milktruck

an amazing likeness

posted: 8/18/2008 at 11:26 AM
modified: 8/18/2008 at 11:34 AM

I usually will just shut down the run, push stop on the Garmin and give 'em a hand, step back to where I stopped, push start and try to get back into rhythm. If they are going the same direction, I'll huff and puff alongside and do my best -- but the funny part is how often, about 10 minutes later, I realize I left out something critical...oops. (not on purpose) One Saturday spring morning I was stopped by a threesome in a car asking about a church, and I kept saying '..I'm not familiar with anything by that name around here...hmmm..'. They were frantic and explained that they were late to wedding and were the string ensemble, and relatives of the bride. Finally, they gave me the invitation and map and I realized they had something like 10 minutes to cover 6 country miles, a bunch of "turn after the old store, but before the town landing" directions. I hopped in the back, figured that I could run the miles home, or call for a ride -- just said "go" and the guy took off. Poor people, I was sweating pretty good and smelled ripe -- I could see the sweat stains on the back seat with I got out.

_{Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.}

Ennay

A Saucy Wench

posted: 8/18/2008 at 3:41 PM

I get stopped all the time, mostly because the road signs in my town are stuuuuupid. Even I cant figure out the one that points south to get to a town north of here. I tried following the signs once and got "lost". And I understand the assumption that if you know the area well enough to run it, you probably know where you are. Except I have no freaking clue what the names of any of the roads are. Not a clue. I run on them/drive on them...I dont look at the damn signs. Plus that is the kind of thing I have bad memory for, especially when I am tired. I have looked up the names of the roads to direct people from the road that the stuuuupid signs put them on and the road they all want to be on. I get asked that probably 2-3 times a week if I am out walking or running in normal hours. Fortunately most of my runs are too early for anyone to be lost yet. Maybe I should just print out a little map to keep in my running gear so I can just throw it through their window. Because seriously, same question every damn time.

I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets

"When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7

celiacChris

3Days4Cure

posted: 8/18/2008 at 3:53 PM

I try to be nice and give directions most of the time, and I'm not fast enough things totally screw me up. HOWEVER-- if it is twilight/pre-dawn and a car pulls up to me, I move away FAST, ignoring the car. Rude or not, I'm a single woman running alone on college trail or in fairmount park, and too many bad things happen. Even if I hear a plea for directions, I keep going purely to protect myself. Chris

Chris
PRs: 27:26 5k/ 49:52 5mi/ 58:17 10k/ 2:09:24 half/ 5:13:17 Full

Post-Bipolar PRs: 38:35 5k/ 1:09:34 8k/ 1:09:39 5mi/ 1:33:03 10k/ 3:20:40 Half

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Back to 10k

hillsaremyfriend

posted: 8/18/2008 at 4:05 PM

Okay since I'm still kind of a newbie this has only happened twice. On the same day by the same car. The first time they asked for a street that they had passed about a mile or so back and I told them where it was. About 5 mins later the stop me again and start complaining that the street is not where I told them it was. No I'm annoyed. We are in the middle of the country and there are on 2 roads in the next 5 miles. So they must be blind or stupid. After a few minutes of arguing he asks me to show him on the map. I take the opportunity to lean in the window a little and show him on the map that he is slightly slower than the average bear and quite politlely point the road to him. The whole time dripping sweat off my nose and chin all over his map and the inside of his door. Oops bad me. Evil grin

My sport's your sport's punishment

2012 goals

100 Km month 150 K month 200K month

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Mississippi

posted: 8/18/2008 at 4:16 PM

Quote from hillsaremyfriend on 8/18/2008 at 4:05 PM:

The whole time dripping sweat off my nose and chin all over his map and the inside of his door. Oops bad me.

Nice! I should have used this tactic the other day when a woman in a convertable sports car stopped in the middle of the street to ask me directions. I was plenty sweaty at mile 7 in 84 degree temps on a course without enough shade.

Michelle

anutherfinemess

posted: 8/18/2008 at 4:36 PM

I probably get this at least once every two weeks. It must be a Canadian thing because I ran for a long time living in Florida and was never asked for directions. It's not something I mind, really, and I guess it is logical that someone running would know the area. I've only had one person be rude about it, but I returned the favor by giving him very convincing directions to a point in the exact opposite direction from where he was asking to go. Ooops. My bad.

And who am I anyway?
Just another fat jogger, evidently.

runnerclay

Consistently Slow

posted: 8/18/2008 at 4:47 PM
modified: 8/18/2008 at 4:48 PM

I know where most places are. DW will not let me give directions. I will tell you 5 ways to get to one spot. ? Does anyone stop at a race? You need to learn to re-start. It is good training,at least that is what I tell myself. Cool

Especially for marathons.

Run until the trail runs out.

SCHEDULE 2016--

The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

unsolicited chatter

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milkbaby

posted: 8/18/2008 at 11:14 PM

I don't mind giving directions -- why not be nice to somebody and help them out? To me, my workout doesn't take priority over rendering assistance to somebody who honestly needs a little help. However, I've been lucky in that I've never had any experiences with rude direction askers! Smile

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi "I have need to be all on fire, for I have mountains of ice about me to melt." -- William Lloyd Garrison "The marathon is an art; the marathoner is an artist." -- Kiyoshi Nakamura

BadDawg

posted: 8/19/2008 at 2:58 PM

Quote from milktruck on 8/18/2008 at 11:26 AM:

I hopped in the back, figured that I could run the miles home, or call for a ride -- just said "go" and the guy took off. Poor people, I was sweating pretty good and smelled ripe -- I could see the sweat stains on the back seat with I got out.

Sometimes you can tell that your directions just didn't sink in, and the driver isn't going to follow them correctly. I've thought about offering to play copilot then continue my run, but it is usually the sweatiest run of the year and nobody wants a stinky dawg in their car. Almost all of my road runs are at an easy pace, if I'm trying to run fast I'm probably on a track or in a race. After reading this thread yesterday, I headed out for an easy recovery run on the town's main drag. I was a little over a mile into the run when I saw a minivan with Vermont plates in a parking lot. Three young men had a map spread out on the windshield, so I stopped my Garmin and asked if they needed any help. They were probably just too proud to admit they were lost, they all said "thanks, we're all set". I'd never actually offered help with directions without being asked, but I know all too well how badly it sucks to be hopelessly lost. It actually felt good to offer, I'll do it again if the opportunity arises. And JK, these people CAN'T just find you, you must attract them somehow.

E.J.
Greater Lowell Road Runners
Cry havoc and let slip the dawgs of war!

May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your SPF30, may the rains fall soft upon your sweat-wicking hat, and until you hit the finish line may The Flying Spaghetti Monster hold you in the hollow of His Noodly Appendage.

bdanehy

posted: 8/19/2008 at 3:09 PM

Quote from cameraready on 8/18/2008 at 8:35 AM:

I haven't had anyone ask me for directions yet but I have had people ask me the time which can be a dilemma. How do you explain to someone that the expensive GPS HRM watch on your wrist can't tell you the time at the moment? All the while running past them not wanting to stop and switch to watch mode. The easy answer would just to honestly say I have no idea what the time is but the polite side of me just usually estimates the time based on when I left the house. Of course I could just make up a time. How would they know?

Love it! I had to have one of my running club friends tell me how to tell time with my Garmin 205! I still need reading glasses to read it though. When I get asked for directions I just keep running and spit them out along the way. If they want the directions bad enough, they'll crawl along with me and try to decipher what I'm telling them!

Minderbender

posted: 8/19/2008 at 3:17 PM

I have a hopeless disability- I cannot remember street names, except my own. I get stopped several times a year in my neighborhood by a car or usually a delivery van, wanting to know where x street is, and I can't tell them, even though I have lived here for 15 years. I get a lot of incredulous looks from drivers. I run these streets at least 4-5 times per week. Same thing with plant names, which all sound like venereal diseases to me. These gets me in trouble with the neighbors, when I ask if their chlamydia is blooming.

protoplasm72

posted: 8/20/2008 at 10:58 PM

My street is where drivers end up when they realize the street they wanted to follow does not actually cross the expressway like it appears on the map so I get a lot of lost drivers. Only twice have I been stopped during a run. It's kind of annoying but I still help them out. One time during the winter I gave the directions and then started walking away only to slip and fall like an idiot. I also once gave directions to a high school girls cross country team. They were looking for a mile marker that wasn't marked any more.

Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose; it's how drunk you get. -- Homer Simpson

JakeKnight

posted: 8/20/2008 at 11:54 PM

Quote from Minderbender on 8/19/2008 at 3:17 PM:

I have a hopeless disability- I cannot remember street names, except my own. I get stopped several times a year in my neighborhood by a car or usually a delivery van, wanting to know where x street is, and I can't tell them, even though I have lived here for 15 years. I get a lot of incredulous looks from drivers. I run these streets at least 4-5 times per week. Same thing with plant names, which all sound like venereal diseases to me. These gets me in trouble with the neighbors, when I ask if their chlamydia is blooming.

I'd like to recruit you. After observing you carefully in recent weeks, I've decided you're clearly the right sort for this organization: http://www.runningahead.com/groups/2000/ Consider joining. You're obviously offensive, brain-damaged, and obsessed with venereal diseases. In other words, perfect.

E-mail: eric.fuller.mail@gmail.com
-----------------------------

JakeKnight

posted: 8/20/2008 at 11:55 PM

Quote from BadDawg on 8/19/2008 at 2:58 PM:

And JK, these people CAN'T just find you, you must attract them somehow.

Boyish good looks and a sock in my running shorts. Works every time.