Can people say thanks when I run into the road for them?

[Fizzysours]

I am a runner and going out once a day. I try to choose a quieter time. I ALWAYS run into the road to give pedestrians of any age plenty of safe space. It's usually really obvious to see that I have done this as our area is fairly quiet. A quarter of people say thanks or a cheery morning. By 'thanks' I mean a smile, a raised hand or ANYTHING. It would be nice if more people could manage the tiny pleasantries that make everyone's day a bit friendlier, especially when we are all so divided?

Of course, we're less likely to use healthcare resources... just sayin....

Unless you slip, trip, fall, skid, sprain, break etc etc?? So because you run and I walk you're less likely to use healthcare resources?

I expect any runner on a pavement to move away from me, not vice versa.
The fact you expect me to thank you, is odd! The fact you feel you are less likely to use resources because you run, makes you odd!

I do it so I don’t have to slow down or stop
Why would slowing down or stopping mean that you are distancing yourself? You'd still be right next to the person unless one moves out of the way.

The only difference between a walker and runner is that one is faster but they are putting themselves as much in danger going on thread than the walker.

What happens when two walkers pass each other? Do you have who walks faster and stare at them so that they're the one moving out of the way and then consider you don't have to thank them because they were a bit faster? What if they slow down just before, should you be the one going on the road?

I go on the road systematically whether I'm running or walking. Firstly because this way I'm in control of the distancing and I don't trust others will and because I'm not bothered going on the road. I don't look for people to say thank you one way or the other but I do appreciate when people say thank you. Strangely you can almost always guess who does and who don't.

Well, you should be moving out of the way of pedestrians! You shouldn’t expect thanks, though of course it wouldn’t go amiss.

I was walking along the pavement a week ago. A big wide pavement. The jogger thought she should get of the pavement ( no need as it was very wide) and she ran onto the road and straight into the path of a car. He swerved just in time. It was simply the most foolish action I've seen in a long time. Just stay on the pavement. You are not going to catch bloody CV unless someone is sneezing and coughing everywhere!

It's lovely to receive acknowledgement when we are out walking and we step onto the road to create an appropriate distance between us and the people we are meeting...what is especially lovely is when kids say thank you and they beam with pride at their lovely manners. This situation is bringing the shittiness out in a lot of people - why should someone say thanks? You really need to be told why! A thank you costs bugger all - just a tiny bit of effort, makes this grim world a slightly better place.

You are not going to catch bloody CV unless someone is sneezing and coughing everywhere!
That is completely irresponsible to say that.

Uh? runners are pedestrians! there isn't a sub sect.

Someone has made the effort to keep out of your way, regardless of CV, acknowledging that shouldn't be some sort of onerous task, much like when someone holds open a door for me, i say thanks, i don't think Fuck You, i didn't ask you too!

I guess some people are dragged up.

A nod or smile of acknowledgment is the nice thing to do but no need to actually to say the words.
But it doesn’t actually matter, you’re doing it for your own safety as much as theirs.

I don't understand people saying well you should be moving out of the way so you dont get a thank you. A shop assistant "should" hand me my change or the postman my parcel or the canteen staff my meal, it would still be rude not to say thank you. Someone in front of me "should" hold the door but it would still be wrong not to acknowledge them, surely?

Well, you should be moving out of the way of pedestrians!
Indeed, runners are pedestrians!

@Makeitgoaway, exactly!

Indeed, runners are pedestrians!
They are not. A pedestrian is someone who walks. That is what it means. Look in any dictionary.

Oxford English Dictionary:
B. n.

1. A person who goes or travels on foot, esp. as opposed to one who travels in a vehicle; a walker; one who walks or runs as a physical exercise or in athletic competition.

You are not going to catch bloody CV unless someone is sneezing and coughing everywhere!

That is completely irresponsible to say that

No its not, or we'd all have it, its not an airborne disease, in so much as its carried on the wind, surface to surface transmission and by physical and prolonged contact is how it is spread, that is the one thing science is agreed upon.

Even Johnson didn't manage to infect to many in his cabinet and they weren't even observing the 2m rule.

I agree that people should smile or at least acknowledge the gesture. Its like motorists stopping at zebra crossings, they are supposed to do it but acknowledging another person is the polite thing to do.

Manners cost nothing and the smile you give someone on your walk / run might be the only human contact a person gets in a day. People that don't say anything are just rude and entitled.

I think if you’re the obe charging around, people would expect you get out of the way..
If you had to stop running fir me I’d say thank you because clearly you’ve have to do something different on account of me.

Collins dictionary:
Pedestrian- a person travelling on foot; walker.

You are not going to catch bloody CV unless someone is sneezing and coughing everywhere!
You do not need to have been near anyone coughing or sneezing to catch it.

I agree that people should smile or at least acknowledge the gesture. Its like motorists stopping at zebra crossings, they are supposed to do it but acknowledging another person is the polite thing to do. Agree and again when I see kids wave thank you at motorists it melts my heart a little and I have to say it happens a lot around here - the kids have lovely manners.

People can also catch COVID-19 if they breathe in droplets from a person with COVID-19 who coughs out or exhales droplets.
www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses

People do not have to cough for you to catch the virus from them.

Christ, I've already similar from a runner on local Nextdoor group. Apparently cars and walkers never get out of his way. He's also a cyclist.

I suggested he take the fucking chip of his shoulder and consider that most times walkers do move, however runners are moving faster and oft times don't give folk enough time to spot them and go to the side and also that he is spreading his own breath a lot fucking further and sometimes they run right up behind you. In most cases I will move if it makes sense to do so but in a 50/50 situation, I size up the arrogance being shown by the runner or cyclist and make my choice by that.

Essentially there is a sizeable core of runners and cyclists that don't think they should ever have to stop and wait for others, cos, you know its all about their times....

@daisypond You said any dictionary, not the Collins dictionary. I used one of the most famous dictionaries around today and it specifically includes runners. But it doesn't have to. Your dictionary mentions walkers as an example, but yes, literally, "pedestrian" means someone travelling on their feet. Runners would be another example of that.

Essentially there is a sizeable core of runners and cyclists that don't think they should ever have to stop and wait for others, cos, you know its all about their times.... hmm
Except in this threads, runners are happy to move, just wish there could be done minimal acknowledgement.

Collins dictionary: Pedestrian- a person travelling on foot; walker

At what point does someone change from being a pedestrian to being a runner? a jogger? a child running to get a ball? someone walking very quickly and travelling faster than a jogger?

Runners are travelling by foot so are pedestrians and you still won't catch CV-19 if they jog past you, in the open air there just simple is not the amount of virus to trigger infection, unless you were super close and you are not!

I can't believe you have space in your head to notice this. My exercise involves walking a slow, blind dog, so I'm forever zigzagging from one side of the road to the other to avoid people who are faster than we are so that we're not in the way. I smile and wave if somebody pre-empts me, but people are in their own worlds and don't always notice. It's fine. For me it's nice to have a brief non-commercial engagement with another human being, but I don't have any expectations of them.