to think smoking while taking part in Race For Life is a bit........

[LifeIsButtercream]

......... distasteful?

I did Race For Life over the weekend, I was walking it as I was taking part with my 2yr old and I don't claim to be fit enough to run it.

There was a lady taking part in the walkers group, and I would often find us walking near her (it was quite a 'tight' course so the groups were quite compacted) - everytime I saw her she was smoking, which was quite unpleasant as it was hard to move out of the way of the smoke within a group of people. I probably had my judgypants hoiked up a bit high but seriously, it takes an hour to walk the course at the pace we were all doing, couldn't she have waited till the end to have a fag?

I'm probably being over sensitive, but if I was a person taking part to raise money in memory of someone who had died of a smoking-related cancer I would have found this quite upsetting, maybe even disrespectful?

I understand that, if she was finding doing the walk stressful because it bought back memories of someone who she had lost then she might want to smoke, but the did she have to smoke round most of the course?

Wow, YANBU, would also be wearing judgypants!

I'd smoke if I done it because I am a smoker.

but she's doing the race and raising money - so she can't be that 'disrespectful.'

what if she was the cancer suffererer?

and a bit 'Keith Lemon' there

I see your point, yes. Rather insensitive.

But my Mum stands outside the Marie Curie shop she works in and has a fag.

YANBU because a) as you said people were crowded together so that was rude to subject others to smoke and b) yes, a bit insensitive to people who might have lost someone to lung cancer or emphysema or similar

And I'm a smoker, btw

We all have our weaknesses and addictions. Would you have been that upset if she were eating a burger and chips along the way?

YANBU. I thought this when i did it. LOADS of smokers. It is distasteful, and rude. If you read some of the messages and stories/photoss that people have written on the 'I'm racing for ....' then Smoking around thee people who have suffered or witnessed suffering is appalling. i walked (6months pregnant) behind a lady with a photo of her deceased daughter on her back, the note read ' I race for my loved and lost daughter, in the hope that no other mothers will have to lose their children'. It brought a tear to my eye. cancer has affected the lives of so many that are involved, it seems to me that smoking whilst doing it is a bit of a fingers up to those people. I mean, even walked it only takes an hour. SURELY smokers can last an hour withouta cigarette?

barbie007 - we wouldn't have all had to breathe her burger and chips in all round the course.

I have nothing against smokers, it just 'felt' wrong, if that makes sense!

How many women had a drink after? Drink ruins far more lives.

It's outside isn't it - how much cigarette smoke are you inhaling if you're in the open and everyone is moving?

lifeis....you're right....it was wrong of her. I don't smoke and it's horrible having to breathe it in.But I know that if you're addicted to something it's very hard to not do it.

I'm just p**d off because I've just had a whole box of chocolate fingers :(

Nancy66 that's a silly argument. Drinking sensibly and in moderation is not bad for you. Smoking is, and also harms those around you

"We all have our weaknesses and addictions. Would you have been that upset if she were eating a burger and chips along the way?"

Only if she wouldn't share it.

The smokers doing the race will possibly have lost loved ones too, and have, just like you, raised money for charity.
It's not illegal (yet) to smoke outside and many cancers are not smoke related.

My ex does not smoke however he drank 8 cans a day, now has liver damage, and diabetes.

yabu
very

Fabby, as you can see, I said "sensibly and in moderation"

The year i did it , the course and venue was no smoking , it was outside too . I was a smoker and ran the course , but didnt have a cigarette till i got home .

Presumably you don't think fat people should be allowed to do the Race for Life either, as obesity is linked to far more cases of cancer than smoking is?

Look, trying to draw a correlation between fat people doing RFL versus smokers is a red herring. There's no such thing as passive fatness, fgs.

Predictably people are getting very defensive about smoking, coming out with the usual arguments (alcohol does more damage, obesity is unhealthy, you might get run over by a bus etc etc).

I think the point the OP was trying to make is that there's a time and a place for everything. And surely an activity that is high-lighting the issue of cancer is not the right place to choose to do something carcinogenic.

If it was an all day event then OK, that's too long to expect a smoker to last without a cigarette. But an hour - surely that's not very long, is it?

I don't think it's terribly terribly wrong to smoke at the Race For Life, but it does seem somewhat inappropriate.

I doubt exposure to smoking is much of a health risk outside in the open air, for however long it took her to finish one fag. Plus presumably people could move away from the filthy smoker if they wanted to.