The downside to road running.......

[RubyR]

Today I have started week 3 and before I started it the thought of running for 3 minutes straight was slightly daunting,

Because of this I decided to run the route that had the least amount of roads to cross (concentrating on running, avoiding potholes and dodging dog poo is enough!)

I started off great and was really motivated, I got to my 3 minute run and I was still feeling good. Halfway through however I had to stop and wait for a car reversing out of the driveway!

I think I'd built myself so much to running for 3 minutes that I felt deflated when I didn't fully complete it.

Luckily in the second 3 minute run I managed it all without any distractions.

I think I need to face facts, that when running outside there is going to be situations out of my control.

[Saruma Graduate]

Drivers fascinate me when I'm out running. I find there's an equal split between those who will stop whenever safe to let me run on, and then there's the others who seem to take pleasure from stopping me in my stride and making me wait!!

[Oldgirl Graduate]

Cars reversing from driveways is something you need to be very aware of, especially during the week when they are all rushing to work or to take their children to school etc. The other thing I have found to keep me safe is to run nearer the road when passing drives which have hedges or walls as on one occasion a car reversed out so fast from his drive I had to jump into the road to stop being run over. Thank goodness there wasn't a car close by or I could have been hit by it. I bet the drivers ears were on fire by the time I had finished mumbling about idiot drivers as I carried on running.

[swanscot Graduate]

I run on single-track roads with passing places, that is roads which are one car wide. I usually run down the middle of the road and jump onto the grass verge when I see or hear a car approaching. One day quite early on in the programme, I was enjoying a nice slow run for the first interval when I spotted a car approaching me about 50 metres away. I was just about to jump on to the verge when this car pulled into the passing place to wait for me. I didn't know what to do: should I continue with my nice slow run to keep my breathing and energy fine for the remainder of the 30 minutes session, or should I do a wee sprint so as not to keep the car waiting for me too long? I opted to speed up, but just a little, so when I got to the passing place I gave the driver an extra big cheery wave

Last Wednesday I had the same thing happen again - for only the second time! This time it was the gritter driver who pulled into the passing place to let me pass. At least I was a bit closer to the passing place so only had to sprint for about 10m.

[didntrunthat Graduate]

It is funny, I was running once with my ear phone in and got waved down by a driver looking directions on a busy main road full of pedestrians not timing themselves!

Also only getting back into C25K and starting on week 1 I forgot all about traffic and how much stopping for traffic can affect you when you are only running for 60 secs. My normal route is through a park then a lap between two bridges of a river, meaning I only have to cross traffic between the park and the river. Once I get up to 5k again though my route will change to a residential area and depending on the time of the day it's best to ditch the earphones!

[Legion Graduate]

I recently stopped to let a couple of runners cross the road I was about to turn into. The look of complete surprise on their faces spoke volumes about the sort of treatment they usually got from drivers!