'What to do when idiots won't get off the track'
Corrected
'What to do when idiots won't get off the track'
Corrected
I stopped going to the track for workouts years ago because of all the stuff that you have to be prepared to put up with. Anyway, I went to the track a couple of weeks ago. There were a few people there all running counterclockwise. I was doing some running in the inner lanes and then running clockwise on the outer lane between hard efforts. Somehow, one guy that just started decided to also run clockwise in one of the lanes. Pretty soon, most of the people that were there when I got there had already left but the new ones that just showed up also started running clockwise. Inevitably, everyone there was running clockwise.
Not this crap again wrote:
BillyJack wrote:This stuff does happen.
Really? A guy picked up another grown person and threw him into a group of four people knocking them all off the track?
a. that only happens in cartoons
b. if it did happen, the guy should quit XC and set a world record in the shot putt. Either that or bowling.
c. if they were huddled so close that one bump could knock them all off together, seems like they wouldn't be taking up much room and you could easily go around them.
But go ahead and continue with the millionth LRC thread on "oh noes there are other people on the track and they're in my way".
I didn't mean that he threw him any distance, he just grabbed him and threw him two feet into his comrades.
If you were goofing around on the field during a football practice you would get in trouble. Why can't they respect that the field is theirs and the track is ours? I understand they need to walk across it but after that there is no excuse. One time I grabbed a lacrosse players stick off the track and threw it over the fence and his coach made him run around and go get it. That was so funny.
J.R. wrote:
I was running a 5k time trial at ELAC on a weekend. There were some cheerleaders spread across the middle of the home stretch when I was warming up, then they moved to the infield. I started my time trial and about 4 laps in a female in her 20's was jogging on the outside of lane 1 by the lane line, wearing headphones. I whizzed past, not close to her and kept going.
About a lap to go I was coming down the stretch and a campus security guy was down at the finish line, blocking the track. As I was charging toward him he motioned for me to stop, which I had to do, gasping for breathe and trying to not jar my system too much. He said I was terrorizing the track and had to leave, then he wouldn't even talk to me, just said to get out or he was going to arrest me, so I left.
That was the only time that happened out of maybe thousands of times running on a track.
The strange thing is that I was running way around people with plenty of room to spare, and they were getting in my way, when they shouldn't even have been there.
People can be strange, but they must be very unhappy people to be like that.
So the college kids were using their facilities and the security guard removed a trespasser. What's the problem again?
SWAZ wrote:
I didn't mean that he threw him any distance, he just grabbed him and threw him two feet into his comrades.
Were they all lined up in a row? How does pushing one guy two feet knock four other guys completely off the track? Even if they were lined up, that's quite a throw to knock five guys, maybe 900 lbs of people, completely off the track with one push. Why is this guy not playing football?
I get it wrote:
So the college kids were using their facilities and the security guard removed a trespasser. What's the problem again?
I'm with u bud.
It's even more annoying when the offending party is a teammate on the college track team.
Situation: We're doing 600s or something. Long jumper was late to practice is crossing track with his gear bag maybe 50m in front of us in lane 1 as we're entering the last 150m or so of our 600 and the guy just drops his bag in lane 1!!! Pretty damn arrogant of him. As we passed it, I picked it up and heaved it into the infield near where he was standing. He got all mad, cursing at me, I cursed back at him, etc. Idiot!
As far as recreational joggers on a public track who miss out on this etiquette, I'm a little more forgiving. I just yell "lane 1" and if they fail to get out of the way I just go around them, maybe staying close enough so they feel a little of the wind of my passing so they learn for next time. If they do the right thing and get out of the way, I make sure to say thanks even if I'm winded as I say it.
blocking a sprinter is no joke. If you're going 20+ mph, a collision can cause serious injury, and you can't just stop or change direction at that speed.
Tracks are primarily for sprinting. Even distance runners must acknowledge this. If you're not doing speed work, you are officially a second class citizen on the track. The rules should be strict about this and posted clearly on signs. And they should be enforced by a big ogre with a war club.
I have nearly pulled a hamstring from someone being in my way. Nobody's feelings outweigh that. If you're not using the track for track, go somewhere else.
2/10. A real runner wouldn't have stopped a time trial with a lap to go. Like you couldn't outrun some campus rent-a-cop.
Bad Wigins wrote:
blocking a sprinter is no joke. If you're going 20+ mph, a collision can cause serious injury, and you can't just stop or change direction at that speed.
Tracks are primarily for sprinting. Even distance runners must acknowledge this. If you're not doing speed work, you are officially a second class citizen on the track. The rules should be strict about this and posted clearly on signs. And they should be enforced by a big ogre with a war club.
That's right. If you are fast enough to use starting blocks or you set up an antenna for FAT timing, you don't have to say anything: People stay out of the way because they don't wan to get hurt. In my case (I'm the same size as Bolt, Powell, Ryan Bailey), getting run over by me going 20+ mph would be the same as getting run over by an NFL RB or safety...and most people out there aren't that stupid.
And football players are more likely to be watching you than get in the way, because you're more like them.
Bad Wigins wrote:
Tracks are primarily for sprinting. Even distance runners must acknowledge this. If you're not doing speed work, you are officially a second class citizen on the track.
Tracks are 400m, for sprinters who can't make it 1/2 way around.
Oceans are for frogs.
The skies are for pigs.
Streets are for vegetables.
Universities are for 3 and 4 year olds.
Reality biter wrote:
I go around them.
Exactly. Just run around them. You don't have to be a dick about it.
Or rent the track and pay money so when you run your workout you can be there all by yourself.
Let's add a few more wrote:
Bad Wigins wrote:Tracks are primarily for sprinting. Even distance runners must acknowledge this. If you're not doing speed work, you are officially a second class citizen on the track.
Tracks are 400m, for sprinters who can't make it 1/2 way around.
Oceans are for frogs.
The skies are for pigs.
Streets are for vegetables.
Universities are for 3 and 4 year olds.
very funny, now get the hell offa my track. You can damn well do your tempo on a road or bike path.
Don't get me started on people jogging or walking into my lane when I have a flight of hurdles set up. Talk about potential for injury!!
Whoever is going faster has the right of way.
Sprinters over distance.
Distance over joggers.
Joggers over walkers.
Walkers over standers.
The person going fastest is unable to stop or quickly change direction without the potential for injury. So others should yield to them.
J.R. wrote:
a female in her 20's was jogging
...
said I was terrorizing the track and had to leave, then he wouldn't even talk to me, just said to get out or he was going to arrest me, so I left.
Why do I get the feeling you're not telling the whole story...?
Bad Wigins wrote:
blocking a sprinter is no joke. If you're going 20+ mph, a collision can cause serious injury, and you can't just stop or change direction at that speed.
Tracks are primarily for sprinting. Even distance runners must acknowledge this. If you're not doing speed work, you are officially a second class citizen on the track. The rules should be strict about this and posted clearly on signs. And they should be enforced by a big ogre with a war club.
I have nearly pulled a hamstring from someone being in my way. Nobody's feelings outweigh that. If you're not using the track for track, go somewhere else.
Great post.
90% of the bad collisions I've seen on the track have been non-sprinters (distance runners and field nerds) strolling into the lane without looking.
Once a distance kid was actually tapping on his phone and stepped right in front of a 200+ pound sprinter coming off the bend. The sprinter clipped the kid and the little guy literally spun around twice before falling. I was just glad the sprinter was OK.
HCXC wrote:
One time I grabbed a lacrosse players stick off the track and threw it over the fence and his coach made him run around and go get it. That was so funny.
For the lacrosse team.
Why does your team let other people use the track while they are working out? At both my high school and my college, the track was reserved for the track/xc team during practice hours.
Bad Wigins wrote:
very funny, now get the hell offa my track. You can damn well do your tempo on a road or bike path.
get the f'cok out of my ocean