Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The Top 10 Things That Annoy Me About Running

Well, it's been a few weeks since I last blogged.  I hope everyone's training is going well and everyone is dealing with the heat okay!  To be honest, not much new on my homefront.  I decided to skip the Goofy Challenge this year and stick with the 5K and the full marathon.  I don't think I'm quite ready for the Goofy in 2013 (at least, with my own personal goals), so we'll see how the next year of running goes.

I'm still trying to decide if I want to do a run/walk for the marathon or to try and run the whole darn thing.  I change my mind pretty much every day in regards to this.  The reason why I'm considering the run/walk is that I set my personal best in the half marathon distance using a 4-min. run/2-min. walk ratio.  And that was my first ever half!  Since than, I've tried various ratios and even ran the whole way (with walks through the water stations) and I've never approached my PR for the half.  The closest I got was about 3 minutes at the Frederick Half last month.  We'll see...  I'll probably keep changing my mind up until the longer runs ramp up this fall!

But anyway, now on to the title of my topic.  Ten things that annoy me about running (this is mainly about training runs and not the races)...

10)  My ear buds won't stay in!  The more I sweat (and I sweat a lot) the looser they become.  I do have the wraparounds, so it's not like they're completely falling out of my ears.

9)  Being able to smell EVERYTHING in my house upon returning from a long week-end run.  This includes the cat litter and the laundry.

8)  Forgetting my nipple guards on the long runs.  Can make for a painful shower and a long day.

7)  When approaching a driveway and seeing the driver preparing to back down.  No matter how far away I am - I can be 100 feet or 10 feet away - the driver will ALWAYS wait until I'm right at his driveway to start backing down.

6)  When I wave or say "hi" to a fellow jogger and get completely ignored.  This one really grinds at me.  At least give me a head nod or something.  Running snobs...

5)  I can smell cigarette smoke from a hundred yards away (no offense, smokers.)

4)  People who only make a half-hearted effort - and in lots of cases NO effort - to contain and/or control their dogs when they chase after me.

3)  The dirty looks I get from the people in #4 who - for some reason - think it's MY fault that their dogs chase after me.

2)  The motorists who make a point of driving as close to you as possible.

1)  Dodging the piles of dog poop that - for some reason - people don't pick up ON THE SIDEWALKS.  Not the grass, which I can understand maybe a little bit, but on the SIDEWALK.  Probably the same people mentioned in #'s 3 and 4.

In closing, my Tip of the Day:  Don't be a hero in the hot weather.  I used to not take water with me on runs of 8 miles or less.  I took an 8-mile run (or attempted to) a couple week-ends ago, and was totally regretting not taking water with me about 4 miles into the run.  And I paid dearly for it.  Again, don't be a hero.  Better safe than studly.

Until next time...

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