Did you ever encounter a stranger that tried race you on a training run?

Styx wrote:

Vinorod wrote:

This never happens to me and I also find it interesting that so many people are running recovery dayat 6:30 and apparently quite faster.

While some people on this thread may be embellishing its not that uncommon to run that fast.

I recently ran the 3k equivalent of a 9:12 two mile, and I rarely get down to 6:30 pace. Most days are either 7-7:30, or faster than 6 minutes. In fact, I'm sure a few of the types of people who post here have blown by me multiple times, even finished a whole ten mile run at 6:15 pace. Whoo-pee. Show it on the track, not on the training trails.

yeah, I'm the guy in that financial services commercial on tv, where the guy running on the beach and up into the hills, is passed by some racing lunatic who is eventually passed by the guy he blew by on the beach. (the moral? investing, like long distance running, takes careful pacing for the long haul...lol)

9:12...is not extraordinarily fast...

That happens here in Burbank while mountain biking, but with coyotes. They don't do anything - they just run with you.

5krunner wrote:

I once was on a run at night with a headlamp on. It was pitch black out and as I was running along, I had a weird sense that something was running along the side of me. I glanced down with my headlamp and discovered a skunk was pacing me down the trail. My adrenaline kicked into hyperdrive and I sprinted off as fast as I could.........

Does anyone randomly run with other people or is that for a different discussion?

I can't stand it if someone is running similar/slightly slower pace, but they are a good stretch ahead of me because they turned off a street that I had yet to run by. I just always think to cars passing by it looks like we're running together and this sloppy-formed guy is beating me. Whenever this happens, I only have so much self-control. I usually pick it up, but I try not to look like I'm trying to gain on him.

I never run past the dude though, unless he's laboring badly or on the other side of the road. I'll usually just catch-up then start a small conversation, see how far they're running and route and what not.

Variation on the theme:

One of my main trails is a 2 mile out-back run. Frequently I will run that trail for easier runs and will usually go 8 miles (out-back twice). Invariably I will get passed by many 'fitness' type guys or soccer/lacrosse players who will do 4 miles, 3 x per week for 'cardio.' You can tell that most of these guys want to race but rarely do I take the bait.

Now the best part about this is when these guys will show up for a race and finish 5 minutes behind me in a 5k, then come up to chat afterward (having recognized a familiar face from the trail). Upon hearing my time, they will say "How did you run so fast when I always beat you on the trail?"

Styx wrote:

9:12...is not extraordinarily fast...

It's faster than the vast majority of people that post here and his point is well taken. A lot of people "leave it on the roads (or track)." I think you have to be disciplined if you want to race well - at least for most of us. Would you rather hammer some douche in the middle 3 miles of your run or race well at the end of the week?

I was cycling this morning with my brother in law and we passed some guy near the end of our ride. We were going 21-22 mph and he was going 17-18 mph until we passed him. Then he starts sprinting to keep up with us and he's getting blown all over the road because he's wearing billowy street clothes and he's not stable on the bike. So I kicked it up to 25 mph for a while to drop him. It was a 2 lane country road with 40 mph traffic and dangerous for him to be trying to jump on my wheel. I think it's an annoyance whne you're running and someone wants to race, but it's dangerous with cycling.

Hillrunner32 wrote:

Last week I was running an easy 12 miles on a path when I was approaching a man walking. As I was getting closer to him, he started turning around to see when I was coming. As soon as I got within 5 feet of him, he takes off in a mad dash and was acting like he was racing me. I was thinking "WTF" but I kept quiet. My pace was nothing special, maybe 6:45 or so, and I decided to just keep going at the same pace because it was only a matter of time before he dropped off. He stayed ahead of me for maybe 2 minutes and then started walking again.

Has anyone else experienced something similar before and how did you respond?

Last year I had a guy do that. Well, he was running the opposite direction as I was, and I was at 28 minutes of an out and back 60 minute run, so I was going to turn around shortly after I passed this guy.

Sure enough, I turned around and caught up to him about 8-10 minutes after I had passed him the first time going the opposite direction. I didn't speed up or anything, just kept my pace which was probably 6:50 to 7:00/mile. Of course when I saw him up ahead, I figured he might pull something. Sure enough I was right.

I went passed him, no big deal, but about a mile down the path I hear this breathing and footsteps coming up behind me. I fiugure it is some other runner who is going for a bit of a harder run than myself, and wait for him to pass. Problem is he didn't pass, just sat on my shoulder for about 800 meters. I finally looked back and saw it was this old dude that I had passed 2 miles back and I veered off to the side of the path and slowed down. He went charging past me and muttered something unintelligble, and then proceeded to stumble up the next exit to the road. I was pissed, not so much because he made a fool of himself, but because I didn't like some a-hole sitting on my shoulder, breathing down my neck for a hal mile and not bothering to pass until I slowed down. Not to mention I had no idea who he was or what he may "try" to do.

Afterward I realized that it was just some old idiot who thought he was reliving his youth by running down a 20- something on an easy training run. Pathetic.