Ok, so I was running my usual route by the side of a road, which had a longish queue of cars waiting for traffic lights along it. I was minding my own business, trying to ignore the pressure building in my left knee and stopping myself from breathing too quickly, when I hear a sort of cracking sound, followed almost immediately by a pinging. it wasn't my knee falling to bits, but some little swine (I would use worse words, but i dont know what you can get away with on this new forum) firing a damn airgun at me. and it must have been a ball bearing as well, because it left a largish mark in the brick wall the other side of me. What if that had hit my knee, or any other part of me for that matter. I hear that the little swines are now customising normal air rifles etc to make them as powerful, if not more so, than normal firearms. Thats just what you want to be thinking of everytime you pass a few of these tracksuit wearing 13 year old gangster wannabes. Like most runners I'm sure, I've had the swines shouting inane things at me as I go by. I've also had a plank of wood lobbed in my direction before, and the worst was a bottled that smashed on the top of a wall a few feet from my head, somehow none of the glass actually hit me. I can stand the odd thing like that from the stupid element, runnin away thinking that if I wasn't already so knackered I could go beat the living sh*te out them, but shooting at us? thats nuts.
Anyone else had anything like this? I know people who've had things shouted at them, but no one else thats had things chucked at them, or shot. Am I the only one? how heavy is that body armour the police wear, and do you think it would add much to my times? Its almost made me think about paying stupid prices to go subscribe to a gym.
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The worse I've had is the run along teenager. Does make me wonder if runnnig alone at night is such a good idea. Well done for coming out of it still smiling!
Same as Snicks. Where do you live?? Beirut seems quieter than that these days!!
What a lousy experience. Firstly you've got to report it to the police. You were lucky, the next person might not be.
Secondly, maybe that route is not such a good choice right now.
In any case as they used to say on some cop show (Hill St. Blues?) 'be careful out there'
All the best,
RB
Myself and my partner live in Beckton in East London and she has experienced stone and water throwing on a couple of occations.
Luckily these were isolated experiences and I hope that is the case for you too.
cheers
jenks
There's a little feature in this month's RW about weighted vests - maybe the subtext is that we need body armour to run safely outdoors.
The "run-along teenager" doesn't bother me - the ones I've had to deal with so far have been quite good-humoured and although I'm by no means fast they always end up having to return, red-faced and wheezing, to the jeers of their mates.
I run on the pavements in some fairly ropy parts of Birmingham, but the only time I've had a missile cast in my direction was in snooty Sutton Coldfield where some yobs were sitting atop a bus shelter lobbing stones aimlessly (literally and figuratively) at passers-by. A few weeks later someone told me how she and her nine-year-old daughter had been attacked and robbed while waiting for a bus at the same stop. I hadn't bothered reporting the original incident, but wished then that I had.
Right! Time to open the doors. All the teenage wannabe-wideboys will be prescribed sandpaper pills for their sore throats this morning.
Cheers, V-rap.
I'am awfully sorry. That's a horrible experience. Absolutely stinks.
So far I've never had to dodge anything beyond rather tame verbal abuse, (but I do tend to run around 7am, on the grounds that the local thugs and rapists will either be busy in bed, or at least at a lowpoint in their metabolic cycles.)
But we should not have to run at crack of dawn to feel safe.
Please do complain, loud long and often. I think its our only hope.
Marj
Sounds like an awful experience...makes my evening runs around the Bucks countryside seem positively dull (but I like them that way I think!) As the others have said, where on earth did this happen?
Boy what is this country coming to? I have never, thank the lord, ever come across this kind of behaviour.
Take care PR!
Is there a possibility of changing your route? I'm so opposed to anyone being forced to stop what they are doing because of the anti social behaviour of others.
You really must report it to the Police and the local paper (that would then reach a larger audience).
Hope you vary your routes and the times you run just to be on the safe side.
Be safe.
Susie
I've only been running a year, mostly in Bangor (about 15,000 people). I've had stuff shouted at me twice, though as I couldn't hear what they said I don't know of was abuse (but I can guess). I have also been shot with an airgun - it hurts like hell! It hit the back of my thigh and left a nasty bruise.
I've aslo hadstuff shouted at me once, in Reading. Again, I couldn't hear it.
Shouting stuff doesn't bother me but it would some people. I guess all you can do is be thick skinned and ignore it.
Actual physical harm is another matter. Try and get the car number plate if it involves one, and tell the police.
And of course, don't try and retaliate. It's tempting with the adrenaline and anger etc (was for me!) but if there's more than one you could be in deep trouble, and the police wouldn't be very impressed either.
I do most of my running in the wilds and have never had any trouble (aparat from being dive-bombed by bats at dusk - scary).
You're welcome to my house for a run any day.
I've had our really nasty neighbour steer his landrover at speed at me whilst I was out running last winter - he swerved at the last minute laughing like mad - and I never 'reported' it cos I was scared it would inflame things. I also had someone with a shotgun start coming out every morning at 0630 trying to stop and chat to me - this was 20 years ago . The first time he was out it was co-incidence as I'd never seen him before - but then he started coming out every single day, lurking until I arrived. In the end I got Mr SS to walk out with me for a couple of weeks and the bloke disappeared. But I still shiver when I think of him - he was a wrong un for sure - that was in the wilds of Anglesey.
Yet strangely - even now I'm in darkest Denbighshire - I still don't feel really scared when I'm out, don't carry a mobile or money, don't tell anyone where I'm going or for how long ( the family's asleep at 5.30am!) and just rely on good luck I guess.
Keep on running PR don't let the bu**ers stop you!
The police caught the specimens and i am please to report that they both received 4 year sentences this Wednesday in court!!!
Report it, even if all it does is bump up the statistics. Hope you never have to experience something like that again.
He was a student and prosecuting him would've cost him his degree, so the Police and I decided to let him off with a warning.
But I can't say it often enough: take self-defence classes.
I can't claim to be shot at, but having just returned from Afghanistan, it is a different feeling to run past a group of people, some as young as 8 yrs old, all armed with Russian rifles. It tends to make you pick up your speed and almost side step for the next few yards!!
Be Safe
Robbo
The wood and bottle-throwing incidents happend around christmas, when I was still living in northampton and running round a slightly dodgy (but by no means the worst) area of the town.
Now I've finished at university I'm back living in Boston, Lincolnshire (until I can get a job anywhere else). The odd thing is, up till thursday the worst I'd encountered here was a couple of 10 year olds hilariously trying to block the pavement in front of me, only to look sheepish when i simply ran onto the empty road for a couple of meteres to pass them.
The airgun (or whatever it was) incident was actually on what must be the busiest road in town, at about 6.30pm, so its not like it was South Central LA. from what I remember of the car that went past, it looked like it was a family coming back form holiday. Skegness is only 20-odd miles away, and this would be the road to go anyway south from there. My guess is that it was a family going back to wherever because the weathers turned crappy these last few days, and the kid had probably won this thing on hook-a-duck or whatever.
I really don't think that the town has too bad a problem with this kind of thing, at least in the daylight hours. Boston has plenty of herion addicts and skinhead neo-fascist nutters like any other provincial town, but if you kep away from where they hang out you're generally OK.
I think the number of mindless attacks of all sorts on runners is indicative of the rising levels of crime and violence in society as a whole. I think we all know of places we really shouldn't be running. Boston has a population of 30-40 thousand and theres a couple of areas that I wouldn't want much to run round. And no, Snicks, I don't think you should really be running alone at night. We all (or most of us) run round, just like Shattered Shins say, relying on luck and the thought that stories like Dangly Spice's "won't happen to us". But we'll be out there again on sunday, and next week, and the week after that (unless my knees totally go AWOL on me), because we're runners (or want to be) and we won't let the b*stards grind us down. rain or shine, bricks or burning cars (how I miss northampton!) we'll still be pounding the roads.
ooh, thats almost made me want to go for a run right now. But its 2 in the morning, so probably not a good idea.
Sounds like you have the same problem as me. I live in a tough area of Leeds, full of junkies and gangs of kids looking for trouble after dark. I have resorted to doing my running early in the morning, in the local park,before these scumbags get out of bed. Sometimes i drive up to the country to get some fresh air and hassle free jogging.
I never go out in the evening when it is busy around my area because of all the idiots hanging around. It is strangely comforting to know that i am not the only one with this problem.
Congrats for not letting them grind you down but take care,bye for now,Baldi
I am glad to say that I have never had to suffer this sort of behaviour, and for that I am very lucky, and greatful.
I agree with what Dan Grey said about self defence classes, but should we really have to go to these lengths. How about Runners World doing an article on this problem. It unfortunately seems to be all too common.
About a month ago I saw two much younger kids loading up a catapult ready to fire at me. I verbally confronted them, if you know what I mean, and it was quite a laugh to see their macho posturing crumble. They were all of about 12! Even so, the rock they planned to fire would have hurt a lot. I don't know why parents let their children buy these things - what possible legitimate use do they have?
All this is in Tunbridge Wells, by the way.
Neil
Anyway, don't want to rant too much, but I completely agree about reporting these incidents.
Hild
More recently (last Saturday), my training group (I train a group of female beginners looking to run a 5k in 3 weeks time), were threatened in our local park by a gang of teenagers on bikes. They first blocked our path, then as we went around them they threw bottles etc at us, as well as hurling abuse. They then followed us for about 50 meters riding their bikes 2 inches from out legs, to get us to run faster. I dropped back to try and protect the girls, but still felt vunrable. I would quite happily of punched them, but then as they know they're minors and it would be me who got into trouble. I just hope it hasn't put my group of runners off. Most of them haven't run since they left school, and taking part in this 5k in a few weeks is their equivilant of the olympics. I just don't understand why there isn't any respect anymore...