04 June 2009

Where To Run?

I HAVE A serious quesitons about running in France. On what side of the road are you supposed to run? In the US we are always taught to run against traffic -- meaning on the left side of the road, the idea being that it is better to see the traffic comming at you. To me this makes a lot of sense. But here in France I always see people running with traffic -- on the right side of the road, which strikes me as very dangerous because you always have your back toward the oncoming traffic. The danger seems even more pronounced when you consider how narrow roads can be around here.

Not that I'm taking up running, but if I did, what side of the road should I run on?
CJS

2 comments :

Nick said...

Here in Berrien Springs, MI I run a simliar problem. I frequently see runners running with traffic and cyclists cycling against traffic. Figure that one out. It drives me nuts!

As for what you should do. When in Rome...

David Porton said...

Hey Jonathan - it's David Porton. I saw that Kerri was on facebook last night (June 17th) and sent her a message. That's how I got to your blog. I figured I would answer your question since I run. As for safety purposes, I thought that runners should run against traffic in order to see a car heading toward him or her. As for me, I honestly do both - so I'm not a good example. Now there are some country roads around Boonsboro that don't have a shoulder. And one thing that I have done one this one particular road is when I run up a hill on a road without a shoulder, I run with traffic because the person behind me can see me while the person driving towards you wouldn't see me running up the hill until that drive reaches the crest of the hill in front of me.

P.S. On June 7th I ran a 10K race at the Antietam battlefield. It's less than 15 minutes away from where I live in Boonsboro so I finally did it this year. I need to someday take my time through the battlefield instead of running through it :)

P.S. #2 How far are you running on average?

Take care, David