Comments from bystanders (Read 2315 times)

I had a guy stop me the week after I moved to Maine and offer me some head. A little later, a needler who didn't get enough to eat on a regular basis tried prostituting herself to me. It was a very strange day, which thankfully hasn't even come close to ever repeating itself since then.

Wow...Maine...who'd thunk it???

I got a new one yesterday. This beat-up white Datsun slows to my pace while traffic is piling up behind him. The passenger guy sticks his head out and yells "Hey, baby, im only a mile away. Come on over and sweat on me." Creep.

Was he cute at least?

uh no. Well maybe if you like mullets.

Ohhhh, yuck. Yeah, that guy was creepy.

I find that if you look like you're going to kill someone, people tend to not talk to you. This tactic works for myriad situations: work, running, wandering through stores, etc.

I ran a new route last week and I ran along the sidewalks. There were a lot of bushes, overhanging palms and hidden driveways and I was doing about a 7:30 pace so I was trying to be careful. I came up to a line of stores and this elderly lady was pushing and elderly man who was in a wheelchair headed in the direction of my path. I was going to make it way before they got in front of me by a couple feet, but apparently I startled here and she stopped with a jolt and yanked the wheelchair to a stop and yelled "Oh! Why do you have to run so FAST!??" I felt bad but good at the same time. Other than that, I get a couple horn honks or "good job"s here and there or a thumbs up, but it's almost always when I'm doing hard intervals or in some sort of bad weather. I remember finishing a hard 11 mile loop out here at a park last year. I tend to finish my runs pretty hard, and sometimes with a really hard ending 400 or so, like all out race hard. I get done and I'm dying. I'm squatting down holding a sign to stay upright just trying to catch my breath and this guy asks me if I'm ok and I say yeah just a hard run. He says "Good, because I was about to dump my bottle of water on you." Wha? lol I laughed and thanked him for the offer. I think the best comment was from a friend of my wife's that I don't think I was supposed to hear. My wife and I and a bunch of our friends took a boat out to an island for a day of fun. Guys are all playing football and I tweak my left leg that'd been bothering me for a few months, so I'm trying to jog pitter patter step back and forth to work it out a little. Two of the women were standing having a drink and watching the guys play football and I stopped short of them and turned around and I kind of hear a whisper "See? Look at his calves, they're not even flexed!" Needless to say it put a huge grin on my face but I was so embarrassed that I just kept running the other way for a while.

I find that if you look like you're going to kill someone, people tend to not talk to you. This tactic works for myriad situations: work, running, wandering through stores, etc.

That's why I always keep my hand in a jacket pocket when visiting a city and on a bus or a subway. You won't become a mark because they won't know what you have in that pocket and there are more obviously easy folks to roll.

I always get annoyed with some comments, because I hate when people think for some reason they're hilarious to yell something random at runners. When someone gives genuine encouragement, I appreciate that. But, when they're about 16 years old, sweaty, stinky, and smelly (I'm a youth pastor - I do love teens), then usually I want to stop my run and kick them in the face. My favorite of all time is easily this: "Run faster!" To which I simply smile, look at them, and say, "Come join me!" Usually, they smirk, and then realize they don't know what to say and stick their head back in the car and drive off... As far as funny comments: When I lived in Nashville, one of my routes took me downtown on Broadway in front of all of the Honky Tonks. I would run straight through the crowds on the sidewalks, and without fail, I'd hear old men say something like (and with a strong southern accent), "Dat's wut I need ta be derin..." It always made me smile to think that my running by someone makes them want to exercise.