch wrote:I have always found a little pre-emptive warning to be most effective.

I've started doing a bit of cyclo cross this Autumn. Given the races are often 10 laps or so, there's lots of overtaking on uphill single tracks as the leaders lap us old codgers (and again, and again). They simply yell "rider on the right" (or left as the case may be!) before whizzing past at great speed. Unlike "O", with only the risk of a minor bump or bruise, the consequences of getting it wrong on a bike are much more severe- with a heap of crumpled metal and bodies. Strangely enough, the self-preservation instinct kicks in, and it's surprising how regularly two bikes can squeeze side by side on a single track!

[ejhw]

I'm definitely at the slow end of the scale when comes to running and will always trying to get out of the way when there's someone behind me (self preservation again). The difficulty is that it is sometimes difficult to hear when there's someone behind until the last moment. I'm neither elderly nor hard of hearing but some runners seem to move very quietly through the forest (and others crash along like a herd of elephants!). Perhaps some agreed signal ("runner left/right") would be helpful in allowing safe passing on narrow paths.

the number of times i have nearly broken an ankle, having to run around some OAP (its not just the elderly by the way, in case you think i am having a go at them) on the run-in, is frightening. by the law of averages, one of these times i will break my ankle.

Although I the slower runner (ie me) should try to move out of the way, it seems to me that the responsibility for passing someone safely should lie with the person behind whether the 'passee' is elderly, youngster or just not quite as fast.

[Guest]

Heard a story of one Swedish race in which Jamie Stevenson and Emil Wingstedt were head to head in a sprint finish. As they raced up a scaffolding bridge into the assembly field, some slow moving ancients blocked the way. Trying to avoid them, Jamie over-balanced and went flying off the side of the bridge, landing upside down in the mud - soft landing fortunately.

I think Emil won the final run-in.

[Carnage Head]

Supersaint told me he put a foot on a boulder and jumped over a slower competitor in the run-in on one of the Scottish six-day events. It was apparently followed by a stream of expletives. From the other competitor, that is.

[Stodgetta]

Looking at it from the other point of view, there's nothing worse than running sometimes very competitively in the "lower classes" 'cos the legs aren't fast enough and being shoved out the way by someone who thinks they are more worthy of that particular piece of ground than you.
Why should you have right of way just because you are bigger, stronger and faster at covering the ground, while the person you are trying to pass may be about to win their course?
If I am having a bad run, I will make space. If I'm going well, then I'm noped if I'm going to lose time just because someone is breathing down my neck and desperate to get past.

[Mrs H.]

hear hear - I would say that the rules of the run in should be the same as the ski-slope it's the responsibility of the person coming from behind to keep out of the way of the person in front.

I well remember being barged out of the way by a young man on the way to a punching start

[DesignatedDriver]

I well remember being barged out of the way by a young man on the way to a punching start

well thats just daft!!

i can see what you are saying.

and i think someone mentioned early about it lying with the organiser/planner to have a wide enough run in, to accomodate this type of thing. obviously there will be some areas where this is just not possible, but i have been to events where they appear to have put the run in on the most difficult surface they could find. then proceeded to put in the most narrow run in they could get away with.

that and some (unnamed organisers) from my old club putting "ankle breakers" into the run in. (which consisted of digging an uneven ditch in the field!!!!!)

not good.