Dear PoPville – Obnoxious Runner

Photo by PoPville flickr user Néstor Sánchez Cordero

Dear PoPville,

I was walking home Monday and was in front of the wide and quiet (meaning maybe two people in somewhat close proximity to me with no one in front or behind me) sidewalk in front of Luke’s Lobsters when all of a sudden I feel a sudden grab at my arm. It scared the shit out of me–who grabs someone? Ends up being this young woman jogging behind her friend who was passing by me. Startled, I yell after her to not &%&ing touch me.

She doesn’t turn around but I see her and her friend stop at the intersection just ahead and, because I’m a fast walker, I catch up with them (they were heading in the same direction as me so I didn’t go out of my way) and stop her and tell her what a stupid idea it is to grab someone like that. She snarks back, “well if you weren’t in the middle of the sidewalk…” First, it’s a wide sidewalk and most people walk toward the middle instead of right next to the buildings, second, I was walking in a straight line at a good pace, not meandering, and third, all she had to do was either *use her voice* and say, “on your right” or “excuse me” like a normal person OR slowed her pace for half a second to allow for whatever room she lacked to get by without grabbing a stranger.

She clearly didn’t get it and stared at me with a dumb grin on her face, then told me she wasn’t interested in talking to me when I tried to explain that she was very lucky not to get an elbow in the nose attempting something like that. I’m so annoyed by the stupidity in this city sometimes. Is this a common practice among runners? I walk EVERYWHERE and have runners go by me all the time, on crowded and not so crowded streets and not once has any of them even brushed past me.