Babyjoggers should be outlawed in ALL races

Hold on here cowboy. No one is boo-hooing about anything except the whiners against the strollers. If a race allows me to push my child, I may choose to do it or not. I'm certainly not losing any sleep over it.

I just find it hard to believe that it is a problem or that there has been major issues with it. When I race otherwise, I have never, ever seen a stroller during the race. They are out the back door within 2 seconds, literally. There is no way that it is this big an issue. If you are behind a stroller for very long, you either very, very slow and in the back with the stragglers or the person with the stroller is fast and likely knows to keep out of the way of slower runners.

People should be respectful of all others that want to run, race or walk whatever their current handicap may be. We are in this together to improve, compete and market the sport. Baby Strollers are part of the sport.

Pebbles wrote:Baby Strollers are part of the sport.

ha ha ha.

ok, congratukations, you win the award for stupidest quote of the year.

anyone know if the local high school have a baby strolling XC division now?

Wow, you have tunnel vision of the worst sort. Did you not read the post about the 88 year old getting run down? Do you think that because you, an experienced runner, can run with a babystroller just fine that means everyone can? How about a little perspective?

I love taking out people with my stroller. Get out of my way slowpoke or I'll gun you down. Slow people should be in the back, not me and my fast twitched child. Except that I've never really hit anyone, clipped anyone, or spilled my child. There are some I'd like to clip and many of them have posted here.

There is more to running than high school, bambam. If you are going to ridicule people, at least check your spelling.

[quote]Pebbles wrote:

People should be respectful of all others that want to run, race or walk whatever their current handicap may be. quote]

So, if I am reading Pebbles correctly…

1.) Children are a handy cap and

2.) Running with a stroller down the road is the same as racing with a stroller

You are the typical stroller mom that I and my friends find so disheartening. The plague of the suburbs…the one that uses their child as an excuse to act however you want. “I can be the meanest, self-centered person so long as I have a baby in my arms. As a parent, it is people like you that make clear the reasoning for our children growing up so increasingly degenerative. As one of the posts stated it, you are the poster child for why people should have an abortion so their children do not end up like you! If you see you child as a handy cap, why did you have it in the first place. When one becomes a parent, they have to grow as dose the child. It is obvious that you never did.

To those who are commenting about the strollers, I have one, but only use it when I am running down the street with my two children. I would never, ever use it to race. That is what a baby sitter or nanny is for. When my oldest became 8, he began to run with me…and now he races with me. 8 year old, not a baby or toddler.

As a runner, mother and user of the stroller…they should never be allowed to be in a race!

Thank you.

tunnelsintheattic wrote:

Wow, you have tunnel vision of the worst sort. Did you not read the post about the 88 year old getting run down?

Do you believe everything you read? Did the person telling that story sound the least bit credible to you?

A 'handy cap' is a convenient hat. Not sure what you are referring to. BTW, I'm a man, man.

Pebbles wrote:

If you are behind a stroller for very long, you either very, very slow and in the back with the stragglers or the person with the stroller is fast and likely knows to keep out of the way of slower runners.

Funny you would point out a spelling mistake, yet you are missing the "are" between "either" and "very".

But on to another point... are slower runners not allowed the courtesy to race without being impeded by runners with strollers.

Think about it, tough guy. At the start of the race, people are crowded together and there is a lot of jostling. People are passing and being passed. In any normal situation, one would run around the width and depth of a person. You, in your desperate need to stand out in crowd by showing the world you can push a stroller for 5 miles or so, have now become one human wide by 4 foot deep. Having to pass you in a crowded race impedes our progress and is dangerous for us.

Why is it when someone tells people who have children to get a sitter, the first thing these people say is "you must not have children"? How do parents come to that conclusion? Are babysitters something that only exists in the minds of people with no children?

[quote]Dr. Running Mom wrote:

If you see you child as a handy cap, why did you have it in the first place.

amen.

I'm sorry, but I refuse to believe it is that much of an issue. We are in the friggin' back behind everyone...

It is an inconsiderate jerk that is causing problems, not the 99.9% of runners with strollers who start and run from the very back!

One more time, it is not the collective group of people using strollers that is causing the problem. It is a very rare problem that just hardly ever comes into play. IT JUST DOESN'T. It is a problem of someone being a jerk which can be anything and could include a stroller. How about the guy that pushed me into a jersey barrier last week? He didn't have a stroller nor did I. There are people with strollers that are jerks just like there are people that cause other problems. It is NOT A WIDESPREAD problem.

haha. yeah because i don't have a kid, i must not know anything. damn i am a failure.

look. rules should be rules and no exceptions. YOU are generalizing by saying that most stroller runners are slow and in the back. who cares?! a rule should be a rule. you are allowed to own a gun, but is it a good idea to wave it around in the street? no. it has the potential to create disorder. grow up and get a sitter.

Pebbles wrote:It is NOT A WIDESPREAD problem.

terrorism is not a widespread problem either. out of 250 million people in this country, it's only killed a few thousand people in a few cities. so why all the fuss then?

This IS an issue. If you think it's not then you haven't run many races. In nearly every race I've run lately (and I do about a dozen a year) I've had to swerve around some lame brain who feels he (and often it's a he) is just so special that he needs to flout the rules and push his little darling in a race. I'm a 40-something woman who runs well for her age group and I'm often fighting some 30-year-old daddy with a stroller who's clipping my heels.

THIS IS A PROBLEM…

While it might not be one at the upper echelon or large scale race such as the Chicago Marathon last weekend, for those of us who participate and support our local 5ks and half marathons it is. Of the last 8 races I have been either a competitor or an official in, all of them have had some sort of “stroller” incident accompanying them. To say that they are not an issue is to deny the quantitative evidence, backed by the sheer volume of people that have responded in this line of posts. To argue that this is a non issue because you do not “believe it to be so” is akin to the German who did not believe that the concentration camp was a bad thing because they only saw the propaganda that is was.

I am a parent of three, and a runner…just ban them at all races! If you can not get a sitter, you must not have planned well enough for the race. It is called life, and being a grown up!

4 words for you haters..."Rich And Dick Hoyt". If you've ever seen Rich pushing Dick in the Boston Marathon or the Hawaiian Ironman you'd know that it's not the baby jogger that causes the problem, it's the person pushing the baby jogger. Rich & Dick have all my respect and can run any race I ever produce.

Face it, some people are just oblivious or obnoxious and cause problems. Other people could be pushing a baby jogger while wearing a walkman and still pay attention enough to stay out of the way.

Give me specifics. There are no specific examples on this thread save the one faux 88 year old. I run 30 races a year, maybe two with a stroller, usually while Mommy is up front beating the crap out of the women's field. I have never, ever seen any problems. EVER. I am a high school and club coach and I have five race directors in my club for large and small races in the NE area. We also have numerous New England USATF officials running for us. We do not have these issues. It just doesn't come up. No one has ever said a word to me about it. Go hate another group.

It is the race organizers' prerogative to do it any way they want. When you put on a race you can do it any way you want, otherwise just pay your money and take your chances, and shut the hell up about it.

I don't care who participates or how, except it's a little embarrassing getting passed by baby stroller pushers, college kids running backwards, dogs on leashes, soldiers wearing backpacks running in formation, and all the other off-the-wall shit that goes on.

Pebbles,

You have to be the biggest dumbass I have ever seen! What a jerk. You probably think that you are God’s gift to woman with a “johnson” so small only a midget could use it.

Get you head out of your ass, and see the real issue! I can drink and then drive without hurting someone, so should drunk driving be legal. I bet you would say yes. I feel sorry for those kids that you coach. It is people like you that give all runners a bad name. Just shut up and leave the issues to the real runners!