This past weekend during my long run I had another encounter with the po-po, I think that’s what all the cool kids are calling the police nowadays. I guess they “see me rollin’, they hatin’, patrolling they tryin’ to catch me riding dirty.” Now I know how Chamillionaire feels. Those of you that haven’t been following this blog for very long might have missed my previous run-in with the law, if that’s the case you can read about it here.
I was finishing up my 6 mile run (yes that qualifies as a long run these days) and I was pushing the pace a little because there were people around watching me, plus it was a downhill stretch, plus I was feeling guilty about doing 6 miles and calling it a long run. Coincidentally I was running right past the crosswalk where the previous incident occurred (again, read that account here). As I approached on the sidewalk I noticed that a traffic cop was sitting in the school parking lot on the lookout for speeding motorists. It was warm out (50 degrees, which is warm by Colorado standards this time of year) so he had his window down and as I ran by I couldn’t stop myself from pulling out an earbud and yelling at him, “was I speeding?”
He laughed and waved at me before responding with “nah, but I did actually clock you at 8 miles an hour!” I smiled at the thought that he had seen me coming and clocked me. I guess some cops aren’t so bad. Although the fact that my Garmin never had me at anything faster than an 8 minute pace (7½ mph) would indicate that his radar gun was off by a ½ mph in his favor, proving that cops really are just out to get me. Whatever, I just roll on. “My music so loud, I’m swangin’, they hopin’ that they gon’ catch me riding dirty.”
Showing posts with label cops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cops. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
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!
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
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