Other Runners

I hardly ever see other runners on my routes. I don't know why, really, but for example, this evening for my 4 miler: I didn't pass a single other runner. In fact, the only other pedestrians I passed were two women who were walking together. However, there are a few regular runners in my area that I see with some measure of regularity and they each have their own irregularities.

Two, in particular, stand out.

Runner #1: "The Lady in Black"
This woman usually runs in the morning, so I don't see her very frequently since I rarely rouse myself early enough to get my runs done in the AM, but sometimes I also see her in the evenings. But no matter the time of day, I see her in the same outfit: Black pants and black t-shirt (sometimes it's even a long-sleeved tee!). I can't necessarily determine the fabric of either (it's not like I'm waving her down in order to check the tags), but to be honest, both look like cotton.

So, imagine: It's summer, it's FL, it's hot as hades, and she's running in A.) Pants, B.) Black, C.) Cotton. That combination right there is a recipe for overheating, chafing and discomfort. Yet, her uniform must not bother her much because it never varies -- maybe she's a robot who's immune to high temps and humidity. If so, I envy her.

Runner #2: "The Backwards Runner"
I see this guy every. single. night. of. the. week. He's about 80. Or, around there. I don't know, the elderly are hard in terms of exact age-guessing, but needless to say, he's old. And he wears varied outfits for running, but usually it's a standard pair of running shorts, a t-shirt and a headband.

So his clothing isn't what's odd.

It's his running.

All I ever see him run is east and west down the street that runs in front of our condo complex, but this is the truly strange part: While he's running west, he runs forward, in a normal manner; but, when he turns around and runs east, he, well, doesn't turn around. He just runs backward.

I don't know how far he runs each night, but the street is about .75 of a mile, and he goes back and forth several times -- one way going forward and one way running backward. If this isn't odd enough, he doesn't run on the sidewalk; instead, he runs in the street! Now, in some areas, this may be perfectly safe, but here in South Florida, most drivers would rather run you down than look at you twice, so imagine running backwards down the street, and think about how dangerous that would be!

With both of these runners, I fear for them: I think one will get heat exhaustion and I think the other may wind up as roadkill!