YAYpril - B-Plus
Since I run alone 99% of the time, I like to stick around public areas. Our trail system is remote and I don't ever run there alone - which means I need to drag someone else. That's just not possible to do for every run.
Same with me. I live 3 miles from a towpath and I run there sometimes with friends, but a lot of homeless people hang out there and it's pretty secluded in parts. I wouldn't feel safe running there alone.
It is often not feasible to run anywhere else. Consider yourself lucky that you can usually run on trails.
Agreed. You run where you can, where your area allows. Luckily for me, I am in suburbia and get to run on sidewalks (my preference). I also have my choice of a paved and soft trail system within a 40 minute drive.
If I lived in the country, and absolutely had to run on roads I would do what I had to do to run...which is run through the corn fields. ; )
Village people
This is my rail trail. Since I run alone 99% of the time, I like to stick around public areas. Our trail system is remote and I don't ever run there alone - which means I need to drag someone else. That's just not possible to do for every run.
This is my rail trail.
I'm more scared of animals than people. I run on rural roads, but there are no cornfields. In Niagara Falls there were fields of grapes, but who knows what kind of stuff they were spraying on them. I can hear cars before they see me and I move further off the road or stop and step into the grass. There are so many blind corners and I do not want to trust my life to a stranger. It doesn't matter where you run, you should be alert and aware of your surroundings.
Will run for beer.
I've had mostly good experiences with drivers, thankfully. I've been in one brief shouting match with some old codger whom started blaring his horn no less than 1/4 mile behind the group I was with. We were on the shoulder so he had plenty of room. He had the fortitude to stop, roll down his window, and tell us to "take our hobby somewhere else." What a jerk. However, that pales in comparison to what other runners have had to put up with - people intentionally swerving toward them. The majority of the drivers have been polite, stopped with enough room and waved me on. Our state law gives the right away to foot traffic on most roads- well, I'm not going to put that theory to the test just to prove entitlement. I'd end up busted in 8 pieces in the ditch somewhere.
Vance Will Run Blog
Hip Redux
When I do trail or off road run, I don't wear headphones so that I am aware of my surroundings, and my headphones are never loud enough to drown out car noise on the road. But I'd like to still be somewhere where someone can hear me scream if I ever need to be rescued.
I have been startled by Prius' before though coming up behind me - things are quiet!
And with their dogs.
The dogs, more often than not, show more courtesy.
I run the county roads in my area. Many will move over completely in the other lane as they pass. Some will slow down when traffic is coming up making passing me a choke point. Some will even slow down to prevent the choke point that are actually coming up from behind me in the other lane.
This.
However, I was hit by a car around 6 am Thursday. I'm okay and ran 7 Sunday morning. The shins are still a bit sore if I poke them.
I was just past mile 10 and back in town, planning to do a couple more around town. I was on the left side of a side street approaching a corner with a main street. Moved 6 or 8 foot into a gravel parking area for a Day Care when I saw traffic coming from town about to turn on my side road. I did not realize until it was too late that she was making a wide U turn into the Day Care. The parking area is not a lot with one entrance but where they spread gravel couple of car lengths deep along the side street so they just pull in anywhere to park.
I was wearing a Brooks nightlife bright lime shirt and had a petzel clipped to my wast. She did not see me until she made the last part of her turn when her lights hit me.
Guess I was a bit shaken up. After rolling off the hood of her car and still laying on the ground, I hit the lap button on my garmin instead of the stop button.
On my Sunday run, I wore my Black Diamond Sprint headlight on strobe. It's not that I need the light on the roads but you'd have to be legally blind not to see me. I do have to learn not to turn my head when talking to a running partner. I temporarily blinded my brother.
Dr. Cornsitter
Exactly. I lived in a safe part of the city but as my distance built up, I had to venture out to other neighboring towns and those were not as safe. I stick to well-lit, well-traveled, public roads.
I just moved to the burbs though and now I have to figure out where I can run in the dark without getting kidnapped, hit by a car, eaten by wild animals, or some combination of the three.
Quote from BeachRunner3234 on 6/25/2013 at 8:20 PM:
So I'm currently sitting with a bag of frozen corn in my ass.
Holy crap!! I'm glad you are OK. I can totally see how that could happen - neither of you expecting the other to be there.
But I gotta say - I chuckled at the bold part.