Rules of the Road

Road etiquette is not something I have made up nor is it something to be taken lightly! There are some of us that live in areas that either don’t care enough to put in sidewalks or cannot afford them- either way we are forced to share the road with some of you (often scary) drivers. Let’s get a few things straight here because I feel as though we are missing some very BASIC principles in how you should be behaving behind the wheel.

 

First of all, I am not on the left side of the road because I like to live on the edge… quite the opposite really. I need to know you are going to zoom past me!

Recently the left side of the road was not an option for me to be on, so I was forced (well I wasn’t at gun point or being chased by a lion) to run on the right side of the road. This was not a side street by all means, but a fairly busy 4 lane highway—yes it was a highway. AND it had just snowed- not dusted- but dumped the night before. But I had a schedule to keep and knew if I came up with an excuse once I would again. So here I was running as far away from the road as possible and here comes this green minivan (unknown to me) a bit too close to the shoulder. When this thing zoomed past me at 110 miles an hour- okay probably closer to 40- I am pretty sure I wet my pants. I didn’t know they were coming and I am confident that they didn’t see me either! I don’t think my outfit could have been any brighter either and it was in the middle of the afternoon- no excuses here! PAY ATTENTION!!

Again, people, I am not trying to play chicken with you. When I can be on the left side of the road, and there is no sidewalk… MOVE OVER and if you can’t… SLOW DOWN! Trying to get as close to me as possible is a horrible idea! I don’t like to look up when I run, at least not at the beginning; I am not a fan of seeing how much further I have to go! So help me out and pay attention so I don’t have too.

If there is a button for the cross walk- note that the whole right turn on red doesn’t apply to that button. So when you are flying through the light because you are late again, beware that you might commit a homicide because we didn’t see you!

Have I mentioned yet that exercising is clearly very dangerous and as I write this I am not sure why I participate in things that I thought was “good” for my health! I feel as though running with protective gear may be called for!

Lastly… no honking. Ever. Seriously. Just because the back of my shirt has begun to roll up my back, revealing my huge wedgy and too tight running pants, does not mean you need to honk at me. I know that I am pretty good looking, so this is no reason to honk at me either. Seriously. Ever. I enjoy living in the world of what I think I look like- not the world of what I actually look like.

So, in review, move over, pay attention and NO HONKING….

I hope you have stayed up on our challenge this year and continued to press forward. Remember, if you miss a run, a week or even a month- that is OK!! You just have to start again and keep going! No one is going to do this for you (even though it would be awesome if my sister would just do the work and let me reap the benefits)! No one ever said they regretted being healthier!

 

Happy Trails… and wear a helmet!

K~
(Still the captain)