To get the rage at running man?

[mauvedoor]

Ever since lockdown, so perhaps 5 or so months now, there has been a man who has started running really early in the morning.
Our housing estate is a square shape with smaller cul de sacs inside the square. The total of the outside of the square is around a quarter of a mile.
We live on an outer side of the square.
Around 4 or 5 mornings a week the man will run laps of the square over and over again from 5am until 6am. Some days he starts at 4.45am instead of 5am. No exaggeration, he must run past our house at least 20 times in an hour.
We sleep with our windows open a crack and every time he runs he wakes us up with his feet slapping the tarmac every few minutes as he runs past for an entire hour.
I'm not even sure how his feet make such a loud slapping noise, but I'm sure his form can't be that great as he makes that much noise.
A couple of neighbours have mentioned being woken up by him too, especially when it's hot and windows are open overnight.
Not entirely sure what I can do, I can't call over to him as he wears headphones, and I'm certainly not chasing him down the street at 5am.
Even if he just varied his route a little bit I think it would improve matters.
I'm probably being a right snowflake and I'm sure people will tell me to shut the window, but they're eco friendly houses and absolutely roasting! Tried a fan and didn't really get on with it.
I'm raging at the thought of being woken up at 5am tomorrow by his slapping feet again.

I don't know of anyone who runs softly and quietly but it doesn't bother us during the day or evening otherwise.

You need to talk to him. He may think he is very quiet and the headphones on the head also block the noise.

Find him on Strava and see if you can beat his segment times just to wind him up.

I agree with a PP, he probably has a reason to do laps. I'm a runner and the idea of running around a housing estate multiple times each day does not sound fun.

Great minds think alike @OhMsBeliever - I sort of want to be part of this and having shared this with two friends, they and DH do too.
Dear OP @mauvedoor - we could BE your posse!

I'm not going out because it's 5am, I'm in my nightwear, he's got headphones in, and also he's really fast!

Easy enough to sort out, surely. You say he wakes you up every time and spends an hour running laps, so you might as well use that time one night to chuck on some clothes and go out and wait for him to come round again. Presumably you know roughly how long he takes to do a lap. You can then stop him simply by walking out in front of him as he approaches, and ask him nicely to run somewhere else.

People sometimes don't realise how noisy they're. I remember I had to leave a note for my neighbour above me who used to do exercises after 10 pm. Next day I found a reply note full of apologies. She didn't even realise I could hear that well. Yes, every evening I had a feeling a little elephant was running in the above flat

That sounds so annoying, I had a local runner who wore a see through rain poncho and a tiny pair of shorts run past daily for years in all weather. He was the butt of all jokes for his weird choice of clothing but he’d make awful heavy breathing noises outside my house and it filled me with burning rage.
The only answer is to Squirt him with a water gun every time he runs past,
Cheer him on, wolf whistling, commentate through a loud speaker like a sport event and shouting naughty things might just do the trick and embarrass him (unless he enjoys that sort of thing)
Throw any item to hand out the window at him, 10 points if you aim well, see which neighbour can win the most points. With a bit of luck he’ll be sick of the distraction and find somewhere else to go
joking but worth a try

Time to turn into a fellow nutty runner. Join him on his run and do your worst, I'm sure sure he will soon change his route.

Oh my god I've got a neighbour that does this. I'm down a cul de sac so he doesn't run laps but I hear him go out and come back most days around 4am slapping his feet along. After his run he then walks his dog with a noisy chain lead which I can also hear clearly.

It drives me mad, I'm so glad I'm moving house.

*mauvedoor

Honestly though, I lie in bed seething. Every time I'm close to dropping off again his clown feet come thundering past again on his latest lap*.

love it

But seriously - at least ask him to change his route, you stopping him mid flap will annoy him so much I bet he'll sod off elsewhere

As a pp said, I'm surprised you haven't got used to it enough now to block it out, though I suspect it's because you're letting yourself get worked up about it.

You wouldn't want to live where I do I'm in a city but not a main road, but people like to use it as a rat run. I have backfiring cars, boy racers, loud singing drunks, bottles from the pub further up getting collected at 5am (very loud and crashy). I work a lot of nights and in the day deal with a lot of roadworks/building work/drilling ... You get the idea. Now I can sleep through anything.

Presumably you didn't have your windows open in early lockdown? Yet you could still hear him enough to wake you and keep you awake??

Crying with laughter at the though of a whole
street getting up and running after the running man like Peter Kay in his road to Amarillo video. 👣👣

I read it! Never saw the film.

Hunger Games also ripped off a Japanese movie, called Battle Royale, I think!

You have my complete sympathy OP.

During lockdown we had an early morning runner and she nearly drove me to distraction. We’re at the top of a steep cul de sac and every morning at about 5:30 she’d run up and down the road a few times. It wasn’t so much her feet...it was the ‘unh’ noise that she made with every breath on the way up the hill 😳.

It’s very quiet here, we’re next to a cemetery, and by the time she got half way up you’d hear it..unh, unh, unh....but going down you’d just hear her feet. I’d lie in bed as tense as a board just waiting to hear the first distant ‘unh’ as she made her way back up the hill.

One of our neighbours (a vocal complainer by nature) cracked first and went out one morning and had a go at her. She never came back and I sort of missed her in a strange way 😂

@BigBlondeBimbo

I read it! Never saw the film.

Hunger Games also ripped off a Japanese movie, called Battle Royale, I think!

Sorry, meant to tag @Cam2020!

Have you tried ear plugs? I doubt the man realises he makes any noise.

@BigBlondeBimbo oh yes, you're right! I forgot about that one!

Hunt him down on Strava and then comment on every single run.

You could give him a daily score for noise and flappy footedness.

I think ear plugs would do the trick to mask the sound of his elephantine feet hitting the pavement.

Annoying though because obviously it's affecting you but you'd sound mad to say anything to him!

@MutteringDarkly

I think you need to spend the weekend watching Roadrunner cartoons for ideas.

Glue puddle to get stuck in? Paint a big hole on the pavement? Chalk an alternative path that is for flappy feet only and sends him into a gorge elsewhere?

I'll swap clown feet for skate board twat! Twice a day, round and round. I'm thinking of buying a bazuka.

I've lived in some extremely noisy cities and there's pretty much nothing that earplugs haven't blocked out. So simple and instantly solve the problem.

Yes, you are.

'The Running Man' is a fantastic novel, much better than the film.

Get a really powerful sprinkler, one of those ones that waters half a field. Then set it up on your front lawn (or flower beds) to turn on at 4.59 and off at 5.30. Hopefully it will water the whole road (by accident) and after a couple of days he will give up and find somewhere drier to run

Crossbow.