That's pretty crazy... I have a similar story:
I was running through some trails yesterday and came across three women walking side-by-side and taking up the whole trail. They were gabbing up a storm and I could hear them from 100 meters back. So as I get within about 25 meters, I politely said "on your left" in a fairly low voice.
Of course they all jump and get scared and one of them gives me a horrible look as I run by. This is near my neighborhood, on trails that I run daily, so I stop and say, "I am sorry, I tried not to scare you. I am not sure what else I could have done. I hope you ladies will be okay." I honestly said it in a nice way, too. I wasn't being condescending or patronizing.
She responded with, "We'll be just fine, but you shouldn't be frightening women walking alone in the woods. You're asking for trouble."
At this point I wasn't sure if she was joking or not, and I thought it would be best to just say something nice and be on my way. I said," Well I certainly wasn't trying to scare you. I am sorry. The only other option was to just run up behind you and push one of you out of the way. I was trying to be polite."
I spent the rest of my long run contemplating the exchange and I still don't know if she was trolling me or not. They were not laughing and they were probably early 50s, so not really the age of your typical jokers.
Just for some background: I am in my mid thirties, clean cut and I was wearing a some fairly new running gear. No headphones or anything. So not that it should matter, but it wasn't like I am a bearded mountain man running in old cutoffs or something.