I ran on Thursday, biked on Friday, ran on Saturday, and then ran long today (Sunday). That gave me four days out on the roads to witness (and be the target of) some pretty incredible jackassery. Seriously. We can do better, folks.
(I should preface this entire post by saying that I ran over 1,000 miles last year, and 99% of my runs went swimmingly. My biggest complaint on most runs is... well, about me--my legs, my speed, my breathing, my overheating...)
Runners: Run against traffic. Bike with it. When you run on the wrong (yes, there is a wrong) side of the road, you are putting yourself in danger--you can't see a car coming from behind to know whether or not the driver sees you to go around you; how will you know if you need to step into a ditch?
Incidentally, when you run with traffic, you also put the other runners on the road in danger. When you are running with traffic, you appear unpredictable to a car coming from behind--they can't see your eyes to know which way you are intending to go. If other runners are out there, cars are trying to make multiple adjustments, and they don't usually do it well. Imagine if cars did the same thing? Cars sometimes sticking to the right side and sometimes going on the left? Chaos.
I repeat. Run against traffic. Bike with it.
Drivers: (I started this address thing, so I'll roll with it here). Don't throw things at me. I've been hit by CDs (who even has those any more?), full soda cans, and a coin or two while out on the road. I've been yelled at, honked at, and flipped off. I've had cars "playfully" try to run me off the road while on my bike and while running. I had one woman driving alongside me yelling at me because she thought I should be running on the sidewalk (there wasn't a sidewalk!). Please know, I'm not out there running or biking AT you any more than you should be out there driving AT me. And that your being in a car automatically makes you an intimidating presence. It's okay to leave me alone. (I do love the occasional thumbs up from a passing friend in a car, though. I'm not going to lie.)
On that note,
if you are passing a cyclist, you should only pass if the oncoming traffic lane is clear.
I repeat.
If you are passing a cyclist, you should ONLY pass if the oncoming traffic lane is clear.
When the sign above says, "Share the Road," it doesn't mean that a cyclist should pull off the road or into the gravel so that you can pass. That's not sharing. It may, however, mean that you have to slow down and wait your turn to go around the cyclist so that you can BOTH use the road. That's sharing. It also doesn't mean that you should get angry and frustrated with the cyclist when you time your pass poorly and find yourself in the path of oncoming traffic. That's your fault.
This morning while I was on my long run, running into traffic, a cyclist was coming towards me. He moved out into the center of his lane to go around me. In that moment, the car that was riding behind him decided to pass him. So there we were--me, the cyclist giving me room to run, and a car that was suddenly trying to adjust to passing both a car and a runner at the same time because she hadn't really tuned in to the conditions of the road. She nearly hit the cyclist as she moved in front of him because she underestimated his speed up against hers and also misunderstood the adjustment he was making for a runner on the road.
We have to do better at sharing the road. Our town is small. We don't have a single red/yellow/green stoplight in the city limits. The speed limit in the city limits is 20 mph. Golf carts are street legal as long as you pay for the $40.00 license each year and carry insurance. And you can get anywhere in town within 10 minutes in a car, fifteen minutes on a golf cart. And this isn't really a town built for speed. But man, we've gotta do better at sharing the road.
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