No Category selected Don’t take it personally!

    Don’t take it personally!

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    So this morning when I was out for my run, a car pulled over.  For me, this means:

    1. Making sure the vehicle isn’t turning into an entranceway I might be running through. Then…
    2. Looking to see if the window rolls down; this is a good indicator that the driver would like to ask for directions, because I am really not important enough for anyone to take out a mob hit on me. If you are wondering, roughly 50% of those cases result in directions to the nearest Tim Hortons.

    If conditions 1 and 2 are not the case, I ignore the car because 99% of the time, it has nothing to do with me.  So in this morning’s instance, I continued on my way. Then, there was a honk.  This could mean:

    1. The driver was picking someone up at the house the car stopped in front of, or…
    2. The driver was honking at me.

    Now, something else non-runners need to know is that 99% of drivers that honk at a runner do so because they are either (a) Angry (about 95% of cases) or (b) Creepy (about 4%).  Only 1% of the time is it because (c) the runner actually knows the person.

    I think you can all see where this is going…in my defense I would like to say that I run without my glasses.  I can see where I am going just fine, but I can’t read signs from far away and people are blurry.

    Back to this morning…when I heard the horn, I turned to see if it was (a) or (b) above, not thinking that it could be (c), and there was a blurry person waving a blurry hand in a slow kind of way.  So of course I assume it is (a) above, and angry person is being polite enough to use all fingers instead of just one, so I wave back with attitude and keep going.

    Then the car pulls up closer and rolls down the window and the driver says, “Don’t you recognize the car?” Of course as soon as the driver got within speaking range and spoke to me, I knew EXACTLY who it was (again, in my defense, I had only seen the car once, and it was in the driveway when we went to visit, so I didn’t even have a neuron-pathway formed that connected him to the inside of the car. Also, this person lives in a town 40 km away and works in a city that is even farther and in a different direction, so I didn’t really expect to see him on a side street in my town at 7:00 on some random Wednesday morning).

    We had a little chat (turns out he was on a work field-trip to another city like 3 hours away, and in retrospect, probably only turned down that side street when he saw me in the crosswalk of the more major street and wanted to wave) and he went on his way.

    Now this left me with mixed feelings.  First, I was all excited in that how-nice-I-got-to-see-this-person kind of way, as well as the get-to-go-home-and-say, “Hey, guess who I saw today!” kind of way.  But the flip side of it is that I felt like a moron and a bit of a jerk for not recognizing him.

    I guess what I am trying to say is, don’t be offended if your runner doesn’t recognize you while they are running.  He or she has learned not to respond to people to avoid those awkward “wasn’t waving at you” moments and “don’t you smile at me, you are nothing more than a gigantic impediment to my morning commute!” moments – and you are out of context.  In fact, you should be flattered – after all, you are part of your runner’s 1% – and not in that bad “Occupy” kind of way!

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    A runner for just over four years, Karen has already completed a marathon, two half marathons and a variety of 5k and 10k races. She describes her first marathon - the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon last September - as "a nightmare." However, she met a very interesting person in the process - a man named Sydney who was running his 152nd marathon! Although the race didn't go as well as planned for Karen or Sydney, he showed her that no matter how experienced a runner you are, you can still have a bad day. "Does that mean we shouldn't bother to prepare, or maybe just shouldn't bother at all? Of course not!" says Karen. "In the end, it is what we make it." We like her optimism!

    2 COMMENTS

    1. Thanks then for always waving when I peep at you!
      I do the same thing, and for the same reason (no glasses)~

    2. So true.
      Thankfully, living in a smaller city, when someone waves or toots the horn, I: a) generally assume that I do know them, or b) think they themselves a runner and are just being encouraging.
      And, living in a small city, I just automatically wave back at them in a “How’s it going to you, too?” kinda way.
      Then again, they could be c’s) and be totally p**ed off at me for either a) making them wait for a turn, b) running on the road (but properly against traffic, or c) reminding them of their own laziness ;-D

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