I Am Fast, Agile, Maneuverable...You Are Not

I try to be very safe as a runner.  I always keep myself at least a body-width outside of the white line when a car comes along.  I always pay attention to traffic, I look and listen (no headphones for me).  If there is room, I get WAY outside of the roadway when I meet a car.  I don't want to develop a reputation as "that asshole who plays in traffic".  I'd rather be "that nice young man who's always out running".

There are no sidewalks where I live.  I run on winding 2-lane roads, out in the country.  Even being out away from more dense populations, I still encounter maybe a half dozen cars every mile passing through.  This means a half dozen times every mile that I will have to have my razor sharp wits about me, always vigilantly taking note of where I am and where they are.

Drivers have a peculiar reaction to runners.  Everyone's immediate reaction to a person jogging alongside of the road (no matter how far from the pavement we actually are) is to swing their car out into the middle to avoid us.  They are just being careful, as we runners are known to dive out in front of cars only to be mesmerized when we look into the headlights of an automobile.  We cause millions of dollars of damage to cars every year because of this.  Oh wait, that's deer.

I suppose drivers think they are being polite, giving us extra room (because we runners are known for our extreme width).  People will drive 3-wide at 70 mph on the interstate with no fear, change lanes into a hole with only a foot of extra space on each bumper, and habitually push 10 or 15 mph past the speed limit, all the while staying neatly in their lanes.  No big deal, we've all been driving since we were teenagers.  We are usually pretty confident in our ability to control our vehicle.  We know where the edges are, we know how close we can get.  Yet when most people see a person on the side of the road, it all goes out the window.  Must give that person a wide berth.  But they think they're being courteous.

This is fine on a nice sunny day, when I'd rather be enjoying the view than focusing on traffic.  But this is January.  Yesterday was rain, followed by huge, damp snowflakes all afternoon.  It wasn't extremely cold, not really slick, no reason to worry about driving conditions.  The tire paths were fine - wet, but clean.  The middle of the traffic lane, however, was a different story.  Before the snow plows pass through, there is a long, continuous pile of slush and mush in the middle of both lanes where tires don't end up.  So every time someone decides to be polite to me, they throw a soup of salt and cold water and ice clumps from my head to my toes.  I was soaked 3 times on a 4 mile easy run yesterday.  I skipped my weight lifting because I was very cold and just wanted a shower.

I define a good driver as someone who is predictable on the road.  If everyone around you knows how you will react in a situation, they can act accordingly.  When running, I'm going to keep going forward, roughly the same pace, moving far out of the roadway when I meet a vehicle.  A predictable response from the vehicle would be continuing status quo, staying in their lane, and being on their way.  Surprises are dangerous on the road.  Surprise!  I'm going to blow the horn at you when I wave, even though we don't know each other.  Surprise!  Road salt to the face! 

Don't be courteous to me.  In fact, pretend I'm not there.  If you crowd me, I'll get over further.  I don't plan to challenge your full-size pickup truck.  I'd lose.  Do any of you drive a vehicle with the loaded option that allows you to suddenly scoot over 2 feet sideways if you're too close to something?  Didn't think so.  Leave the politely getting out of the way to those of us who can.