Column:

Pet peeves don't deter runner

By Spencer Engel

Published Oct. 2, 2008

Running has been essential for the last third of my life. My friend Danny tricked me into running cross-country my freshman year of high school and, of course, I started slow (26:30 5K time trial freshman year - trust me, it's terrible). I eventually improved enough to run a 17:30 5K my senior year and just missed out on all state honors my junior and senior years at the Class 3 competition among Missouri high schools.

Cross-country and track meets were more exhilarating and rewarding than any basketball game I ever played in high school. I wasn't ready to retire or quit after graduating high school so it was no surprise that I yearned for my cross-country and track days shortly after moving to Columbia my freshman year.  Instead of doing something suicidal like walk on to the MU cross-country team, I started running recreationally after class. I ran everywhere on campus for a couple weeks when I suddenly identified dozens, maybe hundreds, of running pet peeves of mine.

I'll save you from some of the more obscure items (like when squirrels run in front of you in the woods) and give you my top-10 list of running pet peeves.

1. When inferior runners pass me only to be passed up 30 seconds later when they get tired.

2. When a group of four dumb people show up at the Student Recreation Center track and walk four-wide around the track, leaving about three inches of passing room.

3. When fad runners (read: guys or girls who are going to give up running after three weeks) have all the fancy gadgets and clothing on the market (i.e. iPod armband, Under Armour shirts, mesh shorts, $120 shoes, water bottle waistband, etc.).

4. Building off the last one, I've never liked when people run with iPods blasting in their ears because it makes them completely unaware of their surroundings, which leads to idiots obliviously drifting over into your lane.

5. When hard-ass runners try to push you out of the way. This has only happened to me twice, both times during cross-country races. And both times the kid that pushed me got pushed into a parked car in return. (I swear I'm a nice guy, I just don't like being pushed. You believe me, right?)

6. When car drivers get mad and threaten to hit the gas when you cross the street. Go ahead and hit me you time-starved curmudgeon, we'll see who wins that court case.

7. When one of your teammates thinks he's better than you because he beat you in one part of a track workout.

8. I hate when storeowners or employees tell you that you're too close to the sidewalk or that you can't run through their parking lot. I know it seems obscure, but I have been yelled at by employees from a certain hardware store that rhymes with "toes" multiple times.

9. When teammates don't try on any part of a speed workout, but then turn into the roadrunner on the last hill or lap. It ruins the workout and makes you look like a jackass.

10. When other athletes, especially football players, don't appreciate what runners do. I guarantee I could have gone through a tough football practice with ease back when I was running. But how many guys on the football team could have completed an easy (3-4 miles at 7-8 minutes a mile) cross-country practice? Two, three?

Regardless of the stress and annoyance these practices bring, none of these pet peeves will make me stop running unless one of them causes me to develop an ulcer or if I get run over. Here's to running!