Drivers slowing down - safety Q?
KathleenKP
Posts: 580 Member
When I run, there are usually some cars with single men (as in, only one guy) that slow waaaay down (and sometimes turn around and come back). Is this a safety issue?
I don't care if they are just looking (and I'm guessing there aren't THAT many guys who want to attack me). This wasn't the sort of thing that would happen to me when I was younger, so I really don't know. I'm guessing it's just normal guy behavior? I can't ask my husband or sons, or I won't be running outside any more. If it's a safety issue, then I need to reconsider my routes.
ETA - Yes, I feel ridiculous asking this. But I'd rather ask here relatively anonymously than not ask anyone and be possibly doing something stupid.
I don't care if they are just looking (and I'm guessing there aren't THAT many guys who want to attack me). This wasn't the sort of thing that would happen to me when I was younger, so I really don't know. I'm guessing it's just normal guy behavior? I can't ask my husband or sons, or I won't be running outside any more. If it's a safety issue, then I need to reconsider my routes.
ETA - Yes, I feel ridiculous asking this. But I'd rather ask here relatively anonymously than not ask anyone and be possibly doing something stupid.
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If it was random guys doing it every now and then I would say just be a little more cautious, but since you say this is the same guy who has been doing this then I say switch up your route. It being the same guy who does it sounds very stalkerish to me.0
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turning around and coming back is not normal guy behavior...as above, if it is the same guy, that isn't good.0
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I've never had this happen to me & I seriously would be freaked out by it. (I read it not as necessarily the same guy doing it, just as in one guy in the vehicle.) I do NOT think this is typical "guy behavior." I run 5 days a week & never run the same route twice in a row. Everyday I take a different route.0
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This is not normal behavior. Runner's World has written really extensively on it, and there are a couple of things I think are worth keeping in mind:
-Don't run the same route twice.
-Have a phone on you
-Run with a buddy
-Make sure someone knows your exact route0 -
This must be a Memphis thing then lol...because this happens like a lot here in Memphis. And you don't even have to be near the road. You can be behind a fence in a park and they will turn around lol. And I don't run the same place every day lol. Some days it is downtown Memphis, some days in Shelby Farms, some days over in Shelby Forest...lol0
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Slowing way down if it's a safety thing, where the car is trying to avoid hitting you or something, that's one thing. I see that all the time. I do not see cars turn around and come back to pass me.
If I saw that I'd be tempted to change my route so it went past the police station.0 -
I would start running a different route. That sounds really creepy. I've had guys stare and even yell out at me (annoying and childish lol) but never turn around and come back.0
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Slowing way down if it's a safety thing, where the car is trying to avoid hitting you or something, that's one thing. I see that all the time. I do not see cars turn around and come back to pass me.
If I saw that I'd be tempted to change my route so it went past the police station.
Oh no...they will turn around and drive by again here. You should see the road on the back side of Shelby Farms when the high school's host the cross country matches...it is worse than a late Saturday night on a strip lol.0 -
This is very unsettling. Cars pay zero attention to me here. Granted i live and run on the Boston marathon route, so there are about 800 people running on any given day, but I would be freaked out if someone turned around to pass me again. Do switch up your routes some. And if it is the same guy, do get the license plate number and tell someone!0
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If this happened to me it would totally freak me out. The only way I can think that it would be harmless behavior if it was teenagers out cruising around with nothing better to do. I would be very cautious if I were you.0
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As a "normal" (I hope) guy, I've been quite guilty of rubbernecking when I see a lady in a decent pair of running tights
That being said, I've never actually turned the car around to get another look. I hope it's not the same guy. Change things up for a while, or for more than a while if it's the same guy. 0 -
I would say it is definitely a "Memphis thing" . Whenever I run in my parent's neighborhood, it never fails that there is at least one car that will come back around during my run. I strike it up to folks being nosy since there are not a lot of runners in the neighborhood. On MLK day, I had a person drive by 3 times before finally asking me if I was "so and so's daughter."
Saying all that, it is always better to be safe than sorry. If you feel uncomfortable, change your route. Often our first instincts are correct.0 -
Not normal. Change your route or do something different.0
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I would say it is definitely a "Memphis thing" . Whenever I run in my parent's neighborhood, it never fails that there is at least one car that will come back around during my run. I strike it up to folks being nosy since there are not a lot of runners in the neighborhood. On MLK day, I had a person drive by 3 times before finally asking me if I was "so and so's daughter."
Saying all that, it is always better to be safe than sorry. If you feel uncomfortable, change your route. Often our first instincts are correct.
^^^ this seems like the most likely explanation -- the fact that the OP mixes up her runs actually increases the chances of this happening. Nosy neighbors trying to figure out who the new person is. Probably harmless.0 -
There is one guy I've seen a couple times, but it's not always the same guy. (I meant it's only one guy in the car, not a group of highschool boys out being loud.) It's guys who look to be 30's-late 40's. I will work on new routes, it's just that those have more traffic and I don't like to think about all the exhaust I'm taking into my lungs. It sounds like I need to be a little more cautious. I never had a problem or concern before b/c I just wasn't the type to attract attention. (I know anyone can get hurt or attacked, I just felt I fell into a lower risk group by the way I looked AND carried myself.) I would go anywhere, even in foreign countries, and didn't worry about my safety very much. I have had one guy scare me a lot on the freeway and it was afterwards that I realized I wasn't really in that "safe" group anymore.
I thought maybe it was normal. I'm definitely guilty of looking at all runners, but I especially notice certain guys. But I just slow down a *little* bit. I'd LIKE to drive by them a couple times, or maybe ask them to just run back and forth in front of me.0 -
I thought maybe it was normal. I'm definitely guilty of looking at all runners, but I especially notice certain guys. But I just slow down a *little* bit. I'd LIKE to drive by them a couple times, or maybe ask them to just run back and forth in front of me.
Kathleen you make me LOL.0 -
Pull your phone out and take a picture of the license plate number. Then call the cops when you get back and report them.
THAT SAID.... do you live in a really small town? My husband is from a town with 800 people in the middle of miles and miles of cornfields. When I visit his mother's house, this happens all the time. AND the high school cross country coach came out of his house, chased me down the street, and chatted me up. But.... this is a REALLY small town and a new runner is big news.0 -
As luck would have it, I ran into someone today that I could ask about this. I didn't want to (seemed like a silly question), but after the responses here, I thought maybe it was more than I've been brushing it off to be. She and I have a lot of similarities - hair, body shape and size, clothing style. And she lives in my area of the country (I live in the suburbs of a major city, and she lives in that city). She says this has never happened to her on her runs. She does run in a *heavily* populated area, and cars just can't slow down there.
So, I will work out some new routes.
To be fair, I think most of the guys are doing what I do - just looking. I wondered if it was normal guy behavior to *act* on the same impulse that I have, whereas I just regret (sometimes) that I don't. I mean...there are some very good looking running guys out there.
The one that prompted my initial post, though, is the repeat offender.0 -
The one that prompted my initial post, though, is the repeat offender.
You need to take a pic of his license plate and car and call the police. This is scary.0 -
This would be scary for me.. I would be planning other routes myself especially if I kept seeing the same person repeating it.
Maybe you should change up your routine a bit if you can, different times, different routes, if you run a particular loop maybe run it the oposite direction each time.
Also make sure that someone knows your route when you are running and you have a phone on you at all times.
Be safe on your runs, if you feel a little iffy about your surroundings then change it up a little.0 -
The one that prompted my initial post, though, is the repeat offender.
You need to take a pic of his license plate and car and call the police. This is scary.
I am planning to do that. I appreciate the suggestion, as for some reason, it didn't occur to me. I just haven't had a good vibe when he goes by, but none of the others have concerned me.0
