Citation for Running on Track

fat sh*t wrote:

Well, I actually got the workout done. He offended me with his demeanor and verbally abusing me, which I think was something that shouldn't be done in the situation, very unprofessional.

But you lost because you needed to escape undetected. For sure if you are seen again by the same guy, the cops will be called. Now you have to case the joint and figure out his patrol schedule so you can be sure of when it is safe to do it... ;-)

You should have told the guy you saw some kids with spray paint cans trying to tag the track. You were jogging by and saw them, and hopped the fence to chase them away. You saw the booth door open and were checking inside to see if anything was damaged. You were going to call the cops as soon as you could. "Officer, they went that way about 5 minutes ago" (points somewhere far away). While he's off investigating you are getting in your 5x500's...

Chalk it up as a learning experience...

jackass wrote:

ttc wrote:

Almost went to jail for running on a track. I was timing myself for the mile and insisted on finishing the last 600m, despite the threats.

Officer even said a runner spent a couple days in the can for what I did, a week prior.

good for you! worth doing time rather than thinking about what could have been for that last 600m!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey I'm not defending it. Just saying I didn't know being arrested was a possible consequence. After warming up & stretching for 40 minutes and pushing part of my day around it, I wanted that extra 90...er uh....85 seconds. :)

jackass wrote:

come on malmo there is nothing that wrong with jumping a fence to do a workout! in the scale of things that kids/young adults can do to break the law- doing a session of 5 x 500m with a jog lap recovery doesnt warrent the police!! can't believe in your whole career you never became a track badit malmo?????????????????????????????

jackass, I didn't say not to jummp the fence. I would have. I've been in this situation many times. What differs here is how you handle yourself when asked to leave. I would have said something like "Look, I'm just some poor schmuck home from college trying to get in my workout. If I have to I'll buy you a couple of beers to let me stay here. Wudda ya say?" If the Keystone Kop was above good old fashioned graft, I would have left without incident, forgotten about it in 10 minutes. Hell would have frozen over before I would have been compelled to bitch about it to strangers.

More often then not you'll make a friend.

What's so difficult about that? Life doesn't have to be an endless chain of personal drama, you know.

malmo wrote:

Hell would have frozen over before I would have been compelled to bitch about it to strangers.

Now that is goddamn funny. Thanks for the laugh, malmo...

If you help out with the team ask the coach or AD for a key to the track. I had one for our track. I was liked/trusted at my school and had a key for the time when I was back in town. I would give it back when I was back at school and stop in and get it when I was back home.

If they know you I doubt they are going to even think twice about giving you access to the track. Either a key or they may ask the guard to unlock it for you when you need it.

The worst they could say is "no".

[quote]fat sh*t wrote:

The thing that really bothers me about all of it is, I come back to help the track and cross teams during my off time and during breaks, especially in the summer when I run with them and show up to the state meet to cheer them on.

10K Runner wrote:

I just don't see what the point is in closing the track to the public, when its the local residents that pay for the track.

I understand your frustration, but here's your answer, coming from a teacher and coach. Your property taxes also pay the school's liability insurance. In order to prevent the possibility of a track being used unsupervised (think: little kid doing flips on high jump pit falls and breaks his neck), school districts see three choices: a) pay someone to supervise activity at the stadium, b) leave the track open to the public, pay more for liability insurance (any unsupervised use of school property leaves the school open to a lawsuit, hence higher premiums), and hope nothing bad happens, or c) lock the stadium when it's unsupervised, which covers them against liability.

Choices a and b further raise your property taxes, choice c makes using the track more annoying and difficult. Liability is a huge issue in public schools these days. If I have students working in my classroom after school and I have to leave to use the bathroom, they all have to leave the classroom while I'm gone and I have to lock the door. The school district and I would liable for anything that occurred while I was out of the room. School districts just don't want to take those risks, which explains all the tracks that seem to be locked up for no reason.

The man gets 6 bucks an hour to make sure people don't trespass. While some of us have more important, well paying or prestigious jobs, this is what this man does.

As such he is neither expected to have a PhD or rationalization skills beyond that of your average Joe.

He may in fact come off as crude or even rude. He was, quite simply, doing his job. Now you, as the college alumni, should have used your superior education and reasoning skills to either lighten any tension with a

bit of humor ie., "the wifes been getting on me about this spare tire since I got outta here, and my girlfriend hates it too" and let him know you'll be out of there within the hour, or, since you went to school there, name drop

in a non offensive fashion on how when you were at (insert AD's name here) house a while back he said it would be fine for you to do workouts there." adding of course

that the AD mentioned how you may run into security, then go off on a tangent about what a thankless job they have and how you don't know how they do it. Ask for the obligatory "whats the worst thing you've ever seen?" story

and then listen like you care while he tells you. Yes, blow some smoke up his a$$. It only takes a minute and

it might not only get you that workout, but others anytime the guy is working. You see, it's all about how you communicate. You can't expect a "school cop"

how makes jack $hit to put up with endless cr*p and disrespect to be the one to do it. You therefore have to

become the politician. A little forethought, understanding & smooth talking on your part and what became something of a problem never would be one.

fair point malmo, just having abit of joke with you!

your right about it coming down to someones job to keep people of that property. therefore if caught thats the risk you take- dont give them crap just walk away, or as you said try and make friends with them.

i still suggest- dusk in black kit- works like a treat!!!!

jt

Another point that needs to be made. Not all public school facilities are financed by the local board of education. The track where I teach and coach was completely financed by donations. The board of education would not even pay for the project to be advertised in the newspaper. Granted the facility is on land owned by the board of eduation, but it was not financed by "tax dollars". Our facility is open to the public, but if any vandalism would occur, we would lock it up in a heart beat.

Fat guy,

I always hear the nonsense here about what the Kenyans and Ethiopians do.

Ask yourself this, "How many tracks are there in Ethiopia?"

Ponder this for a while, and when you get within 2 minutes of the 10K WR, you will see how important a track workout really is.

Wise Man wrote:

If none of you have ever hopped a fence to do a workout you all are either great citizens or amazingly lucky.

But since this was over winter break and NO ONE is there, why would it even matter that the guy was doing a workout there? No administrators, no teachers, no students.

Let's see some common sense in action rather then mindless zero tolerance "you broke the law" BS.

Well, I have jumped a fence or two in my day, and in fact someone took some bolt cutters to a back corner of my old high school track, so I have entered that way a couple times, BUT...

1) That was a mistake on my part. I am older and wiser and wouldn't do so again. It really isn't right.

2) To echo Malmo, if you get caught by the school patrol officer, accept it and get the hell out. No need to be a dick about it, and of course, I agree with Malmo when he said hell would have to freeze over before I'd complain to strangers about it.

And I agree that your a total asswipe

Ears2Yoo wrote:

You're kidding me, right?

The joke is certainly on you, but for the wrong reasons.

If you are so adamant about this being an apples vs. oranges issue, could you at least explain why?

Sure. A track is an open air facility, 400m of tartan, polyurethane, rubberized, or asphalt oval. We are discussing the coup of a long distance runner trying to do a faster workout on the track. It's winter break, he is home from college, and this is presumably a high school track.

I have run on dozens and dozens of high school tracks in Florida, New Mexico, Rohde Island, New York, Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington DC...you get the point, I hope.

I have run on college tracks, high school tracks, private school tracks, anything that is round and measures 300-400m. I have climbed many fences. Never once has it occurred to me that I should compare my fence climbing to breaking into a building and helping myself to chemistry equipment.

That analogy is asinine. Someone breaking into and entering a building is committing a certain crime, not to mention the ensuing violations accrued by using volatile chemicals. The person who constructed that analogy is either an idiot or made an awful attempt at sarcasm.

Using a track is more than reasonable, harms no one, violates no laws that I have ever heard of, and any high school fiats issued by bitter security guards can reasonably be circumvented for a runner who merely wants to use the surface for, get this, RUNNING. No volatile chemicals, no rapes, murders, vandalism, terrorism. RUNNING.

Almost all high school tracks are open to the public. Come to think of it, I've NEVER heard of one that isn't, and as I mentioned, I've run at many. The only recollections I have of tracks being locked would be times late at night, in which case no one is there and no one cares, or times when a track is being resurfaced or renovated, in which case I've been the 15th or 16th person to ignore the irritating yellow tape plastered on the entrance. It's not hard to understand the failure to differentiate breaking and entering with running on a track. If you don't get it, that's sad.

I have to agree with your point here. I think that the situation could have been sloved in a better way. I also think that if you are truely friends with the coach and the AD and you help out alot I don't think that the would be a problem clearing you to use the track or giving you a spare key. Just drop the incedent with the rent-a-cop, get permission and then next time you go and he gives you a hard time you can say "listen I have permission to be here sorry for the issue before."

Just my two cents

Sol from the Bronx wrote:

And I agree that your a total asswipe

You're brilliant! You've earned the right to talk about that comment with your buddies for days. How do you do it?!

i thought this site was flooded with high schoolers... now i'm seeing that it is flooded with runners who are just plain ancient / over the hill dorks

ears2yoo and all the others... give me a f***ing break, are you really that old to scold someone for hoping a fence to do a track workout? in a country of fat, out of shape people it seems to me that others should be doing the same. it all comes down to a little perspective... when you think of the crimes out there... drugs, theft, violent crimes, DUI, i'm not going to scold someone for trying to do an illegal track workout.

yeah, the security guard asks you to leave and you leave but come on people, what are you 90 years old straight from the monastery... gain a little perspective

hrunner wrote:

i thought this site was flooded with high schoolers... now i'm seeing that it is flooded with runners who are just plain ancient / over the hill dorks

ears2yoo and all the others... give me a f***ing break, are you really that old to scold someone for hoping a fence to do a track workout? in a country of fat, out of shape people it seems to me that others should be doing the same. it all comes down to a little perspective... when you think of the crimes out there... drugs, theft, violent crimes, DUI, i'm not going to scold someone for trying to do an illegal track workout.

yeah, the security guard asks you to leave and you leave but come on people, what are you 90 years old straight from the monastery... gain a little perspective

Hey, take it easy man.

The old timers are right. Many dangerous criminals, political assasins, suicide terrorists, and other societal riff raff started out by hopping the fences of outdoor tracks.

It's only one small step from hopping track fences to dealing crack to elementary schoolers in back alleys.

I am stunned at your ignorance.

Whether your call it trespassing or breaking and entering, it doesn't matter. Anyone can be prosecuted for either infraction. The bottom line is that you cannot go onto property that is otherwise noted as being off limits. Hopping a fence, breaking a window, or even simply opening an unlocked door to a place you shouldn't be is not deemed acceptable in the eyes of the law (no matter what your means of entrance is).

Try hopping a fence to the nearest military base and when they detain you, you can just tell them that your taxes are paying their salaries, as well as for the land they're using. I'm sure they'll all applaud your quick wit (and don't bother trying to fire back by telling me that I'm giving a completely different set of circumstances -- the premise is all the same).

I'm stunned by your near-sexual attraction to piss-poor analogies.

Every time I point out what a minor, if not utterly IRRELEVANT, "infraction" hopping a fence to a track comprises, you come back with some absurd comparison.

This time you compare hopping a track fence to hopping the fence into a military base.

Ah, of course, at once the similarities have dawned on me!

In one case, I hop the fence to a public place to run a track workout on a surface specifically designed for running track workouts and open to the community.

In the other case, I hop the fence to a private place designed for army personnel to fire their weapons and which is specifically designed for purposes expressly OTHER than running track workouts.

I've run on tracks and in army bases, and your analogies continue to stink like week-old fish carcasses. Pack it in.