Running In Place

Do you run in place when you come to a street that you have to cross? I'm in two minds about this. One of the routes I like to run has a major intersection that I have to cross, and it can often take 30-40 seconds before I get a walk signal. Standing around doing nothing for that long gets me out of my rhythm and it allows the lactic acid to start building up in your muscles. (Editor's Note: I have no idea if that lactic acid thing is true or not, I just know that it is much harder for me to run if I stop for a prolonged period of time. If you were looking for actual facts and scientifically backed up articles then you're at the wrong blog. I suggest you start with these guys - Science of Sport.)

On the other hand when I do run in place I feel like everyone in their cars is just rolling their eyes at me. 'Would you look at this guy? Hey buddy! We get it, you're healthy! You don't even stop running when you have to stop running!' I don't want to be that guy. You all know that guy he's the one that sees you eating something and tells you without solicitation that he never eats that because it's not good for your health. That guy is the person in your office who not only takes the stairs every time, but tells you that he takes the stairs every time because elevators are not good for your health. Yeah, well you know what else is not good for your health? A flurry of punches from my fists of steel and justice, so you'd better quit annoying me.

Lance Breger has a hilarious post about what to do instead of running in place at the intersection, but I don't recommend that you read it if you're dedicated to running in place. I just read it and I can tell you with certainty that I will NEVER AGAIN run in place at an intersection. Thanks for breaking me of the habit Lance. Those are some pretty good alternatives, but next time I come to an intersection I think I'll do the Chicken Noodle Soup.

Your thoughts in the comments, and also, do you stop your watch while stopped at the intersection? It only seems fair that you would.

To the police officer who almost ran me over in the crosswalk

With apologies to my readers because I usually do try to keep this blog pretty clean, but I cannot think of a better way to express how upset I was with the fat-jelly-donut-eating-traffic-cop who almost ran me down the other day.

I'm running on one of the trails near my house and as per usual I come to a crosswalk which is located in a school zone as it always has been. I look to my left and notice that the oncoming traffic has seen me and has agreed to yield, as per my usual agreement with oncoming traffic at crosswalks. The driver of the first car motions for me to go ahead and as I begin to step out onto the road I smile and wave at him 'thank you!' It is at this point that I turn my head to the right just to make sure that per our usual agreement the westbound lane has also stopped to allow me to traverse the crosswalk upon which I am now embarking.

To my surprise the cop car that is barreling down on me in the far lane actually speeds up to beat me to the crosswalk and effectively cuts me off! This is not per my usual agreement with traffic at crosswalks. Perhaps he was in a hurry to ticket another runner running in a bike lane or perhaps traffic cops are above the law.

As if this wasn't enough, the cop gives me a dirty look and shakes his head (and all four chins) disapprovingly as he speeds through the crosswalk. The CROSSWALK in a SCHOOL ZONE! I froze and took a few steps backwards to avoid getting Rodney King'd on the front of his car and then shook my fist and yelled "you'll be sorry when I write about this in my online journal!" OK, that's not what I yelled, I'm really not that much of a geek but I can't actually print what I yelled and hope to keep my cool PG rating. You might think that yelling at a cop is a bad idea, but let me assure you that there's no way that tubby was going to get out of his car and be faster than me (unless we were having a hot-dog eating contest). I was on the tail end of a 5 mile tempo run and he was still sweating more than I was, probably from struggling to reach the box of Krispy Kreme's that had fallen off the passenger seat. Maybe that's why he was so cantankerous, sometimes they mislabel the jelly donuts and you get cream filled instead. I know that always makes me feel like going out and plowing down some pedestrians!

Picture credit to Lieutenant Winslow