Saturday, January 19, 2008

Bunch of Arrogant Exercisers!

Yup. Thats exactly what we are.

Last week a group I run with, Todd's Road Stumblers, was brought up in a complaint letter to the sheriff of the county we run in. Someone brought in a copy of the letter today, both to inform people and to poke a little fun at. Why poke fun at such a serious situation?

Because of the style of writing. It was perfectly obvious the author had a lot of bottled up rage and was trying his hardest to keep it there, but couldn't quite do it! About halfway through he slipped by calling us "a bunch of arrogant exercisers going around like the own the road!" (not an exact quote, but the 'bunch of arrogant exercisers' comes straight out of his letter)

From what I hear, we get about two of these every year and nothing ever happens. It is usually someone who wants to drive 70 MPH around a blind turn and could probably use a couple miles out there with us.

For example, last year there was a report that "hundreds of people were out running well before dawn with flashlights, trying to blind the drivers!" What were they talking about? Yeah, Judy and Mark (count 'em: one, two) were out on a long run to beat the summer heat and brought flashlights for their own safety.

When we get a complaint the sheriff always comes out to make sure we're following the rules of the road, which we do. In fact, we have them posted on a rather large poster inside the clubhouse, and always remind new members to look at them; we know who wins in a car-runner collision!

This morning the sheriff drove past me four separate times during my 7 miler; each time I hugged the shoulder as tight as possible, smiled, and waved (with all five fingers). It is a good thing, really, to make sure everybody does get through their runs safely. Maybe a few people trying to fly through the blind turns will take heed too!

Thats all I got about that. Here's this arrogant exercises numbers for the day:

Run:
7:53
7:45
7:28
7:13
7:20
7:24
7:15
(and change)

Pace: 7:28
HR: 163 bpm

Then I came back, ate some food, cleaned up, took an hour nap, and then jumped on the stationary bike:

Time: 1:00:00
Distance: 25.42
Speed: Oh come on, I biked exactly an hour. I don't have to tell you this do I?
HR: 152 bpm

All in all a great day. I felt really strong through everything. It was great to talk to everybody from TRS again; I caught a few people I missed last week! Its good to be back!

4 comments:

Steve Stenzel said...

Wait, I don't understand...how fast were you going on the bike? Help me out here...

Jess said...

It shouldn't surprise us that envy leads to anger, but it does. Those that complain about runners and bikers on the road are, most often, just jealous that their not out there doing what we are!

My Life said...

Just came upon your blog... and must say I love that Paolo quote!

Anonymous said...

Ha! "Arrogant exercisers"
I love it. :)