72° F | Schenectady, NY
Watch your step
Anyone who's seen Foster Avenue in the last month or so knows how dangerous it is, what with all the construction and road work. Last I checked, the section of bikepath between Maxon Road Extension and Seneca Street isn't scheduled to be open to joggers and cyclists until sometime in July.
That means following a pretty harrowing detour that on Tuesday took me past one of those monster dump trucks with wheels that could make a Wile E. Coyote pancake out of somebody. It's an absolute mess.
I know, it seems unnecessary to warn people about being careful around construction sites, but even a marginally intelligent person like myself can channel his inner Three Stooges and get hurt. A few weeks ago, on an awful, rainy, gray day, I took a turn down Peek Street for no good reason on my way home, headed up the old part of Maxon that runs into Nott Street and came upon a stretch of road that had been cut away to lay some pipe underground or something.
It was about the width of a sidewalk, so I could've just hurdled it, but at the last second I decided it looked like solid ground - wet, muddy, but flat, solid ground - and tried to pussyfoot my way over it. There was no way around it. Bad move. It was actually freshly poured concrete, so my left leg sank a foot deep ... and down goes Frazier! I scraped up my knee on the pavement on the other side, and after apologizing to some workers who were off to the side, I sprinted the remaining half-mile home, soaked in mud and wet (but quickly drying) cement.
You see, I was wearing a practically brand-new pair of Nikes ($85) that I got as a Christmas present and had just broken out of the box. Horrified, I threw them in the washing machine, and they came out pretty clean.
The point is, it happened to me, it could happen to you, so please be careful out there, especially when you're starting to get tired. There's all kinds of bad pavement and holes. Plus, there's been three auto collisions within a block of my apartment in the last month or so. Don't take risks crossing busy streets like Union and Nott. If you're running or cycling and get paired up against a car, that car wins every time.
print
email
twitter
facebook
reddit
4:34 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
I do a lot of my running on the roads...so another little safety tip. When running against traffic (like you always should)stay safely on the shoulder even when there is no traffic coming at you, I almost got hit by a van passing another car going the other way (behind me), the vans side view mirror actually grazed my shoulder.So if I see a dotted center line, I now stay well on to the shoulder.
9:29 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
That's scary. Here's another good point: leave the iPod at home. I use it on the bikepath when I'm cycling, but not when I run.
You have to expect the unexpected. A few weeks ago, I'm running down Seward Place toward Union, almost done, and I get to South Avenue and step into the intersection well ahead of a big black pickup that's slowly braking up to a stop sign. He's looking left (at me), and I know he's not going anywhere because I can see and hear traffic coming both ways on Seward. Still, from a dead stop, he lets his foot off the brake and rolls about eight more totally unnecessary feet (it's impossible for him to even think about making a turn) through the stop sign right into my path. I was forced to stop abruptly right at the driver's side window, gave him my best scowl, and ran all the way around the back of the truck. It was so blatant I thought it might be a practical joke by someone I knew, but I didn't recognize the guy. Jerk.
It wasn't a dangerous situation, just a really annoying one, but it shows how you can't assume anything.
12:41 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
Tip No. 3: It's very difficult to run carrying a pint of Guinness.
6:55 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
tip #4
Try running on a track at a local high school. Also all u runners out there need to pump some iron and get strong because u can run run
run run but u cant hide!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!