To whoever was running Key Bridge & Roosevelt Island 9:30 a.m. today:

Boomheadshot wrote:

Sure, if someone asks if they can tag along and I'm in the mood to make small talk with a stranger, then I'll run with them.

But if I'm out with a friend running having a personal conversation and then some random person decides to speed up and latch on right behind us without saying anything, then I will take action, whether that be talking to him, speeding up, or slowing down. Why am I obligated to let someone join me or move to "some rural armpit" if I desire some privacy from a stalker?

I'm with the majority. Running 5 meters behind some stranger just seems kind of weird. Plus, from the story, it's clear they wanted to drop the OP, indicating that his presence was unwanted. Take a hint.

That said, they shouldn't have called names. It's just some weirdo running behind you, so what.

Yeah, some "weirdo" who they couldn't, despite desperately trying to, drop, and who then in turn dropped them. THAT's what the angry douche was mad about.

(yes, I too don't like to be "raced" during my workouts. But if it's a popular running area, you expect it can happen and so you either ignore the person, start a conversation with them, drop the hammer on them [if you can and care to], let them go by, change directions, etc. It may be annoying, it may be weird at times, but people have the right to run whatever pace they want. AND.....I guarantee that every single person who complains about it, has at least once (likely a few times) done the same exact thing: been passed and picked up the pace to keep near, saw someone in the distance and picked up the pace to haul them in, tried to hang with a faster runner who went by them, in other words: "raced" someone on their workout. Everyone has done it at sometime, so people, please don't be hypocrites, despite one's rationalizations on why "when *I* did it, it was 'different'," i.e., acceptable behavior. )

the gimp wrote:

You people are f'ed up. What's wrong with letting someone join you for your workout. If you want to be left alone, move to some rural armpit and run out in the middle of nowhere. Running in populated areas with lots of runners, it's only a matter of time before your workout is 'interruped' by someone running a similar pace. Why can't we all just get along?

This.

I had no clue how fearful people are. Turn off the television.

Boomheadshot wrote:

I must admit, if I was on a run with a buddy and some random guy decided to speed up and latch on to the back of us without saying anything, I would consider him some combination of joker/creeper as well.

That's like having lunch or a coffee with a friend at a 4 person table and some random guy decides to sit at one of the empty seats without saying anything because they were curious what kind of coffee you were drinking. That's weird and unwelcomed regardless of whether he "beared no ill will" or weren't "disrupting our lunch in the slightest."

This. Even worse is the fact that the guy wouldn't take the hint when they tried to drop him. This is akin to the stranger at the coffee shop following you when you get up and move to a different table to have some privacy.

It would be one thing to walk into a coffee shop, see a group of guys who seemed to have a common interest and say "hey, I noticed that you guys have X university track and field gear on. I ran for Y university. If you're not doing anything important, mind if I join you?" But if they say no, it's time to buzz off. Similarly, you can ask to join another runner, but if they aren't interested, don't just insist upon running with them.

Yes, especially in NYC. Are you going to yell at somebody following you if you're doing the Central Park loop? Dealing with other people is a fact of life there. If you can't do it gracefully then you have a problem and will continue to have a problem.

Sorry dude, I don't swing that way. Check out Dupont Circle.

Runners rage

LOL

Did he want to swing at you?

LOL

Les wrote:

Yes, especially in NYC. Are you going to yell at somebody following you if you're doing the Central Park loop? Dealing with other people is a fact of life there. If you can't do it gracefully then you have a problem and will continue to have a problem.

There's a big difference between happening to follow someone because you're running the same direction at the same pace in a crowded place, and actively sticking 5m behind someone as they do a workout. Sure, at CP there will often be someone behind you running a similar pace. That isn't strange at all. But if I'm varying my pace throughout the run, and someone right behind me keeps matching my pace without saying a word to me, that's a bit weird.

you should have told them you are a 14:54 guy and that would've shut him up. You should have asked him his PRs. Not many guys in that area are fast and if they are they have their PRs on courses like Pikes Peek 10K or the Irish 5K in Baltimore... all downhill courses that they brag about.

Call The Cops wrote:

5 meters behind = stalker.

I would've punched you in the face if you lurked that close to me for an extended period of time.

I would have just begun to masturbate.

emaciation station wrote:

Call The Cops wrote:

5 meters behind = stalker.

I would've punched you in the face if you lurked that close to me for an extended period of time.

Oooh a tough guy, eh? I'm sure you Montgomery Burns-like distance guys can really pack wallop!

Former runner - not emaciated at all nowadays.

Guy is a creep for sticking that close.

I'd slow and let him go by and then stalk him to see how he likes it.

If that didn't work, I'd knock him out...same thing that I'd do to you.

hahahh funny imagining this happening somewhere I run a lot. Some of those pacer guys look like uptight a holes

This reminds me of this thread http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5097881

"was on a run with a buddy and some random guy decided to speed up and latch on to the back of us without saying anything, I would consider him some combination of joker/creeper as well."

-This. Total tool. Deal sealed with having to feel like pr's needed to be listed.

not a stalker wrote:

Les wrote:

Yes, especially in NYC. Are you going to yell at somebody following you if you're doing the Central Park loop? Dealing with other people is a fact of life there. If you can't do it gracefully then you have a problem and will continue to have a problem.

There's a big difference between happening to follow someone because you're running the same direction at the same pace in a crowded place, and actively sticking 5m behind someone as they do a workout. Sure, at CP there will often be someone behind you running a similar pace. That isn't strange at all. But if I'm varying my pace throughout the run, and someone right behind me keeps matching my pace without saying a word to me, that's a bit weird.

I see runners use other runners they don't know all the time -- in races, in places like CP, on deserted trails. It's commonplace, especially when you're running alone. Don't see why the OP was complaining considering he and his running partner were using each other through the workout. There's probably not a runner alive who hasn't used a runner in front of him as motivation, friend or stranger.

not a stalker wrote:

Les wrote:

Yes, especially in NYC. Are you going to yell at somebody following you if you're doing the Central Park loop? Dealing with other people is a fact of life there. If you can't do it gracefully then you have a problem and will continue to have a problem.

There's a big difference between happening to follow someone because you're running the same direction at the same pace in a crowded place, and actively sticking 5m behind someone as they do a workout. Sure, at CP there will often be someone behind you running a similar pace. That isn't strange at all. But if I'm varying my pace throughout the run, and someone right behind me keeps matching my pace without saying a word to me, that's a bit weird.

After college,I lived at home with my parents and ran exclusively alone for like 6 months before moving into the city. So like two weeks after moving out I felt like such utter crap and realized it was because I refused to let anyone run past me and was racing everyone on the East River on every run.

MVRunner wrote:

stayed a polite 5 meters behind for the next mile

Uh so let me get this straight, someone was out enjoying his run, you invited yourself along and deliberately followed him (creepy), and then decided to make it into a race inside your head? Sorry, that's rude and creepy. The dude had every right to be pissed at you.

If you want someone to pace you on a tempo run, find someone you know to pace you on a tempo run. Don't follow strangers. ew

I agree with you. The guy calling names was definitely a douche. He should have what you said and just stopped once he realized he couldn't drop the OP. And it's not THAT big a deal. But it is weird. If you want to track someone, lay 20 or 30 meters off the pace, far enough back so that you're not haunting them. They obviously wanted him gone and he thought it would be cute to annoy them.

Tyrone ReXXXing wrote:

Everyone has done it at sometime, so people, please don't be hypocrites

Everyone has been an a-hole sometime, so it's ok. Don't be hypocrites.

I suddenly understood your general behavior.