Charlottesville Runners - Did you know 'Running Man'? Killed by SUV?

Whoa, 100 miles a week and only a 2:52 best? Did he run that after 50?

I have half his lifetime miles but decided years ago that pavement is for wheels and dirt is for feet. Unfortunately, his exhibitionist side probably won out in that consideration; it's hard to get notoriety when you are almost invisible on the trails. With luck and care, hopefully I'll take my anonymous running well into my old age (already 60).

/////// wrote:

Who are the Running Mans in your community?

I have a 60 year old woman that I see on my way to work most days. She always wears some 1980s headphones with an entire radio built into a contraption strapped to her head. the rest of her routine seems normal but

Many communities have these sorts of running "characters." In mine (North shore of Mass.), it's an emaciated, 60-ish woman who takes teeny, tiny steps, but runs for hours year round in the neighborhood, always with her obviously beleaguered yellow Lab, who I swear looks at me with sad eyes that say "please make her stop."

I also think there's a component of mental illness (obsessive compulsivity) at work here.

He's been here since the seventies too!

I worked with Philip in the Corner Parking Lot in the late 80s. He was a sweet and curmudgeonly man, so naturally we were friends. But the funny thing was that though we each knew the other was a runner, we never talked about running and never ran together. But we could sure hang out and talk about life, the universe and everything, one or the other of us collecting nickles from wait staff and drunk kids. Please remember him well.

Mileage Farmer wrote:

Whoa, 100 miles a week and only a 2:52 best? Did he run that after 50?

I have half his lifetime miles but decided years ago that pavement is for wheels and dirt is for feet. Unfortunately, his exhibitionist side probably won out in that consideration; it's hard to get notoriety when you are almost invisible on the trails. With luck and care, hopefully I'll take my anonymous running well into my old age (already 60).

Well Thank You for stopping by this thread to piss on his grave.

Now go back to your anonymous running and stay there.

nedbarrett wrote:

I worked with Philip in the Corner Parking Lot in the late 80s. He was a sweet and curmudgeonly man, so naturally we were friends. But the funny thing was that though we each knew the other was a runner, we never talked about running and never ran together. But we could sure hang out and talk about life, the universe and everything, one or the other of us collecting nickles from wait staff and drunk kids. Please remember him well.

Philip definitely seemed like a natural fit for the Corner Parking Lot, it doesn't surprise me that he worked there back in the day.

I started going to UVA in the fall of 2001 and moved into a house with a bunch of other track/xc guys right around the block from where Philip lived. He was already a mythical figure back then, and the older guys on the team had at some point started calling him The British Bulldog for the Union Jack shorts he would sometimes wear.

His running form was...unique? I mean, it was terrible. One of the strangest gaits I have ever seen. He took these tiny quick steps and sort of flailed his arms around, and every once in a while he'd sort of fire one of his legs into some sort of buttkick or something. It's not easy to describe, but it was very easy to recognize. I used to drive buses part-time in school and would often see Philip, spotting the silhouette of that stride from a couple hundred feet away. I'd drive by and give a quick honk, and he'd give a quick wave.

After a couple years of these types of anonymous encounters I actually met him at a party down the street. I told him about the British Bulldog nickname, which he got a kick out of, and he talked a little bit about himself. He was definitely an eccentric guy, but also pretty friendly in his own way. He even stopped by the house one time afterwards and asked if we "like bread," because for some reason he had been given something like 20 loaves of Pepperidge Farm sandwich bread and wasn't going to be able to eat it all himself. I think most of it still went stale.

Other things I'll always remember include him once stopping by the house to pay back a quarter or a dime he had borrowed from one of us to make a phone call on campus, and him often riding around on his bike in tiny cutoff jean shorts, sometimes sporting a monk-like haircut.

For someone I barely knew, Philip was a pretty consistent part of a very memorable period of my life. I was truly saddened when I heard the news, and I know several other people I spoke with were also. I will definitely remember him well.

rip british bulldog - and yeah - craziest gate ever

If one other runner is spared a similar tragedy (including that visited upon the driver of the vehicle) by thinking twice about where and when they run, I don't give a fig about what you think about it. If you are not running in the safest manner possible, you need to ask yourself why. Twenty years ago most people rode their bikes without helmets or lights at night. Eventually most of them have gotten wiser, and have even lobbied successfully for bike lanes, etc.. Runners act like it's still their god-given right to run anywhere anytime without regard to safety.

joho wrote:

Mileage Farmer wrote:

Whoa, 100 miles a week and only a 2:52 best? Did he run that after 50?

I have half his lifetime miles but decided years ago that pavement is for wheels and dirt is for feet. Unfortunately, his exhibitionist side probably won out in that consideration; it's hard to get notoriety when you are almost invisible on the trails. With luck and care, hopefully I'll take my anonymous running well into my old age (already 60).

Well Thank You for stopping by this thread to piss on his grave.

Now go back to your anonymous running and stay there.

Something about this story and all the comments really brings back memories of living in Charlottesville in the late 70s and early 80s. I worked a bunch of crum-bum jobs and met a lot of people like the "Running Man": very intelligent, intellectual, eccentric guys who lived on the fringes of respectable society. I also lived for a while off Ivy Road, where he was killed. RIP Philip Weber.

joho wrote:

Just saw this article and thought someone on LR must have known the Running Man that was struck and killed by a SUV.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/12/31/charlottesville-mourns-a-moving-landmark-running-man-after-he-is-hit-by-an-suv/

RIP

Appears the driver likely at fault. The conditions were equally (maybe more so) dangerous and risky for driving as well as running. So why was the driver driving in such conditions? Extremely low visibility. Also appears the driver was making a right hand turn into a UVA facility. Pretty sure the driver collided WITH Philip.....not the other way around. Also, as a practical life-long runner Philip was running WITH traffic, just as bicycles do.

Why was the driver driving in such conditions? Maybe because they had to get to work, unlike the runner?I always run against traffic, it has saved my hide a few times when it is time to dive for the bushes. Running without a light or reflective clothing, on busy road with no good shoulder, with traffic so he can get blindsided in the dark. Sorry folks, but this guy messed up in every way here.

messi wrote:

joho wrote:

Just saw this article and thought someone on LR must have known the Running Man that was struck and killed by a SUV.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/12/31/charlottesville-mourns-a-moving-landmark-running-man-after-he-is-hit-by-an-suv/

RIP

Appears the driver likely at fault. The conditions were equally (maybe more so) dangerous and risky for driving as well as running. So why was the driver driving in such conditions? Extremely low visibility. Also appears the driver was making a right hand turn into a UVA facility. Pretty sure the driver collided WITH Philip.....not the other way around. Also, as a practical life-long runner Philip was running WITH traffic, just as bicycles do.

cell phones are going to kill us all anyway

NoTroll wrote:

I also think there's a component of mental illness (obsessive compulsivity) at work here.

Isn't there some OCD in all of us [distance runners]?

There is such a thing as driver expectation - when you are running against traffic the driver is not expecting you. More often than not a runner is going to be taken out at an intersection (the driver is totally blind to you if you are coming against traffic).....again DRIVER EXPECTATION, than those rare instances when a driver veers onto the shoulder.

Runner fatalities are often caused by the following:

1. Ear buds

2. Running on snowy & slushy roads.

Pretty sure Philip was running WITH traffic due to all the intersections (dangerous for runners) he encountered during his many runs.

In the video he runs on the wrong side of the road.

So you would stake your life on "driver expectations"?!?. When you are on the same side you are RELIANT on their actions as a driver as you are unable to see them until too late. Running against traffic YOU have full visual contact and CONTROL over your response to their actions. This is the proper defensive position for pedestrians (assuming no sidewalk). Also, if their is a limited shoulder on a rural (non-busy) road, I will cross over to the empty lane as the car approaches, which make me both very visible and not in their lane.The best move is to run on trails, sidewalks and footpaths, leave roads for wheels.