Opening Statement
The construction of today's original post was horrifying enough to make Battlefield Earth look like an Oscar contender. I wandered all over the place, covering every subject from running naked to the digestive cycle of the alpaca. I can only hope that what follows is much better.
I yelled at a runner yesterday. I typically reserve any yelling to moments when I am coaching a group of runners and there is a trench in the route we had to hurdle or if we need to stop prior to crossing an intersection. But yesterday, I directed a small amount of grief in the direction of a solo runner who probably awoke this morning totally clueless that she is in her own bed versus the hospital room or worse. In my defense, I did not curse and I did not use a derogatory term such as "douche-tard."
Random Thought: Amazingly the term "douchetardation" suddenly seems to be all the rage. Go figure.
The episode occurred at an intersection at Memorial Park. We've reached the time of year when many marathon training groups are gearing up their programs, thus the Memorial Park area, which is always jam packed with thousands of runners on Saturday mornings, has seen the running population double or triple in size.
At this particular intersection a running trail dumps out into a crosswalk on Memorial Drive, which is a 45 MPH thoroughfare. Since runners are coming out of the trees, they are blind to any traffic and vice versa. However, there is not a only a signal to guide them, but there are also Walk/Don't Walk signs that count down available seconds to make it through the intersection. By the way, this intersection is well regulated in that there is a period of time specifically given to runners to cross the intersection while traffic is stopped in each direction.
Thus it came to be that myself and the driver in front of me were patiently awaiting the green arrow for our left turn. Once the light turned in our favor we made our way into the intersection, but had to stop while the tail end of a running group cleared the intersection. Once clear, we continued toward the crosswalk. I noticed the runner first and stopped immediately, which by the way stranded me in the intersection with the light just beginning to burn yellow. I was about to hit the horn, but thankfully the driver in front of me was as quick on the uptake as I was and hit his brakes.
A runner missed him by about six inches. Notice how I worded that. Six inches - that's close enough for a hip check. I honestly do not believe she knows it either. The look on her face was a mix of determination and worry. She burst from the tree line with a singular focus fully unaware that she was crossing against a red light and that there was traffic. Having been a coach for many years, I have seen this occur more than once, but never from this point of view and never this close to someone being severely injured. She couldn't/wouldn't stop because her goal was to stay with her group, which was a good 15-20 yards ahead of her. If she had stopped, she would have likely lost them for good.
There is a lot of blame here. Obviously the runner needs to be more aware. Perhaps the runner is running with the wrong group and needs to find a group with a slower pace. It is also important to point out that the running group in question also crossed against a red light. Certainly not unheard of, but it did contribute to the situation. Further, I have to wonder why there were no coaches in this group controlling the runners through the intersection. I also have to wonder why this particular person was allowed to lag behind the group without a coach intervening.
The runner was lucky. She crossed at the only moment traffic could see her enter the intersection and react. If the light had been green for cross traffic, well that would have been a mighty big splat.
It's About You
So what does this have to do with you? Surely, I could better entertain you with tales of my Three Levels of Awesomeness. But you know what? I'm a giver. I care. Maybe I care too much. I swear, I don't even know me anymore...
It has to do with awareness. Over the next several weeks I'll give you The Summer of You Series. I'm not going to give you any advice, I am not even going to tell you what to do. I am merely going to present information that will hopefully make you more aware and even discover some things about yourself that will make you a better runner. Perhaps you will actually tune in.
Listening to: Sausalito Summernight - Diesel
Closing Argument: Perhaps I am approaching the Summer of You in the wrong manner. Perhaps my marketing needs work. Perhaps I should have lead with something like: Knock 10 seconds off your PR overnight! Or perhaps I just need a beer...
