Have you ever been PASSED on a run?

no, but there were some times that were close.

out with a hangover in cambridge circa 1980, july 4th morning, quiet along the charles and these two guys come up on me, i jack rabbitted away, trying to keep my 'never been passed on a distance run' alive, i look back back after about 30 seconds, and its two dudes who look exact-a-freakingly alike, bearded and lean, and they're laughing at me, i hammered to the next bridge and thankfully pulled a hard right, and toward havard stadium, maybe got sick a few times, and power jogged back to the place i was staying. i get back and ask they guy i was staying with if i'm seeing double or something, and he says no, that was the flora brothers, and they get a kick out of freaking people out. . .

fast forward to rye, ny circa 1985 and i'm on a recovery run down near orienta point, and these two guys swing behind me and really moving along. i figure the 'never been passed on a distance run' thing is over, but i dig in and take off knowing full well that the next turn off is about a half a mile away. i take the turn, still 200 meters or so ahead of them only to see these guys still hammering along, right behind. i took off, actually sprinting down the road, pulling off a the playland entrance and onto the shore, to jog (in exhaustion) along the beach, alone.

at the track workout later that week, coughlin asks me "nugent, what the fook were you doing on tuesday? i was trying to catch up to you and introduce you to my mate from ireland" (whose name i can't remember now).

oh, and in boulder people are so twitchy, that if thet get the sense you are actually running on thre same road, in the same direction, they will jump into the nearest alley.

I get passed quite often actually. Can't imagine that anyone could run with a team without being passed at some point. I guess everyone here was the hands down best runner on their high school and college teams. Personally, I get passed regularly on tempo runs by a particular teammate.

Yeah, I'm in college and middle-of-the-road runner on my team, and I get passed all the time on tempo runs, etc., because my coach has the slower guys go out first so that the faster guys finish at about the same time the slower ones do.

It happens occasionally as I tend to run quite slowly on recovery days if my legs aren't feeling good. In fact, I can think of two separate occasions when a girl has cruised by me.

I am seconding (or thirding, whatever) what the girls have said before (and the guy who observed it): guys who race girls are awful. I don't run really fast, but I usually don't get passed unless it is by a real runner guy. However, I HATE it when I run up behind a guy (mind you, not running him down, just trying to run by), and he picks it up to stay next to me. OR SITS ONE STEP BEHIND ME TRYING TO KEEP UP WHILE STOMPING HIS FEET AND BREATHING REALLY HEAVILY. Of course, at that point, I get pissed and refuse to let him pass me again, ultimately ruining my run. This happens regularly. Ugh. I bet a lot of thee other girls around here could have something to add to this.

At one of my favorite running paths, an East African looking guy effortlessly blew by me one evening. As I later watched him from across the small lake, the other runners look like statues. He was pushing 2 toddlers in a running stroller.

Man for BS in this thread. Most middle-aged recreational runners, regardless of whether or not they ever ran competitively, could give a rats ass about getting passed by anybody when out for a run. We're running because we like to run. Period. Quit stereotyping us all as the (in reality) 1 in a 100 loser who speeds up whenever a woman (for example) passes him.

It's interesting to me that many of you seem to imply that you don't like being passed on a training run (and will speed up to avoid being passed, or make the passer work to "get" you).

What other runners are doing during your training run should be the furthest thing from your mind. When you get into a race, that's when you should worry about who's passing you.

Of course I'm being a tad hypocritical here - when I was young(er) I couldn't stand getting passed on a run and liked to run down other joggers, but I've mellowed a lot into my middle age, and now couldn't give a rat's ass how fast anyone else is running unless they're near me in a race.

Mathematicus never get passed these days. That because Mathematicus never see anyone else on roads.

Mathematicus, however, never see point in speeding up to be douche and interfere in others' running. Mathematicus live in Madison and do not want inconvenience fast runner such as Matt Tegenkamps or Chris Solinskys.

Mathematicus do have pride, however: Mathematicus feel it as shot to balls when am passed by girl. Mathematicus am not base animal, however, and am able to control impulse to be dickhead. That said, Mathematicus feel glad that it rarely come up as issue.

i think only one guy said he doesn't like being passed

my easy days are at 7:30 pace - that still means that most runners I come upon are running much slower

i have gotten passed a few times but it is extremely rare

my wife runs with me (she is a 16 minute 5ker), you can tell the guys we pass on easy runs hate the fact that she glides by with ease... some try to pick it up for a while

i actually find that pretty annoying...

[quote]Pete wrote:

It's interesting to me that many of you seem to imply that you don't like being passed on a training run (and will speed up to avoid being passed, or make the passer work to "get" you).

[quote]

I think I should clarify at this point that I am not, and have never been, one who speeds up to prevent being passed. It just never happens, due to the unlikely event, as noted, of someone running quickly at the same time, place, and route as me.

The one time it came up, I allowed it to happen with dignity.

Also, to the people getting in a huff about college teammates passing in workouts, of course that doesn't count. I specifically said "solo distance runs."

If you never allowed teammates to pass in college, you would soon be the target of unending "half-stepping" mockery and soon be a pariah; at least that's how it was on my college team.

I would also like to further agree with the annoyance at psychos who speed up to keep up with you or prevent you from passing when you're just out for a jog minding your own business. Who are these people?

And finally, to the freak who said the thread is full of people trying to seem "soooo fast," I don't understand people like you. One, 6 or 7:30 minute miles is NOT fast, and two, where else can current or former relatively fast people come to talk about running relatively fast, if not letsrun.com?

If you want to feel good about being a penguin, go read runnersworld.

Interesting you mention this, it happened for the first time while I was on vacation about a month ago.

I was running on the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ, which is 2.5 miles long. I was at about the 1 mile mark when I hear this guy huffing and puffing behind me. He had to have caught up to me from somewhere, but he didn't seem to be able to pass me, despite the fact I was not trying to drop him. Eventually I couldn't hear him behind me any more.

As I was approaching the 2.5 mile mark and the turnaround, I again heard some guy trucking from behind me. I mean, he was really wheezing. I continued at the same pace, wanting to see if he could pass me by the end. The guy "kicks" and just beats me to the end of the boardwalk, coming to a dead stop, hunching over and putting his hands on his knees. I turn around and head back the other way.

In the end, I ran into my dad who had come up to the boardwalk to grab coffee. He says, "I saw that kid with the long hair racing you." I had thought that I was "racing" two different people but the guy at the end of the boardwalk had long hair, so I'm guessing it was the same guy. If it was, I'm glad he passed me, he certainly worked hard enough for it.

I won't say never, but I cannot remember the last time I was passed. I do remember one time when I was unable to pass another runner who was ahead of me - and this was a woman! It was on the Capital Crescent trail between Bethesda and Rock Creek in Md. I was running home from work at around 7:00 pace. I was gaining slowly on this female runner ahead of me, so she was going close to the same pace. As I got nearer, she obviously became aware of me and picked up the pace a bit. Once or twice I sped up a little just to see if she would try to stay ahead of me, which she did. I didn't ever really push it, but she stayed 20-30 meters ahead of me for several miles before I came to my turn off.

Then there was the time I was doing hill fartleks and raced a guy on a bike up a pretty steep, 3/4 mile hill. This was not just some guy out for a casual ride, he had a nice road bike and was clearly out for a training ride. He had passed me just before heading up the hill, then became aware that I was sticking near him midway up the hill. He was clearly trying to hold me off. Just at the steepest part of the hill, maybe 100m from the crest I caught and passed him as he cursed out loud. Over the top, I stopped to thank him for a great workout.

Compared to most posters here, I'm sure I'm a slow runner but I am rarely passed running. I am usually shocked when I am passed just because its so rare.

After some major knee surgery I started slow jogging on my return. I was passed by everyone. That was different. I would dress in cottons and regular nonrunner clothes becuase I didn't want to jog in high tech running stuff. It didn't seem right.

Yeah some of these people are reading way too much into this. I have seen few, if any comments by posters trying to brag about how fast they are.

Also, I think a distinction needs to be made between the type of passing. I think most runners would take no issue with someone that is legitimately running faster than they are. For instance, if a runner is running along at 7:00 pace and someone blows by them at 5:30 pace, I think most people would not be bothered in this scenario. The person is legitimately running faster...most can accept that. I think the type of passing that would be annoying is when someone else alters their gameplan and drastically picks up the pace to try and pass OR they pick up the pace when you are approaching them. Now that is what drives many runners crazy.

I was doing a 4 mile tempo run on Saturday at 5:30 pace and Joe Jogger decides to try to keep up as I pass him. He holds on for about 50 meters - but as he slows down he surprisingly gives me words of encouragement "Your cruising dude, keep it up!"

Well back in college I could run 31 minutes on a tough cross country course. I weighed in at about 155lb back then. After getting a job in banking I slowly started to put on the pounds. My mileage drifted down to around 20 miles a week. I also developed a taste for Rogue Brutal Bitter ale and Victory Storm King Stout. Before I knew it I was up to about 195lbs.

One day I was out for a run around Central Park at about 8 minute pace. Some middle-aged guy passed me. First time I was ever passed! Not only that, but he yelled "on your left" before he snuck by. I followed gamely for the next mile or so, but I was barely holding on. Every once in a while he would glance back in disdain at the large figure behind him gasping for air and throwing off sweat.

Finally, as he was starting to pull up Cat's Paw Hill, in a last ditch effort, I tackled him. Long story short: full on brawl, police reports, cuffs, the whole deal!

I went on a diet after that.

I haven't run consistently the last couple of months and consequently have got a lot fatter and slower. I normally never get passed on training runs but the last couple of weeks I've regularly been overtaken on my post-work jogs around the park--sometimes by ladies. For the first time in ages I'm also finding that other porky joggers are trying to race me. It's frustrating but also much more fun than pinging around at 1,000mph with nobody to follow

I do a lot of my mileage above 8:00 pace (well above, these days, as the result of a lingering injury), and it's still surprising how rarely I'm passed...and how often I gain on, and eventually pass, other runners. And if I'm running at marathon goal pace (7:20 for me, back when I had a marathon goal!) or faster, people react as though I'm an Olympic contender. Most people out there just aren't running very fast.

And to chime in on the experience of the other women who've posted - yes, I often find guys picking up the pace when they see a woman ahead of them (or, worse, passing them). I was doing a loop of a local park once, and found myself steadily gaining on a guy over the course of, I don't know, a quarter mile or so. So, obviously, my pace was significantly faster than his. That being so, I couldn't figure out why, as soon as I passed him, he stayed right on my heels. Had I slowed down? (I didn't *think* so.) Was it the hills? (But I'm pretty strong on hills.) Finally, after a hilly half mile, I heard him call out, panting, "I give up! You win!"

Or the time in a 10K race, which I was running as a tempo (but that's a topic for another thread), when I passed a much younger, heavily tattooed guy shortly after the 5 mile mark. He noticed my gender and age and said - condescendingly, I thought - "Let's kick it in!" ... and proceeded to "kick" for about 200 yards before melting down. I held to my pace and had the pleasure of passing him (again).