Would this irritate you in a race? (Read 530 times)


A Saucy Wench

    I like chatty runners.  A lot.  I seek them out.

     

    But your style of chat...not so much... you would irritate me. Carrying on a conversation is one thing, bizarre one liners...not so much..taunting full marathoners near the end of your half...definitely a douche move

    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

    JPF


      I'm surprised how many people think OP's being condescending.  I think I would see that he's trying to be funny.  Whether or not he's actually funny is another issue, of course.

       

      Personally I sort of hate talking while running, even on easy runs.

       

      OT, but on Saturday (12/7) some older people were setting up some decorations on the side of the semi-rural road where I was running (sort of on the harder end).  A woman starts talking to me as a run by and tells me that the guy next to her was actually at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.  The guy notes that the attack would have just begun right at that point.  As the only thing my running brain could think at the moment was "Gee, that must have sucked," I just sort of grunted, "Oh, OK, that's interesting" and kept running.  I didn't mean to be a jerk, but I really had no idea what to say at that moment.


      jfa

         

         

         you would irritate me. Carrying on a conversation is one thing, bizarre one liners...not so much..taunting full marathoners near the end of your half...definitely a douche move

         

        Agreed. Some chat is ok.

         

         

         

         

         

         

        bhearn


          I'm surprised how many people think OP's being condescending.  I think I would see that he's trying to be funny.  Whether or not he's actually funny is another issue, of course.

           

          +1. Anything to lighten the mood in a race is a good thing in my book.

           

          MTA maybe I'm just looking at this from an ultra perspective. This seems perfectly normal to me. But I can't imagine being able to generate that much conversation myself in a half I was actually racing.

            +1.  I don't mind a little conversation during races, especially if I'm running with someone a long while--but I'm not really conversational, even at marathon to 50K pace.

             

            That said, you're not actually making conversation.

             

            I'd probably just pick up the pace until you couldn't talk anymore.

            "When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem." 
            Emil Zatopek

            SillyC


              I like conversation during a race, but this isn't a conversation.

               

              You're making bad jokes.

               

              The thing about bad jokes?  Nobody enjoys them, but they can be a bit puzzling.  A bad joke leaves a person wondering if the joke wasn't funny, or if they didn't get the joke, or if the jokester was trying to make a joke at their expense.


              Mmmmm...beer

                 

                I see your point, but if you can't talk like this early in a marathon, I think you're racing way too hard.

                 

                True, I was thinking half or shorter.  Marathon or ultra, then I would guess you could talk more, altho I'm still not very chatty when I run (which is weird, cause you can't shut me up any other time lol).  I'll have to make an effort to talk to people at my upcoming 50k. Smile

                -Dave

                My running blog

                Goals | sub-18 5k | sub-3 marathon 2:56:46!!


                Hoodoo Guru

                  Making comments is OK with me.  Asking questions expecting a response is a little out of bounds.  People who try to be funny or witty during races (this includes me) probably aren't as funny or as witty as they think.

                  The tangents are moot.

                   

                   

                   

                    It would only be irritating if you beat me.

                    Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and rogues
                    We're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes


                    Mmmmm...beer

                      Thinking back, I did make a comment to a guy at my last half, who was dribbling two basketballs, that I was seriously thinking about tripping him.  But then again, if you're running a race dribbling basketballs, you're inviting comments like that. Smile

                      -Dave

                      My running blog

                      Goals | sub-18 5k | sub-3 marathon 2:56:46!!


                      Doc, my tooth hurts

                        I don't think it would irritate me, but I'm not really that tightly wound during a race. I would have recognized that you were trying to make a joke and not really thought anything of it.

                         

                        I usually keep talking to a minimum during a race, and most people seem to be ok if I say one or two words. Trying to act like it's open mic night won't work out though. I've accepted long ago that I'm not a funny person.

                        TeaOlive


                        old woman w/hobby

                           

                          +1. Anything to lighten the mood in a race is a good thing in my book.

                           

                          MTA maybe I'm just looking at this from an ultra perspective. This seems perfectly normal to me. But I can't imagine being able to generate that much conversation myself in a half I was actually racing.

                           

                          Yes, normal conversations in an ultra are great.  But the type the OP was describing, not so much.

                           

                          I could have cheerfully strangled a guy at 24 The Hard Way if it wouldn't have sent me to jail.

                          He was totally obnoxious.  He wasn't trying to have a normal conversation.   He was doing what

                           he needed to do in order to entertain him self to pass time.  He would latch on  to someone or a group

                           for long periods of time and then move on to his next victim(s).  I used Mikey's solution when I could, stopped to

                           retie both shoes once and stopped at the aid station just so as not to be near him.   

                           

                          mta:  I have run at least two other ultras with him and didn't notice this behavior but I was lead to believe that it

                                   is this guy's normal MO.

                          steph  

                           

                           

                            A little humor is welcome to my way of thinking. I usually make a few goofy comments to the people next to me-seems to be Ok.  It's just a marathon. Of course I'm way back in the pack with slower runners- nobody back there is a "serious" runner- they have the breath to talk if they want.. What does bother me is being stuck next to a group that talks constantly during the race- once spent many miles next to a group that spent the whole time reviewing to each other what they had been doing on facebook- couldn't seem to shake them.

                            bhearn


                              I guess I just don't tend to get irritated much by whatever the other runners do, as long as they are not slowing me down by blocking tangents, being oblivious with headphones, etc. Generally any form of conversation, sensible or nonsensical, seems welcome, I think.

                               

                              Maybe because I train alone, company in a race is welcome. The social aspect is part of why I race.

                                .

                                 

                                Maybe because I train alone, company in a race is welcome. The social aspect is part of why I race.

                                 

                                Yep