Monday, October 24, 2011

The New Normal

Today at noon on the Mall was our new normal, 5.8 miles in 51:35, an 8:54 pace. Our running has revved up since we added R (for Rabbit) to our little group.

We leave our work near Union Station, run down to the Mall by the Capitol, go down to the Lincoln Memorial and return by running up Capitol Hill (a significant incline a third of a mile long) in the fifth mile. L, who has never before ran sub-9s, is showing a fierce competitive streak and chases down every runner who passes us.

Today as we ran by the Capitol, a Capital Police squad car came up from underground parking and approached the sidewalk we were running on to cross it to drive onto the street. L pulled up for it while R and I continued by on the sidewalk, oblivious.

The cop actually yelled out his open driver's window at R and I that we had run through a red light (on the sidewalk). There's no profit in arguing with a policeman but give me a break, jerk.

3 comments:

Danielle in Iowa in Ireland said...

Well if he had a green light for leaving the garage, he has a point. If he didn't, then he makes no sense.

peter said...

I imagine he did have a green but I don't pay any attention to signal lights on the sidewalk unless I hear noise (emergency running). It's an underground gargage the elected representatives use & if he had been coming lights & siren I might have paid him heed but we were running along the sidewalk midblock & he had a long run-up with a turn at the end once he got past some pop-up barriers where he could see us "tourists" coming (did I already say, On The Sidewalk?). Having been a cop, I know just what kind of an alpha jerk he was.

A Plain Observer said...

was he afraid you would run over a car/
Jerk is right.
sub 9 huh? Jesus, I'm puffing with plus 10 min miles every other day.