Today's training run and the people in your neighborhood

Today I decided to be a bit ambitious.  After running 6 miles yesterday I decided that I would put in a long slow run today.  So I headed out at about 12:30 this afternoon for a 14 mile run.  I decided that I would run relatively slow so that when I hit the last mile that I would have some legs left.  For the most part my strategy worked.  I felt pretty good for the entire run.  Although, on the last mile I felt and looked about 75 years old.

I did run into a good friend and a REAL runner, Jonathan Steeves.  Jonathan was in the middle of a 16 mile run and he slowed down so that we could talk for a couple of minutes.  We discussed our runs and then because I was slowing him down he wished me luck and went on his way.  As I watched him fade into the distance in front of me I started to think about the people that I run across when I'm out on my runs.  First of all, because I am an unrepentant attention whore, I love it when cars honk at me.  It gives me a little charge.  I can't really explain why but it does. 

There are three categories of people that you come across (that are not in cars) when you are out on a run.  First there are the dog walkers.  These are usually pretty nice people that are friendly and curteous and will hold onto their pets a little tighter as you run by.  This still wont keep me from crossing to the other side of the road when the woman with the two dobermans is out.  Some may call me chicken but I like to think of it as self preservation.

The second type of people are other runners.  These folks are you brothers in arms.  You share a mutul respect and admiration.  They will always say hi and you might even get a look that silently says I feel your pain. 

The last group is the cyclists.  For the most part, these people will not acknowledge your exisitance.  With their ridiculous day-glo spandex and wrap around sunglasses, the look at you with thinly veiled contempt.  As if the fact that you are out on the road without wheels is an offense so egregious as to make you less than human in their eyes.  Now I don't know why this is the case but I ran across no fewer than 8 people on bicycles on my run today and I smiled, waved and said hi to each one of them and not one smiled back or spoke a single word to me.  As George Costanza once said "We're living in a SOCIETY"

I don't get it.  But what do I know?

Til next time...