War !!!

So last week there was an article in NY Mag about the conflicts in Central Park. I thought the piece was an exceptional example of contemporary media practices... it was truly an overblown, sensationalized article about how people don't get along. It's hard to take something seriously when it's subtitle contains the word "battleground", especially while we're living in a country currently at war with another country. Seems a little extreme, right? That same night that I read the article, I was running in the park thinking that it's actually amazing that there aren't a lot more collisions, accidents, and acts of aggression than there are. There are a lot of people in the park, doing a lot of different activities.

Just a few days later in the New York Times, Central Park is referred to as a "runner's paradise", which still seems a tad embellished to me. A refuge from the city? Sure. But "paradise"? Come on. What about all those cyclists, dog-walkers, tourist, and cars that we're busy doing battle with?

Both articles made some good points, but of course, as with any story there are always two sides and then the truth. Central Park is a great place to run, but has some drawbacks, too.

Over the last year, I myself have seen many collisions and acts of aggression between park users. Most of these are between runners and cyclists, but sometimes between others, too. About a month ago I almost ran into a pedestrian. He stopped while crossing the recreation lane and abruptly turned around to go back in the direction he was coming from. I was trekking along at a pretty good clip, and anticipating his forward motion, maneuvered to go behind him. When he spun around, I veered the other direction and had to do this weird, three-step skip-hop-jump thing so that I wouldn't plow right into him. I still brushed up against him, and even though I apologized as I continued ahead running, he had some colourful language for me as I left. It was strange, his reaction.

My own pet peeve is the dog runners in the rec lane. Walk your dog, then go for a run. Or go for a run with them when there are few people in the park. When you run with a dog on a leash in the rec lane during rush hour, you're risking some severe injuries to your pet. I love dogs, and don't like the idea of stepping on them.

But all that said, this past Sunday I was leaving the top end of the Park after running the Lesbian and Gay Pride Race when I saw another argument break out between a cyclist wearing Terrier Tri gear and a runner, who was with someone else and they were now walking. What I understood was that the cyclist had at one point just about ran down the other guy, but the actual argument was one I had never seen before and it went something like this:


(Cyclist, past the Runner, abruptly wheels around and pedals back toward runner.)

Cyclist: Hey, I'm really sorry about that.

Runner: No, that was my fault.

Cyclist: No, really, I came up on you too fast. I shouldn't have done that.

Runner: No, I was outside the rec lane, in your path, my fault. Sorry.



Wow. Kinda gives you hope for us all, doesn't it?