Does anyone else get hooted at while running?

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WonderWhitney11
WonderWhitney11 Posts: 78 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So, it doesn't bother me that much, but for some reason people around my neighborhood find it funny to roll down their windows and yell random stuff at me while I'm running. Most of the time I can't understand a word they say, but on my last run I was able to make out the words "dog" and "go". Heck, for all I know they could have been compliments: "cute dog!" or "you go girl!" would be perfectly acceptable. I just don't think that's what they were saying, since they appeared to be younger guys (probably still in high school). I've also gotten honks and seen a guy burst out laughing... that one upset me a little.

Like I said, I don't really care, but does this happen to other runners, namely women? I do not have a runner's physique (at all), so that may be part of it, but it just seems weird to me that people think it's acceptable to do this.
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Replies

  • PJPrimrose
    PJPrimrose Posts: 916 Member
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    I did in LA but not in TX. I do believe it had something to do with going from an area with a lot of people to a town sized area. Less folks/less weirdos hopefully! I more or less blew it off unless they started to follow me. They always broke off when I stopped running and stood my ground. Such is life in the 'big city". I'd think about carrying defense spray if you get a lot of this in your area.
  • cuinboston2014
    cuinboston2014 Posts: 848 Member
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    I do but usually only late evening if I run then. There are some apartments by my house that don't seem to have the most respectful people living there. If there are guys standing out side there I cross the street just so I don't hear "hey baby can I get your number". One time I almost stopped to slap the guy.....

    Other than those idiots, when I run between 630-8pm people honk, sometimes yell from the car but I have no idea what they say. When they honk I pretend it's encouragement - even though I know it could be that they are laughing at me. If I run the same area in the morning or right after work it's complete bliss - no honking at me etc
  • dmarsh1018
    dmarsh1018 Posts: 70 Member
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    Yup. Got my first one of the season today. But when I was younger we used to do the same thing and yell random stuff out the window to whoever we saw running/walking/standing/sitting/pretty much whoever we passed. I don't pay attention to any of it.
  • jim180155
    jim180155 Posts: 769 Member
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    You can't do much other than try to ignore them. It'd be better if they could keep their mouths shut, but there are always going to be idiots.

    I don't run, but I do cycle. At the end of one of my rides I was cresting a hill. I was spent. I think I must have been going about 4 mph, just fast enough to keep the bike going forward rather than backward. A couple kids (old teens/ young twenties) were approaching in a car, totally unnoticed by me until one of them yelled "*****!" through the open window..

    All of a sudden I wasn't tired anymore. I was pissed, and adrenaline had given me new found energy. I thought about chasing them down and beating the crap out of them. I might have been able to catch them at the stop sign a block away. But then the older me spoke up and reminded me that I really did want to get back home.
  • jkwolly
    jkwolly Posts: 3,049 Member
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    I've gotten a few honks or cat-calls before, but honestly I usually just ignore it.

    I run in a river valley where it's full of other people exercising, and the only time I have this is when I am running from my house to the river valley (which is two blocks)

    If you don't feel safe, consider carrying some kind of personal protectant spray or whatever is best. And run with music only in one ear :smile:
  • Strokingdiction
    Strokingdiction Posts: 1,164 Member
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    I was called a badonkadonk once. I had to go home and look it up on urban dictionary because I'm not very hip with the kid's lingo these days. It made me smile.

    I don't care what they yell, encouraging or discouraging. It won't stop me from running and nothing I do will stop randoms from being random.
  • ElliottTN
    ElliottTN Posts: 1,614 Member
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    I like to pretend that they do but they don't. If I run with my shirt off then they usually just advert their eyes to avoid being blinded by my paleness.
  • MapleFlavouredMaiden
    MapleFlavouredMaiden Posts: 595 Member
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    I once got a boyfriend that way.
  • MapleFlavouredMaiden
    MapleFlavouredMaiden Posts: 595 Member
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    I like to pretend that they do but they don't. If I run with my shirt off then they usually just advert their eyes to avoid being blinded by my paleness.

    I would hoot you so hard.
  • JamericanBoy
    JamericanBoy Posts: 484 Member
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    I once got a boyfriend that way.

    Where you wearing these?

    il_fullxfull.21072784.jpg
  • giggitygoo
    giggitygoo Posts: 1,978 Member
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    No one gives 2 $h!t$ about me while I'm running. Just the way I like it.
  • haleyjohnson118
    haleyjohnson118 Posts: 2
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    My freshman year in college, I got comments about my butt while running. I would run around the track indoors and in the center was basketball courts and those guys never left me alone! Obviously I couldn't take it anymore so went to a different place to run!
  • WonderWhitney11
    WonderWhitney11 Posts: 78 Member
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    Ha ha, glad it's not just me! :)

    I live in Green Bay- generally people tend to be friendlier around here. It's a bit strange...

    I run with my dog, and while he's not ferocious or even scary looking (he's a basset hound/dachshund mix), he definitely scares people if he doesn't like them! I don't run with headphones in either. I feel perfectly safe running where I do, I just get confused when people yell stuff at me... do I know you? Am I in danger? I'm usually just concentrating on my breathing and trying not to trip!

    Thanks for the advice!
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
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    I wear my headphones to drown the ladies out, but I often find it difficult to run when they fling their unmentionables at me.
  • raisealittlehell
    raisealittlehell Posts: 341 Member
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    I had this happen a lot at my old house. Part of my run was on a main road and teenagers/men thought it was a riot to beep there horns and yells things (I don't run with music so I could hear what they were saying). I just ignored it.

    One time, after an incident with a man hiding in a bush while I was running- I was soo freaked out by that incident, some kids with a bull horn shouted at me- I must have jumped a mile. That was probably the fastest/scariest run of my life. lol.

    I am in the process now of getting pepper spray because of the long runs I need to go on. It makes me feel safer knowing I have a means to protect myself if I need it.
  • Booksandbeaches
    Booksandbeaches Posts: 1,791 Member
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    It would be really weird if it happened to me since I run on a treadmill. :laugh:
  • karenburnsbot
    karenburnsbot Posts: 14 Member
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    I live downtown in my city, so I get a lot of catcalls, etc. when I run by the bus stops and the bus station. I just ignore it (I wear headphones, so I pretend I didn't hear) or I shoot them eye daggers and keep going.
  • Archon2
    Archon2 Posts: 462 Member
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    I cycle a few times a week in good weather and have had people yell things, but like the OP it is almost always unintelligible since the sound doesn't not travel well when emitted from a vehicle passing at speed.

    I far prefer that to when things have been thrown at me (bottles or cans, or other things like old fast food bags and ice-filled cups) which happens at least a couple times a year.

    Just think...if only 1 out of 100 of people are jerks, and 1000 cars pass you on your run/ride, then you will encounter at least 10 of them during your workout. Those 10 have an opportunity to do something or say something if they feel inspired to do so. So expect some level of this kind of stuff.
  • MapleFlavouredMaiden
    MapleFlavouredMaiden Posts: 595 Member
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    I once got a boyfriend that way.

    Where you wearing these?

    il_fullxfull.21072784.jpg

    Ha! Nope, I was fully clothed and errything.
  • itsfatum
    itsfatum Posts: 113 Member
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    Take it as a compliment. If they are really being mean on purpose it means that you don't look like the kind of person that goes running everyday, still you are doing it. It's a f'ing compliment, they are remembering you how awesome what you are doing is.

    On the other hand, sometimes people yell stuff at me too. I do inline speed skating, and go fast, so people are not used to see someone going that fast or working so hard on their workouts. For what I've found, if you smile and understand it like a compliment, joke or encouragement, they smile back and look happy that you took it fine.

    But that just my experience and it may not be your case. I think it benefits you more to reframe everything into a positive thing. It usually becomes positive instantly. And if it wasn't, you go away happy that you took it as a joke and nobody loses :)

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