Lobby: MY BIGGIST PET PEEVE!

dogs: I always have two small stones in my pocket. One is to throw for the doggy if he runs up with foaming mouth ready to bite my leg - as if it is a ball or a stick. 'Fetch boy!' I call, all encouraging. It often works - at least long enough to confuse dear Fido so that he forgets he hates my guts. The second stone is in case stone number one fails - to throw as if a weapon, AT dear doggy friend, between the eyes. I usually run in the UK, in a city, which is usually not too worrying with the wildlife. I have, however, run in the countryside in the USA on several occasions. It's glorious, but I have always been attacked by dogs. People seem to think that their hounds have to guard not only their property but several hundred yards of public road outside. Stone trick number one has always worked, though.

After almost getting knocked into the canal last night it would have to be people who think that because they are running in mega training groups for the city mega half plodathon they are the only ones on the trail and everyone is going in their direction and are so distracted by their Ipod and conversation with others that even though they have been looking directly at you and people are telling them to watch out it's too much for them to comprehend.

I hate being slowed down.

"On your left!" reminds me of the movie Spanglish.

 I'll tell you what really sounds silly is passing large groups of people running the opposite direction yelling, "runner" as you approach them.  Makes me feel like some kind of outlaw or something. 

Gosh this peeve list goes on an on and on.

I agreed with one of the early ones regarding dog walkers, and groups that don't understand the idea of sharing the path.  I pulled a muscle avoiding a small child that deliberately stepped into my path when I was less than two steps away.

There was also an artist punk who placed his paint easel on the path (unattended,  I add) when there was a half acre of grassy area adjacent to the path in the park where he could placed his crap out of the way.   I swore if the path had been just a bit busier that afternoon, I would have knocked it down on purpose.

 

oh and for the record , every state I have resided in treats bicycles as vehicles when it comes to riding with traffic, making it unlawful to do otherwise.

Likewise a quick google indicated that most states, also require that pedestrians walk against the traffic, but only in the  Absence of sidewalk and shoulder.

to the runner posted that people make cattle calls at them....Totally ignore those idiots....People are stupid and odds are you won't see them out there trying to better their health and over all quality of life...Good for you for getting out there and trying to get "healthy"..Let's face it running isn't easy and We are proud of you!!!

As a responsible dog owner I didn't think that my #1 peeve would have to do with dogs - but there it is. I really dislike people who let their dogs roam when they are not off-leash trained. Today I was on my bicycle at a pretty good clip (19 mph), coming around a curve, leaning into the turn when out of no-where this dog charges at me. You know what happened next - took a pretty good spill (and on top of it I am almost 18 miles out from home). By the time I collected myself and gear off the street, the dog and the "responsible owner' disappeared around the next corner. I am left with a scratched up bike, a raspberry on my left thigh the size of a watermelon and a bruised wrist - all because some idiot thinks its cute to have his dog off leash. I have a German Sheperd which is off-leash trained, but he is always on leash when we are walking. Today, really just pissed me off.

Geezers,

Calm down, and have some compassion for others, some of these people you are talking about have never done any running since school, and wouldn't know what it is to be a runner - remember, you will live longer and have a healthier life (that is if you don't get run-over :o)

We are the freaks! i.e the <1% of the population that does this, how can you possibly expect "Joe average" (driving his car) to understand what it is to run up a steep hill in the rain? They can't help it, they don't know you need space, they have never had "the blinding" by headlights.

Use some <polite> hand signals.

Also, get yourself away from the roads if you can, as the countryside is much more fun - that's the beauty of this site, you can run anywhere and still measure your progress! I have seen some amazing wildlife on some of my runs, and I treasure that (despite the mud)

I stay away from roads wherever possible, sometimes I have run for over 3 hours and not seen a single living soul - it was great!

I appreciate not everyone lives where I live, but my advice is pick the quieter places, find a new route, even drive somewhere to run in the country - but you will never be able to get "Joe average" to change his ways, so stop getting mad about it ;o)

Little yappy dogs...

I don't mind the big ones as mostly the ones I have met are on a leash and well under control... It's the little psycho half gerbil-half ankle biter which is on a piece of ribbon not a proper leash usually attached to some peroxide-riddled handbag clutching dipstick (or bizarrely hugely over built skin-head bloke - I guess the boyfriend of the dipstick)  who just looks at you blankly while it's dog is acting like it's rabid....

I don't care how small, or fluffy, your 'dog' (in the loosest sense of the word) is It wants my blood and unless you get a decent leash, go to training and get the thing under some sort of control I cannot be held responsible for defensive actions.

I love dogs, I really do, I spend my saturdays volunteering to train stray pit bull terriers - I just believe in responsible dog ownership and 90% of the badly behaved dogs I encounter fit the above description and it drives me NUTS. Just this Sunday some little maltese whats-it tried to gnaw on my ankle while it's witless wonder of an owner just stood there. It then did exactly the same thing to the guy running behind me!

AAAAARRRGGGH! 

cars that pull out into the crosswalk

 I dont mind sidewalk hoggers because i'm really trying to stick to grass alot

people that yell stuff in general are sad,  I'm fit but people (mostly hi school boys) still yell immature stuff.  most of the time i cant make it out because my ipod is turned up, but it really gets to me when outta shape people are out there trying to do soemthing to get back into shape and people are discouraging them. 

Great list - and good to know I'm not the only one who gets annoyed occasionally!

 Mine: I run with my toy poodle (yeah, and she kicks my butt) ON lease ALWAYS. We are very conscientious when we run b/c I know many people aren't dog-people. What bugs me is when we approach someone walking their dog OFF-leash. OK, so he's/she's trained to walk well with owner - expect when he spies another dog and comes over to sniff my dog - and she reacts as any dog would...which usually leaves me tripping all over her.

 Others: Passing people who don't smile...come on! A little friendliness goes a long way.

Those groups of (usually women) people who hog the path or sidewalk and don't move an inch when you pass - even when coming towards them. It's like a bizarre game of chicken - one in which I always lose and hit the grass. 

under the general description of "cars", i'd like to bring attention to drivers who run stop signs. after years of near-misses i finally got hit by a car last weekend! (the car was just rolling a stop sign so not going fast and i wasn't hurt, but it still counts). i was on mile 11 of 13 so i just wanted to forget it and keep going, but i stopped to offer some brief driving instructions before i continued on my way :)

 

I suppose the people that block the path are somewhat irksome, but I myself am not sure of the etiquette in that respect. I tend to follow the rules of the road for driving... slower traffic keep right, pass on the left, return right... but I could be wrong there. As for road running, I don't do it. Here in Virginia Beach, the drivers are pretty horrible. I'd much rather run on a path than in traffic; why take the risk? 

 Then again, my runs tend to be short (working on it) so I don't need to go as far as some people.

people that dont move