Victim Profile

I call bs on you LazyL.

Okay, I have to share a slightly more uplifting story. Three years ago I was living in DC and coaching a friend who was running the original DC Marathon (the one that actually happened). The day before the race, I decided to run the course (I was training for Boston) so I could see if there was anything I should tell my pal to watch for. Went over the Whitney Young bridge into Anacostia and promptly got lost. I was convinced I'd be shot but instead nearly everybody I ran past yelled "Good job!" or "Stay strong!" or beeped and gave me the thumbs up. I don't know if they thought I was part of the race or a slow white boy (mentally as well as physically) or just what, but it was one of the best runs I've ever had. I found my way to Minnesota Ave and ran down to Pennsylvania, then back over the bridge and into Capitol Hill. The highlight: running past the BTM Cafe: "Brothas Tryin-a Make it."

I'm a college sophomore in Boston and have only once gotten taunted here (the classic "Put a shirt on!"). In highschool in Tallahassee, I got all sorts of comments running on the roads, but most of the people whom I encountered along the trails were polite runners, walkers, or bikers.

male, 29. I use a HRM all the time, so I get harrassed about that. I also put up a few stories. I was stalked by an african-american once who wanted to hurt my rear end more than my body proper. (Why do gays thinking stalking in a car is going to mysteriously get some random person to jump in the car and get it on with them?) Generally, here (Baton Rouge...nowa bout 600,000) mostly women/girls catcalling and men harassing/throwing things. Typically, I just get stared at because I do almost all my workouts on the roads now (including 400m-mile pace work). Running anything close to race pace gets some gawks. No one says anything when you actually look like you're trying to run faster than a fitness poker...down here at least.

I'm in upstate NY. I'm 33. I've dealt with the typical idiots yelling stuff and a few swerving at me. A few times the idiots decided once wasn't enough so they headed around the block for a encore presentation but it never escalated beyond a heated exchange of words that usually ended something like this:

Me: "Tell ya' what. I'm almost done working out. Let me grab a shower and I'll meet you at the police station in an hour so we can chat some more."

Them: "The police station?"

Me: "Yeah, I work there."

Not once has the exchange continued beyond that. Odd.

22. Kansas. Probably about 40,000 when schools in...

I hear it EVERYDAY, and usually twice a day. I've gotten pretty flexible in the region of my middle finger, but mainly I let my imagination run with the fun I could have with those lazy sh*t-kicking, goat-f*ck*ng bastards...

I just have a hard time with young people, especially those here in the midwest, who's parents deny them the opportunity to mature by paying for everything these kids consume, pollute, and/or destroy.

Worst place i've ever been as far as cat-calls go is Tallahassee. People honked several times a run, but that's not so big a deal. Worst thing that happened was one guy slowed his car to almost a stop, yelled out the window and asked incredulously what the hell i was doing. I sort of just gestured... (not obsceneley). Although on the track at FSU, this big black guy who was built like a shotput thrower or a linebacker pointed at me to this girl he was with and said, "That's my goal." At first the words didn't click, but then he smiled and nodded and i realized what he had said. Nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

I lived in NYC before. Running by Spence (a rich private girls' high school) with a pack of guys was an interesting experience... But i don't get harrassed in central park. Too many runners there.

Now i live in Berkeley. There are a bunch of f***ing crazy people here, and i mean actually crazy. So maybe that doesn't count. I run with a group of people, and we don't let the girls run in bad neighborhoods (like Oakland) by themselves. I do have a couple of nice stories though:

1. I'm doing a long tempo run, like a 15 miler, in preparation for a marathon. I'm coming down from Vollmer Peak, so for the last 40 minutes of my run, 30 minutes is downhill and the rest is flat. I run it pretty fast on my hard days. I'm running along a slight downhill and going pretty quickly, probably 5:30 pace, and this guy drives by and screams out a word or two of encouragement, "YEAH!!" or something, and has a camcorder out to tape me as he goes by. It was pretty cool.

2. On that same road, I'm running up or down (can't remember which), and this guy in a truck slows down and gestures to ask if i need a lift the rest of the way. It was clear he was genuinely attempting to help. I thought it was a beautiful gesture, but obviously i ran the rest of the way :-)

bump!

Thanks for the input everyone. After reading all of the responses (and considering some parallel items from the Attacked... thread), I think there are a few things we can conclude:

1. There is no public place where a runner is immune from being hassled.

2. Women runners have a separate set of issues to deal with from men. (Note the number of male runners who actually APPRECIATED cat calls from women.)

If we throw out encounters with drunk and/or crazy people, as well as honest accidents, I see the following:

3. Hassles seem to be directed at runners when the runner is seen as some form of threat (generally, an imagined threat).

I say this because the hasslers are usually part of a socially or economically powerless group, and thus, have an exaggerated need to express dominance.

I think this explains the two largest groups that are implicated over and over, namely high school kids and so-called "rednecks". This would also explain the instances of middle class drivers who apparently see runners as a reminder of their own losing "battle of the bulge" (there was one instance I specifically remember where the driver adimtted as much). Consequently, older runners are probably not seen to be as threatening as younger runners, perhaps because the general public recognizes that a 40-something running on the road alone is "just a jogger", but a group of running teens might "spell trouble" (pure conjecture).

In general, it seems that areas in the Northeast and Canada have fewer problems than the South, while the West coast is a mixed bag. City running is not usually good, but backroads are not good either if they are populated by the afore-mentioned "rednecks". Municipal trail systems generally seem OK, and it is smarter to run on sidewalks when available than in the streets. And of course, stay away from groups of teens, particularly if they are hanging out and acting cool (with or without cars). I must admit though that I often run by some HS students with no problem in the early morning while they're waiting for the school bus. This could be because it's too early for them, they're a stone's throw from Mom & Dad's, or maybe they're just good kids. ;-)

Maybe we need to start another thread on "Perp Profile" to see if the above pans out with further scrutiny.