I enjoy running, and I’m blessed to live among several great parks that provide miles of unobstructed trails. However, there’s a breed of person that feels the need to get their exercise by running down busy avenues during the middle of the day.
If this is you, what compels you? I don’t find it especially annoying, but I’m baffled by the mindset. My best guesses are:
A. You like a LOT of people to watch you while you run
B. You like a LOT of obstacles and near-misses with cabs and old people
C. You’re such a runnin’ fool, you lapped the park twice before venturing onto Columbus Ave.
I do it because I don’t live in the middle of the woods, and the places that I want to GET TO are all in the City. Are you one of those wackos who need to drive somewhere secluded or to an indoor track to run around in circles? I could never understand that.
IANARunner but I can think of a couple reasons: Consistent surface (relatively speaking for NYC) and a straight shot (relatively speaking for NYC).
Sidewalks have all sorts of cracks and buckling between sections to twist your ankle on, people walking to and fro with bikes, strollers, etc. to dodge and crash into, and are typically concrete, which I think is one of the worst surfaces for running. Streets are asphalt (better than concrete) and as crazy as traffic can be, traffic patterns are fairly predictable.
Good point. Inherent in my bias is the fact that I’m self-conscious, and lack confidence in my high-speed navigation abilities. I walk to and from the park.
When I lived in the suburbs, I drove to the park. Figured I’d end up somebody’s end-of-the-driveway roadkill otherwise.
I find it very hard to run along busy streets and sidewalks in New York. The sidewalk can be very uneven or crowded. Running in the street, I’m afraid a speeding or inattentive driver (cell phones, anyone?) might hit me.
In both venues, there seem to be people who just don’t think you have any right to be there at all (even as a slightly faster fellow-pedestrian) and will deliberately impede you.
I run to the park, which means almost a mile in city each way. Asphalt’s supposed to be better on your joints than concrete, so I often run in the street if there aren’t too many cars around. Of course, Providence is a bit less hectic than New York.
I never understood it, either! Unless you live in an area that isn’t close to a park or a large park, like downtown. I see people running along FDR on the east side. Me, I’m a happy 3 avenue-walk from the reservoir so I always use the 10-minute walk to the park as my warmup and then start running when I get there.
I run on city streets. I can’t be bothered to get in my car and drive to a park–I’m already taking up my morning with running and packing my lunch and getting cleaned up before I go to work. I sure don’t want to add about a 30 minute drive to that time line.
Plus I run early, around 6:30 AM so congestion isn’t really an issue in KC. I’ve run later and that’s just no fun what with increased traffic and more people on the sidewalks.
This is precisely why I do it. I usually run at dusk too so I really have to be careful. I always wear light colored clothing as well.
Sidewalk concrete is murder on my spine. Asphalt is “softer” and feels better, there’s a definite difference. I’d rather not be in the street but I want to preserve my back.
I also think that there might be some visibility issues, too - not simply being seen for social or ego reasons, but simply if you’re going to be sharing space with cars, it makes more sense to me to do it when the drivers of those vehicles are more likely to see you - therefore daylight hours.
If I were to get dressed and drive somewhere to run, then cool down/stretch and drive back, it would add time to what is already a time-crunched schedule for me.
I’m actually not running now, as I am still recovering from a stress fracture, but when I am, the easiest thing for me is to get up early, hit the streets when the sun comes up, and be back with enough time for both my husband and I to get ready for work, get the kids off to daycare, etc. I’m also more in the suburbs than the city, but there is a lot of traffic here.
People in my neighborhood do this, and it annoys the hell out of me. There are sidewalks everywhere here, and they are not crowded at all – in fact, they’re usually empty. But, almost every morning I see some guy in dark clothing, before sunrise, running on the street with his back to traffic. Running on asphalt may indeed be easier on the joints than running on concrete, but I’ll wager that running on concrete is easier on the joints than being hit by 3000 pounds of steel.
My friend runs a lot and doesn’t feel safe in the park. She takes the subway to the very end and runs back home right along its route (the major east-west route in the city) because it’s direct, easily measured and well lit.
