Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 July: Are Pedestrians a bigger pain than runner’s knee??

Monday 19 July – 7.5 miles; Tuesday 20 July – 7.5 miles

I am taking it a little easier this week for a couple of reasons, firstly because I have run close to 360 miles in the 4 weeks since I have been back from holiday, but mainly because I am running the Musselburgh 10k this Saturday. I have felt good in training recently and I feel as though I have a good chance of getting a PB. With marathon training and then MDS training this could be my last chance to get a 10K PB for quite some time, so I want to give it a real go.



So, with training lighter this week I thought I would talk about what could be a controversial subject, but one that has been driving me up the wall for weeks and months now – pedestrians! I am so fed up with pedestrians at the moment I have to bite my tongue almost every step of the way home. I have to run a fairly busy pedestrian route home over the bridges and to be honest it’s a nightmare! All I can say is that it is a good job people don’t drive like they walk otherwise the roads would be utter carnage!


I would say that 50% of all pedestrians are as equally gormless as they are self aware. They don’t look where they are going, they’re walk face down looking into their phones drifting from one side of the path to the other, reading books and newspapers, they jump off buses without looking left or right, so many times I have had to take evasive action to avoid one of these idiots and on the rare occasion I have been unable to avoid them they shout abuse and accuse me of being reckless. I enjoy pointing out their errors of their accusations in some of my more choice colourful language!


People are so easily distracted by themselves that they are completely unaware of what is going on around them, at least until they come to cross a road and then they at least consider looking left or right to avoid being hit by a car or bus. Why can’t they apply that logic or at least a tiny bit of it when they move round generally on pavements – it’s not much too ask.


Then there are those that walk in groups, as many as five abreast blocking the entire pavement, so busy talking that they don’t look where they are going. A giant moving wall of flesh! Often I have run towards these groups with the walls of buildings against my side, as I have been forced there by the sporadic walking of other pedestrians. Running with nowhere to move to when confronted with these large groups either coming towards me or away from me often ends with me having to come to an abrupt stop to force my way through. Those coming towards me sometimes even see me, but do nothing. How difficult would it be for the person in front of me to step to one side and let me through? When running against the wall I have nowhere to go, if I step right then I am just facing another one of walkers and I can’t go left as I would run into the wall. I have even called out “Excuse me” as I have approached, but this has done little but caught their gaze and they usually continue walking or stand there with a confused look on their faces. By the time they realise what has happened I have come to a crashing halt in front of them. At which point they give me rude looks as if I have somehow ruined their day for making them move.


Then there are the tourists! They are even less aware and more gormless than the usual pedestrians. It is like they have gone on holiday and left any ounce of commonsense they have back at home. They drift about the streets, clasping maps, bags and oversized cameras bouncing from one landmark to the next in a bubble of confusion unaware of the rest of the world moving around them, especially runners. The amount of times I have nearly been knocked into a road by a tourist stepping back to take a photo or by another making an abrupt turn in the street to look at something of interest, that they have just spent five minutes walking past without realising it was there.


Now imagine all of that with umbrellas! Umbrellas are the scourge of the earth! Held up by idiots doing all of the things that gormless pedestrians normally do as they fumble their way to work but with a much big radius for runners to avoid and with metal points sticking out of the canopy that when held by the average pedestrian are dangerously close to my eyes! I genuinely think that the Government should licence umbrellas and that people should have to go through months of theory and practice exams before being allowed to use them.


Finally the other kind of pedestrian I hate are those idiots and they are the biggest idiots out there that cycle on foot paths! There is sparse room as it is without people weaving in and out of people on bikes. Get off and push it! Or get on the road where you belong. What irks me the most is that it is actually illegal to cycle on a pavement, but have you ever seen a police officer pull over and stop or fine a person cycling on a path? A cyclist was sent to prison for running over a pedestrian and killing them last year. I myself have been clipped and hit by cyclists on pedestrian paths so many times now. Whenever it happens they too look as though it is my fault. I have often had angry words with such idiots.


I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. Maybe I am careless on the paths and I am to blame for these run-ins. I know I take a few risks and run things a little close as I dash in between those groups of pedestrians, but I think that’s because I get so frustrated by them. I am sure pedestrians hate runners too, big sweaty runners streaking towards them seemingly out of control and on course to knock them flying to the ground.


Ultimately, I just wish they would be that little bit more self aware of what they are doing and then that way I might get to work without wanting to throw half of them in front of the number 23! Discuss!