Monday, February 23, 2009

To the People of East Lansing

Shovel your sidewalks. Seriously, it is good exercise. Plus, it is the law pursuant to local ordinance and carries a whopping $25 fine. However, if the aforementioned reasons are not enough, do it because runners will greatly appreciate it. Odds are you—who does not shovel—are also the same person who refuses to move over (even slightly) when a runner has the audacity to run on the street. But I wouldn’t run on the street if you would shovel your sidewalk. So there is another reason for you to do it.

And why do runners care about said sidewalks. First, likelihood of injury increases dramatically. Second, it slows me down. And third, it slows me down. Point in case: miles I ran this weekend on un-shoveled sidewalks (and where the street was too dangerous of an option) average time verse those on sidewalk 8:15/M to 7:30/M.

The ‘Winter Storm Advisory’ and un-shoveled sidewalks notwithstanding, this weekend was full of good runs. I again averaged 7:14/M on my 7M run Saturday and 7:54/M for my 14M yesterday.

1 comment:

Sun Runner said...

I could have written this, substituting "people of Chelsea..."

There's a reason I run on the mostly bare asphalt of the street rather than the treacherous minefield of the sidewalks. I wish people would stop giving me the stinkeye for running in the street. I bet some of them are the ones whose lack of shoveling has pushed me into the road in the first place!