My before the sunrise run did not happen so I had to make time for it during the day. In between my errands I stopped at a park, hopped out of the car and went for a leisurely easy, barefoot run. My feet felt especially good today, even though the trail was still very cold, they warmed up quickly and I felt no discomfort whatsoever. It was still before lunch hour so the trail was practically empty except for some bikers and one runner ahead of me. I was surprised to see I was closing in on him because 1) I am slow 2) this was my easy run = I was much slower than my fitness would allow 3) until my soles get used to speed and mileage I my runs are even slower than my shod easy runs used to be. But somehow I passed him not thinking much of it. I only noticed he was working hard, breathing heavily, face all red, body very tense. I was listening to election results and that occupied my mind more than some hard working runner on the trail. But then I heard (I keep the volume really low) his footsteps behind me (or maybe it was not the low volume but him stomping his shoes heavily on the path). He passed me really fast breathing even louder. It was kind of creepy. I checked my Garmin and nope, I did not slow down, he was the one who sped up, at least for a while because soon, even though I kept my pace low I ended up passing the guy again. Can you guess what happened next? Soon I heard heavy pounding like in a T-Rex chase scene in Jurassic Park. He passed me again and soon after that visibly slowed down. After three more passes like that I just wanted to yell at him to stop doing that. I really don't know why it annoyed me but it did. Mercifully there was a fork in the trail and our paths parted.
I can't count the times when similar thing happened to me on the road. I keep a steady speed, somebody passes me only to get in front of my car only to slow down to his/hers comfortable driving speed. It drives me nuts.
If you want to pass me, fine, but don't play tag with me, please. It is annoying almost as much as some of the voting results. Speaking of which, I don't know about other states, but here in CA we had tons of measures and ballot initiatives and so the analysis of what passed and was was voted down takes forever. Now I am wondering that maybe it was not the runner that was irritating but rather the news and commentaries I was listening to. On a less grumpy note: it is sunny! Temps today will reach 83F (28C). Even for our area this wether is wonderfully crazy. But I know rains will come and we'll be missing the sun terribly so I am enjoying the warmth and getting all the vitamin D I can before it gets gloomy. Good weather also means that organic stands at our farmer's market are still filled with great looking and wonderfully tasting local veggies. I was walking among the stalls drooling all over hoping nobody would notice. Somehow even when I go to Whole Foods, where produce is always fresh and nice looking, drooling never happens. I ended up buying tons of veggies but they will have to last us till another farmer's market on Sunday. Gosh, I love California even with its messy government system and creepy runners.
