soccer parents yell at me and harass me for running on a public track that they are standing on

why do you need to do 1200m repeats on the track especially when there are people on the track who can accidentally or intentionally injure you. you thought people here were going to support you eh?

So let me get this straight, you guys advocate a grown man running into 16 year old kids, but think this guy is a punk for trying to do a workout as people harass him?

TPaine wrote:

I, instead, want to just let you know that in 4 or 6 years or whenever, you're going to look back on this incident and go, "Jesus, I was a punk. I'm glad those people made fun of me," because you're 16, you think it's your track and not everyone elses and ran into a guy I bet you could avoid, and are complaining about your tax burden.

16 yr young chick wrote:

why do you need to do 1200m repeats on the track especially when there are people on the track who can accidentally or intentionally injure you. you thought people here were going to support you eh?

You thought you'd get away with that lame post, eh? He did 1200s on the track because he effing wanted to. What kind of question is that, anyway? Newsflash: you see someone running a workout on a track, get the f*ck outta the way. It's both common sense and common courtesy. I mean, who continues to stand there like a dipshit?

You know what: I'd like to drive my car down to the local Snocone Shack for a refreshing shaved ice beverage, but what if there are inconsiderate pricks (very likey) standing in the road like they own it? Ah well, so much for that idea. Some of you people are idjits, and I refuse to believe that you're runners. How did you find out about this site, anyway?

Runners are bizarre people apparently. Everyone on here loves to tell the harrowing experiences they have gone through getting their workouts in and then promptly get shit on by the guys that just told a similar story two days ago. Are you jealous that he went through more to get his reps in?

The bottom line is that everyone loves a bit of confrontation. They don't want to solve the problems. They just want to have fun dealing with it as it makes life a bit more interesting.

You probably put more effort into your workout and get more out of it if everything isn't perfect.

You were politely arrogant about the importance of your workout, they were assholes, you get to be an asshole back. Perfect.

Thank you Even Steven. You summed up letsrun quite nicely.

The facts are the young runner gave plenty of notice that he was using lane one in an apparently polite manner. Only after the parents were jerks did he react in a less than polite way.

This place should be called letsbash.com; this is precisely why I almost never post anymore.

By the by, did anyone catch the mens 5000 meter final? I really do wonder what teg and lagat ran for the last mile. Espn chopped in and out just enought that I couldn't figure out what lap they were. They should put a graphic up showing the distance covered, distance to go, and current pace. I'm sure they have the teck for that.

Cheers.

Yelling from 100 meters off isn't plenty of notice for somebody who doesn't know anything about the sport. If you start yelling track at most people they will think you are just being a prick.

The real issue though is after running into the redneck the parents started making fun of the guy. I can never understand adults who think they are some kind of bad ass because they can rag on a bunch of high school kids trying to do something productive with their lives.

It's funny, you always hear about kids not doing constructive activities, but most parents would rather see there kids go out and drink beer and f*** anything that walks instead of do something weird like "run."

Last mile was sick though. For everything they said about Lagat and Teg, how about Goucher, still getting it done.

Damn right. It really doesn't matter what you post about. Someone is going to bash you. I could say, "I'm happy for Goucher for making the world team in the 5000". And at least one person would respond by telling me I'm an idiot.

I make some rude comments to people myself. But it's usually because I'm defending someone who has been bashed. I guess the "fight fire with fire" mentality isn't helping anything, but I get so irritated when people write 10 paragraphs loaded with insults about how much they hate someone they've probably never even met.

Even Steven wrote:

The bottom line is that everyone loves a bit of confrontation. They don't want to solve the problems. They just want to have fun dealing with it as it makes life a bit more interesting.

You probably put more effort into your workout and get more out of it if everything isn't perfect.

You were politely arrogant about the importance of your workout, they were assholes, you get to be an asshole back. Perfect.

OMFG! You have to be kidding me. The bottom line is you are a complete tool. Yeah, why don't we all move to Manhattan and try doing strides right down Fifth Ave.? We'd put (much) more effort into our workout and get more out of it that way. No wonder Fam loves NYC so much.

And where do you get this "politely arrogant" jivetalk? It's got nothing to do with the importance or lack thereof of his workout. It has everything to do with stupid dipf*ck people out there who feel they don't have to get out of the way when someone is running towards them. Seriously, who just stands there? You don't just stand in the middle of the road with cars approaching (well, maybe YOU do) just because you want to. Bottom line: THEY were the voids surrounded by sphincter muscles, not him. And it has nothing to do with him being one in return (which he wouldn't even have to do in the first place were it not for THEIR prickiness) ; it has EVERYTHING to do with letting those inconsiderate jerks know that they didn't just get away with being such. OK, so what else don't you get, other than us runners?

over the summers I run on my old high school track, my high school apparently are still gods in football and have multiple football camps for little fat kids to be coached a little by some good coaches

they use the field inside the track to do everything

the kids and their parents use the track as their viewing area and water break stations

At first I had more of a situation like you do, no one getting out of the way, and grown men heckling me, when I was in highschool

I quickly learned people don't heckle and don't stand in the way of guys that look like good athletes (it doesn't matter if you really are or not).

Here's what you should do :

Go to the track alone

Wear a shirt that says something like UVA Cross Country, and the shortest shorts possible

do a mile warmup as you go around say excuse me or pardon me or sorry bout that

Once you're sweating like crazy, take off your shirt, no one will want to get near you

Do your workout

And for some reason no one bothers you.

i love your post. i want you to know that you did everything right. i need to realize that is the way society is; the main reason they are harassing you is because they are jealous of your talent. they know that they cant run like that, so what do they do? they mock you and try to make you think soccer is superior to running.

by the way, highschool tracks are a PUBLIC FACILITY. anyone is entitled to use them at any time. the only occasion that you might not run on it is if there is a championship football game in progress, and even then, THEY DO NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MOVE YOU OFF THE TRACK BECAUSE IT IS PUBLIC PROPERTY.

you did exactly the right thing. dont let anything or anyone else mentally or physically get in your way of what you are trying to accomplish.

Time to start packing while running.

I think it makes sense to do a few warmup laps to let people know you're there using the track, but we can't expect the kid to have to go around to a bunch of people and ask them politely if they could watch out for him. That's just going to result in the same harrassment.

A key point here is that these were parents of soccer aged children behaving like little children. What kind of example are they setting? You'd think that soccer parents would be a bit more appreciative of someone taking their training seriously. I guess not.

10 years now this guy won't look back and think he was a little punk. He'll regret not being bolder and calling these a-holes out for being childish and poor examples for their own children.

Not to hijack the thread, but I actually get harrassed by a 10 year old kid in my neighborhood. When he's around his friends, he says stuff to me as I run by like "keep it up, lady," or "looking strong, lady" (I'm a guy, and I don't look anything like a lady). I do a two mile loop in the neighborhood, so on some days I see this kid for five or six loops, and I just get more and more pissed each time he says something. Ignoring him seems to embolden him more.

So one day I stop and have a chat with the kiddies, asking them whose mom I need to have a talk with. He says "what, I was just giving you a complement?" When I persist, he backs down, and shuts up for another loop or two.

I'll gladly talk to this brat's mom, but I have a feeling the rotten apple didn't fall far from the tree, and she won't give a crap that her boy is talking smack to strange men on the street. I'm guessing I should just avoid that part of the neighborhood, but I like my routine.

the430miler wrote:

i love your post. i want you to know that you did everything right. i need to realize that is the way society is; the main reason they are harassing you is because they are jealous of your talent. they know that they cant run like that, so what do they do? they mock you and try to make you think soccer is superior to running.

by the way, highschool tracks are a PUBLIC FACILITY. anyone is entitled to use them at any time. the only occasion that you might not run on it is if there is a championship football game in progress, and even then, THEY DO NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MOVE YOU OFF THE TRACK BECAUSE IT IS PUBLIC PROPERTY.

Your statement is ridiculous. You're entitled to use a public facility anytime you wish? To go back to my previous examples, you're entitled to insist the library be opened for you because it's 3 a.m. and you want to check out a book? Absurd.

Now I'm not necessarily supporting the soccer parents, although yelling "track" at people who don't understand track etiquette is pointless. While one would hope they'd move, you'd be silly to EXPECT IT. What is disappointing, however, is the continued harassment. I'm not sure what they hoped to gain, other than showing their kids how to act like a jerk.

Finally, I love how people post an issue on a message board and anyone who disagrees is "bashing" or "a hater." What happened to intelligent discourse, which even some members of the letsrun community are capable of? Why are Americans now so defensive about someone disagreeing with them?

Hey young runner, just keep working hard, stay in the zen of the workout, and just do your workout. Just act like they are logs that you have to run around, because apparently that's what they are, just dumb pieces of wood.

basically all you need to do is run a few laps for a warm up, make sure everyone sees you and knows you're there, if people are in your way say excuse me, and then do your workout.

abubba wrote:

So let me get this straight, you guys advocate a grown man running into 16 year old kids, but think this guy is a punk for trying to do a workout as people harass him?

TPaine wrote:

I, instead, want to just let you know that in 4 or 6 years or whenever, you're going to look back on this incident and go, "Jesus, I was a punk. I'm glad those people made fun of me," because you're 16, you think it's your track and not everyone elses and ran into a guy I bet you could avoid, and are complaining about your tax burden.

I'm sure the fact that the situations were completely different has nothing to do with it.

Overlooking key points and having poor reading comprehension is part of being on Letsrun though, so kudos on that one.

Two things:

1) I'm not the first one on here saying this, but it's worth saying again. Maybe they could have been more polite and let you do your workout, but why the hell did you run into the guy?

2) I've done a track workout in the middle of a high school football game and thought nothing of it. In fact, everyone there thought I was really cool for doing it.

why was my Gary Busey comment deleted? I thought it was completely accurate.