Arun Gupta, Miles to go ...

Arun Gupta is a technology enthusiast, a passionate runner, and a community guy who works for Sun Microsystems.
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http://blogs.sun.com/arungupta/date/20090720 Monday July 20, 2009

Running Pet Peeves - Running San Francisco Marathon 2009 First 1/2


I've been running for many many years now and got into long distance running 4 years ago. Just love outdoor running and use treadmill for speed workouts and hills. Treadmill is a very predictable environment and allows you to focus on particular aspects of training. Most of my workouts are in the neighborhood and I generally try to run on business trips. As much as I enjoy running, I have my share of pet peeves experienced over these past years.

  1. Leashed dog who are wandering multiple feet away from the owners and certainly all the unleashed dogs chasing/barking people in public areas.
  2. Abreast walkers on the trail not willing to give up way for the runners coming behind. They just look behind and continue walking at 2 miles/hour.
  3. All the more weird, walkers abreast on the trail not willing to give up way for runners coming from front.
  4. Group runners who run abreast, love to chat and don't yield to other runners.
  5. Hikers who move to right when you say "right" coming from behind ... ouch!
  6. Drivers yapping on their phone, not paying any attention to oncoming traffic and especially to pedestrian/walkers/runners.
  7. Another similar one, drivers unwilling to yield on unprotected right turn for walkers/runners with right of way.
  8. In races, runners (more like fast walkers) who sign up for Wave 1 and 2 where as they should really be Wave 6 or 7. They just cause extra traffic for faster runners.
  9. In races again, right before or after the start the runners who take a deviation start peeing off anywhere they like ... yuck! Have seen it all the times in early morning races, especially San Francisco Marathon. I think one of the San Francisco Marathon photographers should shoot each runner's photo who is spoiling the bay with their dump and then publish them.
  10. Walkers/runners who just stop to fix a shoe lace or itch or something else without bothering to check if there is somebody coming fast behind them.
  11. Runners who expect a return "hello/hi" from you when you are totally focused on getting that last stretch completed.
I've experienced each one of them multiple times. I think the world will be a better place for runners, and in general, if we try to avoid these.

Anyway, feel free to add yours!

I'm expressing these peeves in the last days before 2009 San Francisco Marathon and will see if the world is slightly better in the race. I'll be running the first half over the Golden Gate Bridge and will see ya there. And as evident from the last point above, I don't like talking when running so we'll talk before/after the race :)

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Posted by Arun Gupta in Running  |  Comments[4]

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