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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Piers Morgan wants masks worn whilst running...

686 replies

Trulyatraditionalman · 02/03/2021 10:08

AIBU to think this is ridiculous?

OP posts:
Incogweeto · 02/03/2021 11:36

I agree with him. I’m sick and tired of runner running either right up behind me or full tilt towards me panting heavily. It’s obnoxious and selfish.

Xenia · 02/03/2021 11:37

We need to abolish all CV19 compulsory legislation rather than have yet more.

Iggly · 02/03/2021 11:37

@Incogweeto

I agree with him. I’m sick and tired of runner running either right up behind me or full tilt towards me panting heavily. It’s obnoxious and selfish.
Have you caught covid as a result.

Or do you just not like people doing something good for themselves.

EBearhug · 02/03/2021 11:38

You cannot run with a mask on trust me I tried and couldn’t breathe.

You cannot run with a mask on. That doesn't mean no one else can either, because (shock) everyone is different.

Jojoanna · 02/03/2021 11:38

I agree with him, I’m sick of runners heavy breathing all over me as they squeeze past me

gnushoes · 02/03/2021 11:40

What @auntiestella said. I run, am asthmatic and try to give people a wide berth. The number of people dawdling along who just refuse to walk in file on the side of a path and basically force you into the road or the mud is bloody appalling and yes if I have to go close to them I will. No way could I run in a mask.

poppycat10 · 02/03/2021 11:41

This is such a stupid idea. We know that the outcomes for obese people with covid are (much) worse, yet we have people like him and a woman called Tricia Greenhalgh peddling the fake news that runners are the predominant force for spreading covid. They are not and exercise is a good thing.

Parkrun did a study last year showing that transmission outdoors was so minimal they could not find data on it. That was the old variant, but even if you say the new variants can be passed on within 15 seconds rather than 15 minutes of being within 2m of someone, that is still impossible, it doesn't take a runner 15 seconds to pass you.

The main problem comes from our obsession with cars and there not being enough space for all pedestrians to co-exist happily. In the first lockdown you could use the road space more, but they are too busy now.

Complete nonsense. Lets move on, nothing to see here.

Iggly · 02/03/2021 11:41

@EBearhug

You cannot run with a mask on trust me I tried and couldn’t breathe.

You cannot run with a mask on. That doesn't mean no one else can either, because (shock) everyone is different.

I have run with a face covering - not a mask but a running snood (during the cold weather).

I did cover my face when squeezing past people but cannot stand the absolute and utter ridiculous reactions such as demonstrated on this thread.

Some people just thrive on hate and continuously look for things to be pissed at. Once covid has past, it’ll be something else.

thebabessavedme · 02/03/2021 11:42

I have seen quite a few runners in the last year having a good ole spit as they go, that really does make me feel murderous, filthy gits.

BogRollBOGOF · 02/03/2021 11:43

Piers Morgan needs to exercise his right to silence.

I was a runner anyway, and would normally head off onto trails and barely see anyone. I haven't been able to do that much since November because the increased footfall by society being pushed outside has pulverised the fields in to a deep claggy mud. First, it's very heavy to attempt to run through, second, I have no wish to ruin the farmers' land with 5m wide paths destroying their crops and grazing.

Several parks have become unusable for busyness with ambling groups socially distancing themselves across the whole bloody path, and yacking away oblivious to other users wishing to pass. Being on flood plains and having suffered significantly with flooding over the winter, so heading onto the mud is not attractive. Add in the people who socially distance themselves from their dogs on a long lead, and the poorly controlled hyperactive dogs that jump up.

Ironically the city centre is the better place to go, particularly the office/ bar/ restaurant end which is a ghost town.

I can't wait for the gyms, shopping for leisure, cafes and visiting people's houses to resume so I can continue my legal hobby in peace and get my quiet places back to sustainable levels and regular users who use places responsibly.

Everyone needs to look around them at others in public spaces. I give way as and when safe and necessary, but I am not slowing to a walk every 5 metres for people with no awareness of their surroundings, nor throwing myself in the path of traffic.

Keeping fit and to a healthy weight has a wider public benefit, and the risk of somebody running past in 2 seconds is negligible.

Januaryissodull · 02/03/2021 11:43

Oh sorry @Foxyloxy1plus1 Smile

MsHedgehog · 02/03/2021 11:43

Why is anyone on this thread giving him any attention? The man has no morals whatsoever - have we forgotten the phone hacking scandal?! How on earth he's allowed to have a media career after that is beyond me!

dreamingbohemian · 02/03/2021 11:45

@Gerla

You cannot run with a mask on trust me I tried and couldn’t breathe.

You can run with a mask ready to put on if you are passing close by another person. I do it all the time. I think this is a fair compromise.

I agree!

No one cares about runners keeping their distance. You can raise your mask up for 10 seconds if you need to squeeze past people.

likeamillpond · 02/03/2021 11:45

Most runners, myself included, already go out of our way - to the point of stepping into the road, to give people lots of space.
Let's persecute a group of people who are trying to do their best to keep fit and avoid increasing the burden on the NHS.
Piers Morgann should be strapped to a rocket and fired into the sun.
He's an arsehole of the highest order.

LilMidge01 · 02/03/2021 11:45

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

But Lil, just because you were doing it first, that doesn't mean it's more your space. Other people aren't 'invading' it, they are using what belongs to them as much as you
No, I agree with you, and I think I made it clear that I dont begrudge people getting out more. But my point is that I am trying to be tolerant, but people are acting like runners are infringing on their ability to walk when it is their behaviour which has changed. So they're saying 'because I like walking now, you can't do the thing you liked to do'.

In fact, I have actually been changing my behaviours and mainly only run now when its wet and cold because when it's a sunny saturday my previously quiet routes are now clogged with people.

My point is, those people shouldn't be expecting all the compromise to come from the runners just because they have a new hobby- they have to give a little too and not berate runners for something that is now everyone's problem

Januaryissodull · 02/03/2021 11:46

Well said @BogRollBOGOF I for one will be over the moon when lockdown is over so that all of the people hogging the local paths standing around blocking the paths nattering, walking 5 abreast, can bog off back to the pub or whatever it was they did before.

I can then resume my hobby, on the usually empty paths, without judgement.

poppycat10 · 02/03/2021 11:46

@Jojoanna

I agree with him, I’m sick of runners heavy breathing all over me as they squeeze past me
Which happens all the time obviously.

It amazes me that runner always squeeze past MNers when it never or very rarely happens to me. Obviously different people have different experiences but someone said the other day that runners kept breathing into their face. "kept" happening? Really?

sick and tired of runner running either right up behind me or full tilt towards me panting heavily. It’s obnoxious and selfish what all the time? In the whole year we've been living with covid I've had runners get in my way about twice. Twice in a whole year. You and the others are going on as if it happens several times a day.

And if pedestrians want more space, they should walk single file and keep left when they see you coming. I give them plenty of space when I can, whether running or walking, but if a car is coming and I can't move out, you'll just have to unjoin your hips. stop holding hands and walk behind each other for a few seconds.

MangoFeverDream · 02/03/2021 11:46

Don’t do it. People have literally died from this: www.globaltimes.cn/content/1187434.shtml

Iggly · 02/03/2021 11:46

@MsHedgehog

Why is anyone on this thread giving him any attention? The man has no morals whatsoever - have we forgotten the phone hacking scandal?! How on earth he's allowed to have a media career after that is beyond me!
This a million times
BabblativeBean · 02/03/2021 11:47

I was out for a walk last night and a runner came up behind me (I didn't hear him as I was talking to DS) and overtook, banging against my side while huffing and puffing loudly in my ear. It was such.a shock, he actually made me jump and squeal and before I had time to collect myself, his mate come past and did almost the same thing (but not as close).

The road was absolutely deserted so it would have been no problem for them to move out.

DS and I always move out of people's way, walk in a line, move into the road or cross the road and we would have done so if we'd seen these blokes coming towards us, but as they were behind us there wasn't anything I could do. Which really pissed me off.

All of the runners (and the cyclists on pavements) behaving badly that I've encountered have been men. Women (and a good deal of men) seem to be able to distance themselves, but there are enough inconsiderate arseholes near me to justify a rant.

Rant over.

Totallydefeated · 02/03/2021 11:47

Well Covid is spread from particles in the breath and runners pant much more heavily and presumably spread more particles if infected.... it would be nice if they could give others a wide berth while running, out of consideration. Where I live, not many of them do.

Lweji · 02/03/2021 11:48

Do Piers opinions or wants matter at all?

Iggly · 02/03/2021 11:48

@Totallydefeated

Well Covid is spread from particles in the breath and runners pant much more heavily and presumably spread more particles if infected.... it would be nice if they could give others a wide berth while running, out of consideration. Where I live, not many of them do.
You’re missing the bit about the fact that a) runners are not in your company for any length of time, b) theyre outside and c) you could wear a mask if you’re bothered.
poppycat10 · 02/03/2021 11:49

@MsHedgehog

Why is anyone on this thread giving him any attention? The man has no morals whatsoever - have we forgotten the phone hacking scandal?! How on earth he's allowed to have a media career after that is beyond me!
It's not just him, it's a woman called Tricia Greenhalgh and she is respected enough for Mark Porter, the Times's "resident" GP to retweet his stuff. I am quite tempted to tweet him and tell him to stop retweeting her fake news. All this will do is cause more problems with parkrun restarting.

Warning to all of you who hate runners "always" breathing all over you - junior parkrun resumes in England NEXT MONTH if nothing disrupts the schedule. The adult parkrun in June, so avoid parks on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Lweji · 02/03/2021 11:50

How many people think they got covid from an infected runner?