Told I wasn’t allowed to run on a track today

This is wrong. I ran past a middle school soccer game, happening on the HS grounds, during school hours yesterday (left work early). Parents, family, friends, etc. all there in lawn chairs by the practice fields. There was a referee and a few coaches. It was far form "all hands on deck." I could have pulled up a chair and watched myself.

Many people would be very happy with this as long as the hours were reasonable.

1. AFAIK sexual predators can't live near schools, correct me if I'm wrong.

2. Fine, more than happy

3. Fine, as long as the hours are reasonable, e.g. before school and up to 9 or 10pm as an example

4. Uhhh, yeah sure. I've never run with a weapon and the only people I've known to have been trail runners with bear spray, which they wouldn't have for a track sessions.

5. 99% of schools have cameras in place already. The SROs often sit in their cars in the parking lot and you have to run by them anyway.

6. Weird one but okay. As I get older my shirt stays on more and more. But I'm anti-prude to a certain extent. Bodies aren't weird or gross. I'm not flaunting around in splits either, I'm a 5" guy. But whatever, if this was the school policy, I'd follow it. Fortunately, on hot days kids will take their shirts off and so will I and no one bats an eye.

I've read about rare schools that have policies like this and might even give you a key. Me and many others would be ecstatic about it.

And I'm going to add to my point this tidbit:

If Sony, Inc. has a track, you can't just come in from the street and run on Sony's track.

Similarly, it's best to view each school as an LLC and the Superintendent like the Corporate CEO.

Each school is like a subsidiary company. Their rules go.

I feel for OP in this situation. Finding a public track to do interval and workout sessions was one of the more challenging parts of post college running for me. If you go before school starts sometimes there are no lights on the track, and you can barely see where you are going. If you go after school, you run the risk of running into one of the schools' teams practices or games in which case the track is off limits. If you go during lunch, you can run the risk of running into a gym class. I remember once working out on a high school track when they were having gym class in the field on the track, I remember feeling like I was doing something wrong while I was there even though it's a public track. It definitely feels weird even if its legal when you are using a high school's facilities while the kids are also using part of it. Ultimately, I lucked out and found a track that was attached to a local prep school, the school itself was about 40 minutes from the track and the kids only use it from like 3-6. It's worth looking into if you can find a track like this, I drive a bit further then I normally would for the old tracks I used to use but it's definitely worth it to avoid the headache of showing up to a track ready to workout only to find out its closed off to the public.

re the "sweaty fat man" arguments, what if it is a recent grad training for something serious? closer to the "alum" discussion. i kind of want the varsity kids seeing what turning it up a notch looks like. my personal experience as a college kid was when i tried to train at home or in a park in the summer in my work downtime i got sick of people trying to give me a job. i would think coaches would want the motivation of seeing Next Level around. i know when i would pop up at the HS occasionally during college the coaches were eager to point out he went here and he competes NCAA now. same reason a college might want some alums around. this program has history. you have a future. this is what hard work looks like.

even if it's a chunky dude, that's the sort of thing you giggle about at 16 but ponder at 30. when you get older and put on a few pounds you remember the guy who used to show up and plod through a daily slow workout. if he can do it why can't i.

#6 is not weird at all. No middle school students should see an adult unshirted on campus... it's inappropriate.

Okay this is unhinged corporatism lmao. Each school has to follow rules set forth by the district, which has to follow rules set forth by the state, which has to follow rules set forth by the federal government. All levels of government, to a certain extent, should work with their populace for mutual benefit. A corporation should do the same, but they have much less civic obligation to do so.

I'm okay with it if and only if the school knows who you are and the rules 1-6 are adhered to, all inclusive.

If someone is working hard and sweaty, it's not inappropriate to be shirtless. Bodies are bodies. Weird that American kids watch violent TV all the time but freak out at the first hint of nudity. I remember being at a public pool in Texas and some German family showed up. They changed poolside, got totally naked. People thought it was crazy, I did at the time as a child. Now that I've lived elsewhere and experienced more, it's not so crazy. I lived in a very European part of the US for a bit, and saw a family quickly and discretely change clothes trackside once. Doesn't bother me one bit and it shouldn't bother you. I've gone to bathhouses in other countries and people are just naked or scantily clad. Children and adults. Nude beaches too.

Should I run naked laps around a track? No. Should I change at a track? Also no, but I'm smart enough to know that Americans will freak out about it and simultaneously also smart enough to know that they really shouldn't care.

the poster was talking about after hours or at night and saying rural refused. like we're no longer talking about student safety, as in interactions, we're talking about securing facilities like we're the secret service or something, even when no one is there. that's either we're just no longer letting unattached adults on campus or we're overly concerned with theft. because there aren't students there at this point.

as i said earlier the irony is for school sports games it's opened up to the public. and you're saying follow the climate. well, what i saw was about a half dozen football games interrupted by shootings in the stands this fall. should those be closed doors? or are we willing to take risks with a few thousand people together but a single jogger is a bridge too far?

You're a chill dude. Wanna puff a fat L and hit some reps on a high school track this weekend?

the clothes thing is self regulating and/or can be handled with a sign. you show up lardy and shirtless or hot and in a sports bra and you will see how any kids left there react. if you want to police it you put up a sign and can enforce it with trespass. you're allowed here under certain conditions and since he's not dressed right he was asked to leave, refused, cops called. probably a once in a blue moon problem where mental health might be as big a concern as anything else.

this angle, to me, sorry, adds nothing to the discussion really. same as a public park. you get naked, engage in public acts, or act crazy in a public park the cops might be called. the cops might be called for that once a decade. are we seriously "but the children" using such outliers as an excuse to lock the thing down?

one time going for a team run during select soccer practice we were going through some forest trails and came upon a couple getting a little frisky in the woods. what do you think a bunch of teenage boys did? were our lives ruined by it? no. fake argument. they noticed they were being watched and ran off. we felt perhaps a little guilty after. problem polices itself.

fwiw we also watched the 60s romeo and juliet with nudity in a public HS english classroom. and we didn't turn out ruined. i think we had a couple people go to hollywood from that rough time period, one of whom is a big name everyone knows.

sorry but my general impression of what's happening right now is we're using children as early first steps or levers to change general conduct expectations including for adults. that book shouldn't be in an elementary school. or a JHS. next it's HS when they are already having sex and getting pregnant. then it's smut that shouldn't even be in an adult library. so i resist all such slippery slopes now. if we're starting with adults then we enforce a general dress code. i don't want to hear the kids would be scandalized when the kids themselves are over there playing shirts and skins.

Fundamentally, nothing that the kids do should be exposed to them in an adult level, especially from an that the kids aren't familiar with. Shirts and skins at school level is one thing. An adult with their shirt off is another... it's not okay on a campus.

why not? Bodies are bodies. Nothing to be ashamed of or anything inappropriate with having a body.

I suggested it because that's exactly what one of my throwers did and he was granted permission. I have an athlete who was a javelin thrower in college (small D2 school) who recently graduated and moved out of state for work. He wanted to continue to throw because he feels he could go on to compete internationally. But the only facility near him with a proper jav runway is a local public high school. He wanted to continue to throw on his own so he went to the AD to ask if he could train at their facility. He was told that he could use the runway and field from 6 to 6:45am twice a week. He was also given permission to use it on Saturday anytime between 6am and 6pm as long as the area wasn't being used by school program.

I work at a pricey private school and we have good track and field facilities. The school allows outsiders to use the facilities as long as they seek permission from the director of facilities. The outsiders must also be individuals and not a group. Groups can use the facilities, but they must pay a facilities fee of $250 for 3 hours.

Not everyone will be so accommodating, but it never hurts to ask.