Training Run on Looped Course gets Testy

My move is to speed up, keep pace with them and start a conversation. I do a monologue chit chat for a while and then the awkward silence when it is their turn to talk and all you can hear is huffing and puffing.

RevengeoftheHobbyJogger wrote:

I realize my specific situation is tough to grasp but it wouldn't be if you were on the run. He sped up three times and slowed back down inside about 400 meters then stepped off the trail and I never changed pace once. Clearly wasn't a runner and was trying to show off? Even if it was self motivation it simply looked absurd. That was my only point. Plenty of people are faster than me on training runs but do I obnoxiously race them and cut them off? Nope. I train at my own pace.

I think we all grasp the situation as many of us have had similar experiences. The point here is unless he is physically impeding you, why not strike up a conversation or even encourage someone who clearly is challenging himself to do what is easy for you?

Put another way, haven't you ever enjoyed when random people compliment you on your runs or cheer you in a race? Why not be nice to the guy instead of looking down on him for trying for just a moment to be a faster runner than he normally is? He certainly wasn't trying to impress you why be so angry?

One day I was running and I passed a guy who was running kind of slowly down a trail. He sped up and started talking to me. I'd had a tough day at work and it was hot outside. I didn't feel like talking but I was nice to him and after a few miles we parted ways. Later I found out that I had been running with a Olympic Trials qualifier (track, not marathon). A real stud whose PR was about 3 minutes faster than mine in the 5k. He didn't tell me about it; I looked him up after we exchanged names. Here I was thinking some Hobby Jogger was trying to keep up with my 7 minute pace, haha. He now coaches at a nearby university, but this was right when he'd moved to town.

Never be too quick to judge someone :)

I was out for a long run on a popular bike/running trail nearby and I was about to pass a thirty-something dude when he glances over his shoulder and picks up the pace. Not wanting to be outdone, I picked up the pace too and decisively passed him. Over the next half mile, he stayed close behind me and was grunting and muttering and gasping for air. Finally he gave up on trying to keep pace with me and walked off the path. Sorry dude, that's what happens when you get chicked

I had this happen to me and at first I got annoyed but then I saw that we were being chased by a bear and he was just trying to stay ahead of me. So the bear would eat me instead. Oh how we laughed after the ranger shot the bear dead.

Put another way, haven't you ever enjoyed when random people compliment you on your runs or cheer you in a race? Why not be nice to the guy instead of looking down on him for trying for just a moment to be a faster runner than he normally is? He certainly wasn't trying to impress you why be so angry?[/quote]

I regularly talk to runners on this particular trail. Not dumb jocks wearing headphones pretending to be hard.

I just knew somebody was going to have met an Olympian this way.

This kind of thing happens to my wife all the time and she turns it into some kind of duel to the death; which she usually wins. I think she just chooses her battles wisely.

I like to catch up to people and just chat with them because I'm bored too. Or, they pass me when I'm shuffling along and I speed up to chat with them. I have no problem telling the guy whose pace I can't handle that I'm going to break off and recover and good luck.

One guy im chatting with went from a 9:30 pace to 9:00 to 8:30 to 8:00. After awhile I finally got clued in that he really didn't want to talk to me. I did just this once decide to punish him and finished my last mile in a respectable (for me) pace.

I regularly talk to runners on this particular trail. Not dumb jocks wearing headphones pretending to be hard.[/quote]

As you mentioned he looked over his shoulder as you were about to pass him, it would seem his headphones were playing too loudly. Since he had to look back to see you, he likely heard you coming. But in any event, a thumbs up as you passed him rather than assuming his intellect was substandard probably would do more to promote the sport of running to a non-runner (or jock as you called him).

But hey, elitist attitudes like only talking to runners certainly will help build enthusiasm for what is unfortunately a dying sport (meet attendance falling, programs being cut at the collegiate level).

But maybe I learned something during my time running in the south that has yet to dawn on you, it's reasonable to get angry when people steer their cars at you or throw bottles at you. But getting your knickers in a twist because some non-runner uses you as motivation to push himself a bit - well that's on you, not him because in effect he was paying you a compliment.

Get over yourself.

Clearly you didn't read a thing i wrote. I didn't pass him, interfere with his silly showmanship or say one rude word toward him. Way to show how low your reading comprehension skills are.

Where I trained in college, there were guys who ran 13:30 who would dog it on the regular, just out there at north of 8 min per mile. Meanwhile their female teammates were notorious for going no slower than 7 min/mile, if not substantially faster.

Well that is certainly not this situation.

It was me.

By the way, you are a complete a*s. You are also a big liar.

You will never be able to pass me.

I destroyed you on that run without even trying.

You are a pathetic and lazy American runner.

RevengeoftheHobbyJogger wrote:

Clearly you didn't read a thing i wrote. I didn't pass him, interfere with his silly showmanship or say one rude word toward him. Way to show how low your reading comprehension skills are.

Your own words in the initial post suggest you either have a faulty memory or lack the ability to comprehend your own writing: When he reached the top of the trail he stepped off and started stretching intensely. I started my next loop and didn't see him again when I came back around. Who do hobby joggers think they are impressing doing this on their 1 mile runs in the park?

Does this mean you immediately turned around rather than passing him as he stretched rather than beginning another loop in the same direction? yes, didn't think so...

So to spell it out for your limited intellect, as you passed him, while he stretched, you could have given him a thumbs up. Instead, you are posting on here calling him a dumb jock because he had the gall to run faster to avoid being passed while in motion.

As a bonus, at no point in time did i suggest you you interfered with him. Rather, I suggested that unless he interfered with you - he did you no harm.

Best of luck on your GED equivalency exam next week!

Everytime a guy comes near me when I'm training, no matter the distance I speed up and run away from them. But, maybe that's because I'm running from my gay thoughts...It's nice to see others have to do that too.

RevengeoftheHobbyJogger wrote:

glaring at me over his shoulder

Glaring over his shoulder? Oh dear. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Was he a scary man?

Are you okay now? That must have been so traumatic.

That was a wonderful training for him and a good one for you.

Generally speaking runners are too solitary and they observe their training plan (pace, distance) too strictly. Some social interaction and some fartlek, as you runners call it, are good for your soul and your shape. Learn from cyclists.

What you could also do to test him is to stop and take a shit next to the trail, and if he stops and takes a shit too, he's probably an ultra marathoner, in which case you're never going to lose them.

-2/10

Hahahahahaha

You tried to start another Hobby Jogger bash thread and...........

Backfire!!! OP got owned

This is a first

How often do situations like this turn into a type of pedestrian road-rage? Drivers are quite often chased down and killed for behavior like this while operating a motor vehicle.