Unless you live in a federal wilderness area, you have plenty of experience sharing the roads with cars. I’ve been fortunate in never having a close call, though I was witness to one.

I was once running with a track teammate, and he insisted on crossing an intersection against a red light. When we reached the traffic island in the middle, a line of cars in the left turn lane blocked our view. I stopped to look for oncoming cars, but my teammate continued. A car was sailing through the intersection, and I screamed out.

My warning wouldn’t have mattered – he was already crossing. The car skidded, and fortunately for my friend, stopped just short of striking him.

I often run at night which of course increases the danger of being hit. Turning cars are the biggest hazard. I always head check for right-turning vehicles before crossing a busy intersection. I’ve had drivers turn just in front of me, requiring me to abruptly stop.

Sometimes when cars take a right out of a parking lot, the driver checks left for traffic, but not right for pedestrians. Some drivers give me an apologetic wave after turning into the street and noticing me waiting there.

Making eye contact is the way to avoid accidents, but some cars have such dark tinting, it’s impossible. In this situation, a waiting game ensues until it’s apparent the driver sees you and is waiting for you to go.

Though I’ve never been hit by a car, I’m a recovering victim of another type of violence cars inflict on runners. And I think there are many other victims out there. It can be a winter day with heavy snow that is melting or a springtime downpour. When a car whizzes past and throws cold slush or a wall of water on me, the shock, trauma and helplessness is debilitating. By the time I reach home, immediate medical attention is necessary. Warm soup, a thick blanket and my favorite TV show usually eases symptoms.

If you can identify the brand of running shoes I’m wearing in the below photo, you win a jackpot that currently sits at $1.2 million. More clues later in this blog.

Converse low tops aren’t considered running shoes, but that’s what I wore when I started running as a sophomore in high school. It took a while for my uncle, also a runner, to convince me I needed real running shoes.

Over the years, I’ve worn shoes made by almost every running shoe company. In high school, I wore Adidas and Puma, the dominant brands back then. There were few others to chose from, but when a new company called Nike marketed their revolutionary Waffle, I switched brands.

Ever since the Converses, I’ve stuck with shoes made for running, except once. I was on vacation and forgot to pack my running shoes. I wasn’t about to give up running for two weeks, so I ran in a pair of non-running shoes.

Think I was self conscious running in these shoes? Not so much. The shoes I actually wore weren’t quite as dressy. If you made a guess to win the $1.2 million, I’ll have to get back to you. These shoes came with a suit I bought for a wedding, and I don’t remember the brand.

Moving on to another topic, it’s been a couple weeks since Petra’s bold move at the Manito Runners Club group run, and I’ve been wondering how to respond. Today I made a decision to ask her out for coffee. I’d like to have a relationship with her, but we’ll have to do some negotiating. I have some ideas what I’d like, mostly involving greater freedom than a typical relationship. After her break-up with Byron, I’m guessing she may have similar views.

Ever been on a run and tried to catch up and pass a bicyclist, or keep pace with one? Usually cyclists are too fast, but there’s been a few times when I was feeling really good, and I’ve passed cyclists.

I lived in Japan when I was in my early 30’s, and during one evening run I was feeling great. I was slowly catching a couple teenage boys riding single-speed bicycles way ahead of me. One looked back, and I heard him say to his friend, “Mite, hayai!”, which means, look, he’s fast. I soon caught up, said hello as I ran past and then picked up the pace. I left them in the dust, but my pace was unsustainable. After a half mile or so I had to let up, but I didn’t see them again.

A very good runner I know once told me he didn’t like it when he saw another runner ahead of him. People would think he was the slower of the two. He pushed it until he was ahead and made sure to stay there.

Like him, when I pass another runner while on a training run, I consider it bad form to be caught and passed by the same runner, so I always pick up the pace to make sure it won’t happen.

However, I’m not quite the runner I used to be, so I rarely think about trying to run down a bicyclist, and it’s not often I happen upon a runner that I can catch up to and pass. These days, I’m the one that other runners chase down and leave in the dust, which has led me to develop a new skill set.

Anyone trying to pass me will find themselves unexpectedly taking a fall. I’ve developed very effective tripping strategies.

Several days ago, I crossed paths with Petra in the middle of a 6-mile run. I hadn’t seen her in two months. Ever since she walked into the Rocket Bakery and caught me with I.P., she’d stayed away from the Manito Runners Club. She was very friendly though, smiled a lot, and when I suggested she come to our club’s run on Saturday, she said she was already planning on it.

When Saturday arrived, I mentioned to Joe and Franklin, who both really like Petra, that she was going to join us. However, as the time neared for us to head out, Petra still hadn’t shown.

“Go knock on her door,” Joe told me. I really didn’t want to do that, but I sprinted across the street anyway and climbed the stairs to her apartment.

The curtains of her front window were open, and as I walked past, I glanced inside. I couldn’t believe it! What a completely unexpected sight! Petra was getting dressed, and she was topless. Plain and clear. I froze in place for a second and then walked quickly to her door.

I felt like I’d done something wrong. As I waited, I hoped she hadn’t noticed me at the window.

She greeted me warmly, apologized for being late, and said she’d be right down. I rejoined our group. She came down a minute later and went straight to a group of MRC girls.

Joe raised his hand to give a fist bump. “Good job, bro. I’m giving you a gold star.”

I was still worried by what I’d done. It hardly registered that Joe was talking to me.

“Dude…hello,” Joe said. “What’s wrong?”

“I saw Petra topless.”

Joe looked at me like I’d done something great. “You’re the bomb!”

“No way. I looked in her window while walking past. I violated her privacy.”

“Jim, we saw her glance out the window when you ran across the street. She saw you coming.”

I looked over at Petra. She was chatting with the girls and looked like she was in a very good mood.

“Whoa. That changes everything, Joe.”

Evan Sims, a fellow member of the Flying Irish Running Club, is part of a group starting a new race that will be held on Sept 28th at the Spokane Raceway Park. He asked early on if I could help spread the word. He agreed to pay $500 for a blog post devoted to the Speedy 10K.

As I was finalizing the post, Evan told me his $500 should entitle him to some additional race marketing advice, and he’d prefer to pay me in goods. I wasn’t too happy, but since I’d like to see the race do well, I agreed.

Evan’s pastimes – breaking course records and DJ-ing.

Evan is well-known in the Flying Irish Running Club and is one of the top runners in Washington. I suggested he parley his celebrity by singing ballads and love songs as part of the pre-race entertainment. He said no way. So I recommended he lead a warm-up dance routine set to music. He hasn’t committed, but I saw him walking out of a clothing store with leopard-print dance tights.

As for the Speedy 10K, Evan and team have worked hard to ensure participants have a good experience. The course is flat as can be, accurately measured and marked, and USATF certified. There’s a purse of $1,550, and prize money will be awarded to the top 5 women and men finishers. Cost is $30. Day of race registration is $40. T-shirts are an additional $12. The race benefits Active4Youth, a non-profit that supports after school sports programs in Spokane area elementary schools.

The website, Speedy10K.com, is user-friendly and there’s no extra charge to sign up on-line. So go to the site and sign up now.

One final thing; shown below is Evan’s payment in goods for my hard work which I just got in the mail. A pair of socks? Are they worth $500? I was so enraged that I ripped my curtains to shreds and smashed my antique bottle collection.

To be honest, I didn’t really charge Evan to write about his race, so with the socks, I came out ahead. I think I’ll wear them when I run the Speedy 10K.

I’ve been a runner since my sophomore year in high school. It’s been great, but after some recent genuflecting, I’ve decided that sticking with something for so long may not be a good thing. Change is inevitable, and if you don’t initiate it yourself, it’ll be forced on you.

After making a list of new activities that would be stimulating, exciting, and a good fit for my thrill-seeking personality, I’ve decided to ease out of running and move on to some new challenges.

I settled on two activities that I’m sure will get me out of bed at the crack of dawn and excited to get going.

The first is card-playing. I haven’t played cards very much as an adult, so this will be a very exciting challenge for me. I’d like to focus on cribbage, hearts, and if I’m talented enough, pinochle. I’ve already bought a few decks, and lately I’ve been spending lots of time practicing my card-shuffling techniques.

The second activity I want to get into is checkers. Sure, everyone played this as a kid, and so did I. But I never rose to a level I felt I was capable of. I really want to develop my checkers talent, and then hopefully, start entering tournaments.

Though I’ll be easing out of running, I won’t give it up entirely, at least for the time being. However, with the new activities, I plan on starting blogs for both of them, which means I can’t devote as much energy to this blog. I’ll continue it, but with fewer posts, and not on a set schedule as I’ve been doing.

So, my friends, I hope I can count on your support as I make this leap into my new passions. One day, after working my way up the cut-throat, dog-eat-dog world of championship card-playing and checkers, I ‘d like to be able to tell you that my opponents think I’m the most competitive, yet respected checkers and card player there is.

Yesterday I was reading the latest research done by the National Institute of Running Sciences and how running backwards increases leg muscle strength by 18% and can lower your PR by 11%. Even though running backwards is embraced in some places, the only thing going through my mind was what ridiculousness! (Photo by Metro News).

I called running researcher Dr. Ayer O’Beck at the Institute. He explained, “It’s the muscle confusion theory that other successful exercise programs employ. When you only run forward, you get into a rut. You get stale. By using novel techniques, the body reacts quite positively.”

Though I’ve disputed the Institute’s research results in the past, this was way too hokey. I mean, it’s just plain stupid. Running backwards is hard to do, and even if it did any good, eventually it’d become a rut, too. I told Ayer this was the final straw, and they should either change their name to the National Institute of Running Jokes or dissolve the organization.

Dr. O’Beck didn’t appreciate my comment. “You should either apologize or get your ear ready for the slamming of my phone.”

There was a moment of silence before Dr. O’Beck added, “I shouldn’t waste my time on an idiot like you, but since I’m a professional, I’ll give you the short explanation; we found that running backwards works great, but you should mix it up. Run sideways sometimes. Do short runs where you kick yourself in the butt with every stride. Do a few runs in a crouch position.”

“Seriously, Doctor, is this really true?”

“You bet it is, and running backwards has even more benefits. The wind doesn’t blow in your face, leaving your skin more supple and youthful looking.. After a few weeks the back of your head adapts, becoming more pointy and aerodynamic, which many find attractive. And besides, people enjoy running backwards because they like to see where they’ve been and whether anyone’s following them.”

I apologized to Dr. O’Beck and told him I’d like to test the technique.

Now I’m planning to start a group. Is there anyone else who’d like to meet up and run backwards for a couple months?

How big a bug does it take to bring a runner down? Of course, it’s not so much size as the painfulness of a bug’s bite or sting. I’ve been stung by yellow jackets like the one below many times. While running down a residential street, I watched one leave a tree, fly straight to me and sting me on impact. It must have been flying stinger first. 

(source: Wikipedia)

I’ve never been sidelined by a bug mid-run, but a runner recently told me how she inhaled a wasp and got stung inside her mouth. It was too painful to continue running.

A long time ago I was running in the woods and brushed a bush that had a wasp nest. I was stung three times on my lower legs. I kept going, but it was so painful, and I swelled up so much that evening that I couldn’t run for a few days.

Here in Spokane, when the warm days and cool nights of early fall arrive, the air fills with millions of small, bluish gnat-like bugs. They’re not harmful, but there are so many that after running you look like the front bumper of a car that’s been on a long trip. Mid-run stops are necessary to wipe their little bodies out of your eyes.

How about you? Got a good story about bugs bothering you while running?