Run Into It!

I must admit.  It's a little of a pet peeve of mine.  See, I always run on the left side of the road.  Yes, sometimes I may cross over in order to turn right onto a street, or I may run on the right side on a sidewalk. But if I'm running on the actual road, I'm on the left side.

For some reason, some people insist that you're supposed run (or walk) on the right.  But everything you read and simple intuition should tell you that the left is the place to be.  Run INTO traffic.  (Okay, not actually into it -- that would hurt, but I think you know what I mean.)  If you don't believe me, look it up!  In some states, it's even the law that a pedestrian on the road is supposed to be on the left.  That way you can see that if someone is about to mow you down, you can (hopefully) dive out of the way.  Doesn't it make those people who are on the right cringe every time they hear a car coming behind them.  Or maybe they're just to oblivious and think that a driver will always see them?

Road running safety people!  I guess I could just not care that some people want to put their lives at risk.  But the problem is, it sometimes puts mine at risk.  See, if you are running or walking on your right, and I am running on my left, in order to get by you, I am forced to run into the road lane to get around you.  (Invariably, the "right side" runners don't move over for me.)  This puts me into traffic!  I'm too polite to yell at people, and I'm afraid I might run (no pun intended) into them on a later run since I have regular routes, so I don't make an issue of it.  But I find it extremely irritating.

So do yourself (and me) a favor.  Run on the left edge of the road.  If there's a sidewalk on the right, go for it.  If you choose to stay on the right on the road, you do so at your own risk  But if you see someone coming toward you, well, just move over so your stupidity doesn't put them at risk too.