Accidentally scaring people when you run passed them from behind at night

The title of your post leads me to suspect that English isn’t your first language.

DCFmr800runner wrote:

Don’t worry about. If they’re that unaware of their surroundings, they deserve TO BE EATEN BY A LION.

Fixed it for you

Next time, whether on a trail, sidewalk, bike path or bike lane, if you get the sense that the person or persons you are approaching do not hear you coming, clear your throat several times. Trust me, it works every time and lets them know you are there. Unless they are wearing headphones. Nothing you can do about that. A startled person can actually knock you down and hurt you causing you to miss training.

I live in an area where walkers/joggers at 5 am are pretty jumpy. It doesn't help that we have one of the highest murder rates in the country. I make sure to make lots of noise before I come up on them. Don't want to get maced or shot by a stupid hobbyjogger.

Just shove a playing card in your spokes.

moist wrote:

I live in an area where walkers/joggers at 5 am are pretty jumpy. It doesn't help that we have one of the highest murder rates in the country. I make sure to make lots of noise before I come up on them. Don't want to get maced or shot by a stupid hobbyjogger.

The most prudent move for you is to just breeze by them silently.

I have been running nearly silently when getting in better shape recently and often startle people in the evening when I pass them, even big strong guys who would destroy me in a fight. Shouldn't a gift like this be utilized in some professional way?

This is a common occurrence in America, but in Europe it is much more rare. I’ve lived here off and on for several years and it always amazes me how little people get startled when I approach. Day or night, rural or urban, folks over here don’t seem to surprised by someone passing them on foot.

scream Uber car approaching

All you need to do is cough when you're about 10 yards behind them. Easy. The obvious answer.

I do most of my running in the early-morning darkness and people jump out of their skin. Especially women. A lot of time I can hear them complaining about me for a little while after I’ve passed. “I didn’t realize we were in a race today!” That sort of thing.

I yell something.

Excuse me!

Runner back!

Coming through!

On your left!

Something. Anything. Make sure it doesn't sound like a threat. It all helps.

not my problem wrote:

Luv2Run wrote:

Even then a person walking or running might have headphones on and not hear me.

Anyone who gets startled because they're wearing headphones deserves it.

Agreed.

Lane1 wrote:

Yell "TRACK"

Works every time

I yell TRACK only when I'm wearing my CPTC kit so they know I'm a pro athlete.

In my younger faster days we had a group of about 20 athletes who did a fast tempo run on a Wednesday night. Living in a hot climate we would all run shirtless with the very short split shorts that were popular at the time. Made it hard to see at first glance if we had any clothes on at all. Running through the city one night we went around a corner and right into a group of young girls dressed up for a night out on the town. The screaming was hilarious. It did not help that we all looked like skeletons.

Smoove wrote:

I'll either kind of drag one foot a little to make more noise or give a "coming up on your left." Rarely an issue if I do either of those.

I will say that it's amazing how many people will actually step to their left when you call out "coming up on your left!" I do it from fairly far away so hat I have time to adjust to this move.

"On your left", and maybe a little less so for "coming up on your left" takes some thinking to understand what you are talking about if you don't hear it much. The mind is first startled a bit, and then thinks, "On your left what?" It's better to call out just to alert them that you are there, but don't make them think they should step to one side or another. As long as they hold their line, or naturally step aside, a passing runner should have no problem passing on whatever side has room.

If they don't hear me as I get closer, I'm brief and usually just say, "Hi!"

The problem with coughing or calling out in any way to warn people you're approaching is that they often stop short, or move across the path in some unpredictable way making it much more likely that you collide with them or have to drop your pace.

As long as you can identify a clear overtaking route I prefer the stealth approach and let them jump once you're already safely past them.

jamin wrote:

I run at night on the weekdays and because of the softer stride I've developed I'm noticing that I startle people when I pass them because they don't hear me coming. Anyone else here have that problem? Last night I squeezed past these high schoolers on a narrow path and they were like "oh my gosh, that scared me."

I make an effort to tap the floor hard when I approach a pedestrian. Works 90% of the time. I still scare folks listening to music or generally distracted.

I usually shout out “passing on your left!”. Once when I was running DURING THE DAY through a park/natural area, I was passing up a family who was walking very slowly. Like they couldn’t walk any slower. I alerted them, but they didn’t move off the trail to let me pass, so I stepped off the trail and went around them. Then I heard light crashing noises behind me. I turned around and saw that the two boys were throwing sticks at me. Their mother then said, “try again, you almost got her!” ?

I never met anyone since who was so angry at a runner.