Do you ever feel like a ghost runner?

[Elbels]

Or maybe it's just me running round the streets of London, but the number of people who appear to have no idea I exist is high enough that I sometimes worry I've been hit by a car and carried on running as a ghost...

I don't expect everyone to move out the way for me but as pavement sharers there's a level of courtesy isn't there? During the course of a 5 mile run today I had to:

• run into the road twice as people walking towards me three abreast carried on in this formation until there was literally no space for me.
• stop and walk behind a group who similarly made no effort to take two seconds for one person to step back/forward and let me through
• run into mud for similar reasons because two women pushing buggies side by side took up the whole path

Am I being super unreasonable? Lots of the time it's people on phones oblivious to the world but still. If I'm walking with people I'm conscious of being in the way if someone is trying to get passed.

I find this just as a walking pedestrian. The three abreast or the couples who just can't let go hands (they'll melt or something) - are just selfish thoughtless wankers.

But I wonder if part of the attitude that makes you feel invisible is that often pedestrians - walking - find runners intrusive or aggressive? As a runner on streets, I'm moving more quickly & it's easy enough to jump into the gutter & back again when I'm moving at speed.

I kind of think that pavements are for pedestrians - as a runner, I'm happy to duck & dive.

As a pedestrian I get furious at the pavement hoggers. I know keep on my trajectory if there are the 3 abreast types - they need to get out of my way - I'm not the one hogging the pavement!

I very cheerily shout EXCUSE ME at people with a massive smile on my face to hide my aggression. There were two women and a dog taking up the whole track last week (adjacent to the paved walking path) and one of them cowered like I was going to push her over

I stay my ground and call excuse me too when there is excessive pavement hogging. If it's genuinely tight for space then I'll give way fairly, but not for people taking up more than their fair share in their ignorant bubble.

I remember one last year. Grotty winter day so I was wearing high vis and chest lights, not that invisible! It's a busy 40mph road, steep uphill, narrow pavement one side only, which means going up, your back is to the traffic flow. Once you stop, it's really tough to gain momentum again. There was a pair of older teenagers coming down glued to each other's side taking the full width and I decided to just hold my course, and hold it and finally she shifted in to her friend right at the last moment. It's much more dangerous for the person going uphill to step in the road. For someone needing the space (pram, walking stick, holding young child) I'll modify what I do, but not accommodating someone else's selfishness.