masterstrack.com

I went to the local track to do an interval workout today.
I was wearing my heart rate monitor to see what effort I was putting forth.
There were several groups of walkers, joggers, and a dad and his two children riding their bikes on the track.
I started my first interval made it about 200 meters, I was pulling up to the young girl and her brothers riding their bikes in the first few lanes.
I yelled "track" twice and they didn't even budge their heads to see what the noise was. I stopped and in a stern voice told the girl who was about 8 years old, that she needed to stay out of the first lane.
She responded back to me "You don't own the track!".
[Start of max heart rate test]
I informed her the for one, it is common courtesy not to block the first lane of the track, and two, bikes are not allowed on the track.
She yelled at me "get away, you are going to hit me."
I told her that I was not going to hit her, that she needed to get her bike off the track, that they are not allowed.
She yelled again " yes you are going to hit me!" and then she shouted at her father who as now only 60 yards away, "Dad call the police, this man is going to hit me!"
The dad came up and I told him that it is track etiquette not to block the first lane of a track, and that bikes are not allowed on the track.
He said " It doesn't say that, where does it say that." I informed him that it was posted on the fence when he entered the track facility.
And once again, I told him that it was track etiquette not to block the inside lane of a track.

I then went on to finish my interval, checked my heart rate monitor, and saw that I was up to 187 bpm. [end of max heart rate test]
When I got home, I told my wife about the incident, and she noted that I was wearing a sweatshirt from my church which said "St Matthew Spirit" on it.

Unfortunate commentary on today's culture. Had I been the little kid on the track and yelled some man was going to hit me, my dad would have responded "wait until I get a hold of you". Wow, I must be getting old.

We all have our limits.

Great MHR by the way.

Tony

Chip: [to Ricky Bobby] Are you just going to let your sons talk to their grandfather like this?

Ricky Bobby: Hell yes I am! They are winners! That is how winners talk!

Carley Bobby: If we wanted two wussies, we would have named them Dr. Quinn and Medicine Woman!

The same thing happens a the track that I procrastinate about running at. And it's got the same sign posted at the entrance - "No Wheeled Vehicles Allowed". Yet parents take their kids up there to ride their bikes while the parents jog. It infuriates me, and if I had one of those spiffey heart rate monitors I might get a real shock.

Anyway, I hope I have yourself-control if I ever have a similar situation. I can see myself going for the M50-59 3-turn bicycle toss AR.

The one thing that really kind of bugs me are the people who will play either football or soccer on the field, and then walk onto the track, even after directly at me and I am sprinting, and stepping right in front of me and stand there.
What would they do if, while they were playing their game, if I just walked onto the field and stood right in their way?

I remember back to college track, while working out in the indoor dome at NAU, we were doing repeats, and a receiver who happened to have been drafted by Kansas City, kept running his post right onto the track to catch the ball. We yelled at him several times to clear the track.
Finally, when he ran right in front of us, I shoved him as hard as I could, and he hit the ground hard. He didn't say anything, and didn't get in our way anymore, I though I was a gonner for sure.
I should have shouted while standing over him, "Welcome to the NFL!!!"

We had a rule in college, after yelling "track" twice we lowered our shoulders. That's the only way some people learned.

Same $h!# happens here, in "Track Town USA" of all places! Sometimes with their dogs. My approach is to come within a couple of inches of them, at full speed of course. When I'm done with my interval I find the offender and (with a smile) educate them, reminding them this is Eugene and I'm considered a slow runner. I'm not sure if it's the education that helps or that a 6'3" 185# dude flew by within inches. Juvenile perhaps, but gratifying nonetheless.

Those same knuckleheads live out here in the sticks. I've had many "close encounters" with walkers, strollers, dogs, etc over the years. All the years of training took a toll on my legs so about 8 years ago I took a masters legend (Dr. Paul Johnson) advice to "take care of your wheels" and started doing most of my training on grass. No more dodging foreign objects or inconsiderate people.

You guys should be throwers. Flying objects can get rid of that kind of indifference,
although I admit even shot put don't make some people take note.

I'm impressed that you guys can even USE the local track. Where I live, all the high school tracks are locked up. I had to get special permission from the athletic director to use the track, can you believe it?

This local track is not on a high school campus, though it is used by two local high schools for the different sports.
It has an all-weather track ,all-weather field, baseball fields, soccer fields, and a 3/4 mile bark dust trail that circles the whole complex, though they haven't' tended to that part for awhile, so most of it has grown back in grass.


I tend to forget how lucky I am to have a track that is open to the public.

Unfortunately that experience is pretty typical on outdoor tracks. Indoor tracks are much better - because it takes some effort to get to a facility (although I'm fortunate enough to live in Boston and can get to two indoor tracks).

The local YMCA has a 250 meter track, and it has an infield used for soccer practice, etc. As y'all are familiar, people pretty much look at the track as a random piece of turf that they can wander on. One day, I was running intervals, and a kid stepped into the lane I was running in. I pulled a hamstring avoiding the kid.

I'm amazed that kids, aldults, even mountain bikers will cross directly in front of me while I'm throwing discus. The mountain biker came out of nowhere - the sector was clear when I began my throw and by the time I released he was zipping by about 50 ft in front of me. It scared the crap out of me, but didn't seem to phase him a bit.

However, I have found that the sound of a hammer landing nearby will tend to clear the field.