people yelling at you while running (Page 2)

Taking a page from Wayne's World, I've been tempted to reply to hecklers by saying "A sphinchter says what?" 

Doesn't happen to me that much but one time a lady pulled a U-turn just to yell at me across a center divider for running on the wrong side of the road while on a bike path.  I just smiled really big at her and she drove off angrily.  =)

Every now and then I do get startled as well when yelled at.  It's so lame! 

The only time I remember getting yelled at was kind of funny.  I was running along the sidewalk when out of the corner of my eye I see a car slow to my pace.  My first thought, drive by!  Why?  I watch too many movies/TV shows.  Anyway, it turned out to be my wife and daughter who is 2.  My daughter wanted to yell "go daddy go" at me.  

I have however given several people this week real dirty looks for either blowing through a crosswalk when I had the walk sign or almost doing it.

For me, I just smile and wave back at the hecklers, It totally diffuses the situation.

I don't get yelled at very much.  I can see why alot of people get yelled at.  Cycling 2 to 4 wide on a group ride and not in a pace line.  Riding in a travel lane of a road when there is adequate clean shoulder to ride in.  Running straight through a cross walk and not stopping to look.  Running at night with no reflective clothing or light.  Most you should just ignore on others look at the big picture and make sure your not making yourself a candidate for the Darwin awards.

It's amazing how "clean" a shoulder looks at 45 mph when your tires have 1/2" or more of tread... Take the speed down, remove the windshield, and reduce the tread to a couple thumbnails' thickness and the picture changes a whole lot. And legally, we are allowed to move left for debris/parked cars/etc.

It's pretty rare that these things happen but when they do I'm not always proud of my behavior. I guess me and my running/riding crew tend to get cranky when out on long runs because we have been known to stop running and walk back to who is mouthing us and see if they really are as tough as they think they are.  Ultimately it's mainly a bluff but sometimes that all you need to shut the "mouthers" up - especially when there's three or four of us in the group. 

We've thrown snowballs at cars who got a bit too close.  We've even smacked the car windows of cars that aren't paying attention and nearly hit us.  That wakes the driver up real fast.  Sure, we get the finger and stuff back but everybody is a tough guy while in the safety of their car. 

One early Saturday morning, about 4AM, I was out running a 20 miler.  A car went by that had two very hungover young ladies that I figured were just heading home after a hard Friday night of partying.

One of them looked at me incredulously and yelled:  "What the $%^&# are you doing out at this time of night?"

I yelled back at them: "What the $%^&# are you doing out at this time of night?"

She giggled and went on her way.

Bill

People are still too puzzled to see me on the road, so they are usually too confused to come up with something to say. Also, I run in Amish and Mennonite country a lot, where folks are extremely polite.

But I think it's interesting this thread started today, as my good friend and running inspiration just posted on FB and dailymile that he got egged for the first time today. He's a pastor in Philly, runs the same neighborhoods all the time. Ah, Mayfair.

Funny enough for all the stereotypes about the rednecks where I live (Alabama), I've had literally one encounter like this in three years of being out running and biking.  Most people are exceptionally courteous.

Sadly I've only gotten one cat call.  It was greatly appreciated, fleeting though it was.

If you're running in the outfit pictured, the jealousy is understandable. ;-}

On the rare occasion that I get any unsolicited feedback from cars/others, I do my best to wave at 'em with all five fingers extended, even when I feel like retracting the outer four.  As noted, it confuses 'em.  And on the off chance that they have a conscience, it may get them to change the way they act towards runners/cyclists.

Usually I find other runners and even cyclists will wave, except the cyclists dressed in identical colors riding in packs.  No doubt there's a lot of regional variation--when I lived in Boston, nobody waved, smiled, or looked up.  That's why I live in the West.

Our group ride Wednesday got passed by two positive yellers. One of them yelled "F*** YEAH!!!" at us. It was pretty sweet.

My most memorable catcaller was after dark, I was having an awful run and I was miserable, and it was freezing so I was covered head to toe, and these young guys in a car pulled up next to me and yelled "WHAT UP, SHAWTY???" and started rapping at me. I laughed very, very hard. I was in Kentucky at the time.

It is amazing but when I just ran or rode the same road in the morning and it was clean it is annoying when I go by later in the day.

It is also my opinion when your on the bike and at or above the speed limit you have every right to use the entire vehicular lane. 

....apple bottoms jeans, boots with fur, the whole club was looking at her, next thing ya' know, she hit floor, shawty got low, low, low, low, low...  (sorry, I had to do that)

I've (sadly) pretty much adopted this ontology. I have had some horrible things yelled at me about my body, and other things that I'm sure were horrible but the pickup truck with a confederate flag window screen was hurtling by too fast as it played chicken with me to hear what the db said. I had a drink thrown at me once while I was on my bike. 

Every once in a while, I'll get a cute little old farmer holler "faster! faster!" with a smile.... I don't mind those people and usually try to joke back. And little kids love to yell "HI" to me on my bike. 

It's nice to hear about the exception! Unfortunately, too many people around here seem to do their best to set stereotypes into stone when it comes to choice of vehicle and attitude towards cyclists/ pedestrians.