What's with the normies who go down to their local HS track just to walk laps?

In the evenings & nighttime, a big reason why people don't walk neighborhood sidewalks/roads is because getting blinded by oncoming vehicle headlights is really annoying and less of an issue at a track.

TAA wrote:

Hardloper your threads are the best.

Love,

TAA

Hi TAA! Thanks!

Oh and all these people saying keep the walkers in the outer lanes, or out of lane 1, you have little more business on a track than the walkers do. Only lane 8 is acceptable for walking. The other outer lanes are for running fast.

I'm a (running) parent of a daughter with intractable epilepsy. We walk together at the track because she needs fresh air and exercise, and some weeks are pretty rough. I don't want to walk the adjacent trail loop and risk hauling her out of the woods. Many people choose to walk at a track due to medical conditions. You have NO idea. November is Epilepsy Awareness month, folks. Get educated.

The high school where I coach at is in a very central area of the city so it gets a ton of usage so much so that the security guards have to lock the gates at night before going home so that the track doesn't get overrun with users during the day so that the high school gym classes can have access to it. Plus you aren't supposed to have unsolicited adults around high school kids on school grounds during the day.

The problem with this however is that the security guard one night didn't notice the 80 year old lady walking around the track and locked her in. I was inside at the school at the time but usually drive around the track on my way home just to see if anything is amiss and luckily noticed the lady at the fence gate and let her out.

there's a nice park next to the track I often go to, still I often see walkers on the track. I don't understand why that's more interesting to them, but well, maybe they set themselves a goal like walk 2 miles (though I doubt the average American can answer how many laps you have to walk to get to 2 miles).

in any case, it's only annoying if they are in lane 1 and I want to do intervals. what I'm gonna tell you now might shock you: you can just ask them kindly to move to the other outer lanes, and they usually apologize and do so. there are actually signs on the track that say walkers should use the outer lanes, of course almost no walker does so unless you tell them. my personal favorites are dogs on a leash, that doesn't happen too often fortunately.

Hardloper wrote:

I've been wondering this forever. Is it more relaxing to walk in repetitive loops? Are the neighborhood sidewalks to hilly or something?

Old walker ladies don’t have gps, so on a track they obviously have an exact measure if they want to get in two or three miles.

It’s self contained vs city or suburban sidewalks - crossing streets, stoplights, need to plan a route, traffic, dogs, etc.

'burbs wrote:

Star wrote:

I doubt safety is an issue. Sidewalks are pretty safe.

Not all suburban/exurban areas have sidewalks, and the drivers dont' tend to be sympathetic to those walking or running.

That may be the issue the minority of the time, but from what I see the majority of those that walk on a track do have access to sidewalks, paths, etc. that are safe for walking and still choose to drive to a track to take a walk.

I do not think safety is the leading reason for track walkers even if it is the case sometimes.

I will say that one benefit to walking on a track is that if you decide to cut the walk short for any reason, you only have to walk another 200m plus the distance to your car at most to get back.

A walk on a path or around the neighborhood could get dicey if something starts to hurt and you're a mile away from home or your car.

the lady that brings her kid with the little bike to the track to do laps reminds me of a time I saw a woman crossing attempting to cross parking lot with a shopping cart in one hand, a starbucks coffee on the other and a dog on a leash in tow. I mean, come on. Doesn't matter what lane they pick (but they always pick lane 1 it seems), the kid with bike swerving across lanes, becomes an obstacle to avoid for runners. Where's the parent you ask? She's off running laps doing the occasional glance at her child making sure everything is ok.

Why on earth does it matter that she was black? . Also, people aren't "unfathomable" - certainly this story isn't. The fact that you 'couldn't fathom if your life depended on it' is a reflection of your low intelligence, not hers.

Anyway, someone easily posted several obvious answers

Hey, look, very similar to the reasons anyone jogs on a track or looped path!

The fact that the "black lady" had a baby stroller should make it especially easy for even a total moron to understand why a track could be a nice place to get some exercise. Also, many babies love the constant rolling in a stroller, which you don't get on city blocks. You wouldn't know that, because thankfully for the world you haven't reproduced.

I have lived in suburban areas with basically no sidewalks so you need to run in the right-of-way of cars, urban areas where you have to stop every 1-2 blocks at intersections, and every form or neighborhood in between. Jogging around a track or park is a great solution in all of those cases. Why wouldn't someone do the same thing walking?

Finally, the benefit of a fixed distance for measuring out efforts, pace etc doesn't just apply to hobbyjogger high school, college and masters runners. You might not know since you lacked the courage to ask the black lady, but many walkers keep an eye on the watch, too. When my grandfather broke his hip he had a whole regimen of walking 400s up to 1600s at different paces. It can be motivating to improve your time over the same course. Tracks are good for that. As a runner you';d think this would be obvious to you.

I feel better about the future of humanity seeing that most people here are blasting the OP's premise.

above_average_joe wrote:

there's a nice park next to the track I often go to, still I often see walkers on the track. I don't understand why that's more interesting to them, but well, maybe they set themselves a goal like walk 2 miles (though I doubt the average American can answer how many laps you have to walk to get to 2 miles).

in any case, it's only annoying if they are in lane 1 and I want to do intervals. what I'm gonna tell you now might shock you: you can just ask them kindly to move to the other outer lanes, and they usually apologize and do so. there are actually signs on the track that say walkers should use the outer lanes, of course almost no walker does so unless you tell them. my personal favorites are dogs on a leash, that doesn't happen too often fortunately.

Good post. Most people will just move out a lane if you let them know you're using lane 1 for a the set 400m distance.

But honestly, why even bother? Unless it's a large group, passing someone even every lap is not going to profoundly impact your 1000 or 1600 interval time.

And if you are doing 400 or 800 pace work or faster (i.e. really running, not jogging) you shouldn't be in lane 1, anyway.

At 40-something and having lived all over the place, I have probably imposed myself on as many tracks of the world as anyone. And I have never had the entitlement problem of the OP and his type.

John Utah wrote:

Old walker ladies don’t have gps, so on a track they obviously have an exact measure if they want to get in two or three miles.

It’s self contained vs city or suburban sidewalks - crossing streets, stoplights, need to plan a route, traffic, dogs, etc.

^

3 grand kids!? wrote:

RejectRunner wrote:

It's always old asian ladies with their strawhats and north face jackets. They also almost always bring 3 grand kids that ride in their little bicicles.

Wow that must be a crazy sight to see- 3,000 little kids toddling around the track on bikes!! ?

9/10

lollerama wrote:

I would guess that simple ignorance of track etiquette is the problem, here, as has been mentioned. I don't think anyone walks in lane 1 out of spite to irritate runners (okay, maybe some people).

I would bet that if they simply put up a sign saying to stay clear of lane 1 unless you are running, the problem would be solved, other than people who don't read English.

Signs are less effective than you might think. I swim more than I run, these days, and the pool that I frequent has big, bright signs, directly in front of the lanes, with the words: 'Slow' 'Medium' and 'Fast' on them, respectively. You wouldn't believe how many times people who can barely swim a lap wind up in the 'Fast' lane and, believe me, passing people in a busy swimming pool is far more difficult than at the track.

There's this one old guy, in particular, who shows up every weekend and proceeds to swim at a pace of roughly 1 minute per 25m, clogging up the lane. He chooses to swim in the fast lane, even when there is not a single person in at least one of the slow lanes and he has been asked to swim in the slow lane by at least one person. He's also a giant douche in the shower, where he'll hang his swimsuit on one shower handle, his towel on another and his scuba goggles on a third, even when the showers are busy.

Some people are just inconsiderate tools.

My mom often drives to the track to walk laps. The main reason she does this is that walking on hard surfaces like concrete or asphalt hurts her knees. She'd rather find dirt trails, but (1) she usually walks at night after work, so visibility would be an issue, and (2) she would have to drive further from where she lives to find them.

These reasons are somewhat specific to her and her situation, but probably everybody walking on the track has some reason like this that makes sense given all the weird details about their life. This is one of the things I've come to understand as I've gotten older - when people are doing things that look really stupid to me, a lot of the time a big part of the story is that I'm missing some context.

John Utah wrote:

Hardloper wrote:

I've been wondering this forever. Is it more relaxing to walk in repetitive loops? Are the neighborhood sidewalks to hilly or something?

Old walker ladies don’t have gps, so on a track they obviously have an exact measure if they want to get in two or three miles.

It’s self contained vs city or suburban sidewalks - crossing streets, stoplights, need to plan a route, traffic, dogs, etc.

Everyone has GPS on their smartphones these days brah

Three pages and we don't have even one story of real runner blowing by the hobby jogger so close and so fast that the hobby jogger got really scared? These threads always have those stories.

San Diego Locked Tracks wrote:

Says the guy who lives where they lock up 95% of the tracks to the public.

Anyone remember when high schools weren't locked up tighter than Fort Knox?

I don't mind sharing the track with other walkers or slow joggers. I am just happy to have access to do my speed repeats and tempo runs on a track. Actually, I prefer to run on the outside lanes (8/9) for my workouts so I don't have such sharp turns to run around so I don't mind if others use the inner lanes.