Thursday, December 17, 2009

Man down: What's the etiquette when a runner falls out?

For the last few years I've done an jingle jog in a tiny country town about an hour away. It usually attracts a small but competitive crowd.

The race was last weekend and I spent the first couple of miles running just ahead of a man who was probably old enough to be my dad. About two miles into the five-miler, I heard him howl and I looked over my shoulder in time to see him drop to ground. He had a charlie horse, so I helped him massage it and get back on his feet. When it was clear he could walk the rest of the course on his own, I jumped back into the race. Here's the rub: I finished the race and managed to place in my age group despite the delay. (Truthfully, that probably says more about the lack of competitors in my age group than it does about my performance.) But I couldn't help being disappointed that no one else seemed to notice or care when this guy went down.

With no prize money at stake, is meeting a time goal so important that you can't stop and help someone who is obviously in trouble? What's the proper race etiquette in this situation? What do you do when you see someone in trouble on the course?

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for bringing to my attention the need for empathy every day in our lives.

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  2. I think it's nice that you stopped. The massaging part is getting a little too up close and personal.

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  3. It's nice that you stopped. But if I had been that guy, I would have preferred you keep going. Running means different things to different people; to me, it means pushing myself and testing myself almost every time I run a race. It's not about prize money (I've never won any), and it's only partly about a time goal. It's about my own private race and making it the best it can be, by myself (well, with the help of all the volunteers keeping cars off the course, and manning the aid stations, and doing all the other things they do). If you stopped for me, I would feel guilty about screwing up your race, and I would feel awkward about trying to come up with an inoffensive way to turn down your offer of assistance.

    But, hey, that's just me.

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