| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Patrick Bateman
Joined: 21 Apr 2009
Location: Lost in Translation
|
 Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 5:52 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
I'm a road runner in Korea, but I'm sorry I cannot answer for sure whether it's legal or not. Honestly, I cannot imagine it's illegal, but it's definitely against the norm from what I've seen. The few Korean runners I see are almost always on designated tracks or paths.
I know the general rule back home is run against traffic, but I think you'd be better served to run on whichever side has the biggest shoulder. Of course you can plan your routes to make it so the side with the biggest shoulder is also the side you're running against traffic.
If I had to wager, I'd say the motocop did what he did more of a precaution for you then trying to say that what you were doing was illegal. Being a motocop and thus riding a motorcycle, he's probably a lot more in-tuned with the inherent dangers of Korean roads, and was just acting overly paternal towards you. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
|
| Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 3:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
| soulofseoul wrote: |
| Find a path and get off the road Unless youre completely nuts |
I'm not sure which is more profound, the message itself or the quality of its delivery. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
|
| Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 4:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Patrick Bateman wrote: |
I'm a road runner in Korea, but I'm sorry I cannot answer for sure whether it's legal or not. Honestly, I cannot imagine it's illegal, but it's definitely against the norm from what I've seen. The few Korean runners I see are almost always on designated tracks or paths.
I know the general rule back home is run against traffic, but I think you'd be better served to run on whichever side has the biggest shoulder. Of course you can plan your routes to make it so the side with the biggest shoulder is also the side you're running against traffic.
If I had to wager, I'd say the motocop did what he did more of a precaution for you then trying to say that what you were doing was illegal. Being a motocop and thus riding a motorcycle, he's probably a lot more in-tuned with the inherent dangers of Korean roads, and was just acting overly paternal towards you. |
Good post. Unfortunately around here there just aren't really any shoulders, either.
The particular stretch of road where the cop was is only about 3.5km long but leads out into the countryside where I can get on some 'farmer's roads' where there isn't any traffic. I initially thought the same thing about just giving me a heads up but him turning around and slowing down when he got close (and on the other side of the road divider at that) made me think he was a bit more serious.
It's a bit strange. I go to local races with 100s of runners and I'm at a loss as to where they all train. I've only seen one guy running on the roads around here. There's a club that runs long laps along the perimeter of the local track but doing 10-15 kms worth of 500m track laps just isn't going to cut it every day.
We don't have any 'running paths' either, at least none I've seen. I'm just going to stick to running with the flow of traffic for the time being.
Cheers for the reply and good luck with your running. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
soulofseoul
Joined: 23 Mar 2010
Location: Seoul
|
| Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 5:07 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| runthegauntlet wrote: |
| soulofseoul wrote: |
| Find a path and get off the road Unless youre completely nuts |
I'm not sure which is more profound, the message itself or the quality of its delivery. |
It doesnt matter which you decide is more profound, just stop running on the darn road  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
|
| Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 3:49 am Post subject: |
|
|
| soulofseoul wrote: |
| runthegauntlet wrote: |
| soulofseoul wrote: |
| Find a path and get off the road Unless youre completely nuts |
I'm not sure which is more profound, the message itself or the quality of its delivery. |
It doesnt matter which you decide is more profound, just stop running on the darn road |
The magnitude of your fail grows exponentially with each successive post you make.
At this point it's pure conjecture as to how big it'll get. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
|
| Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 6:35 am Post subject: Re: Rules of the road regarding running? |
|
|
| runthegauntlet wrote: |
Today one of what is surely all of four motocops in Korea passed me while I was running and honked and motioned for me to get on the sidewalk.
I was running against traffic (very light) on a four lane road.
Conversely, through my neighborhood I typically run with traffic due to the turns and have had a few cop cars pass me without incident.
Is it illegal to run against traffic in Korea? Or is it a rule/law that you must run on the sidewalk if available?
All the sidewalks around here are the concreted brick type and are horribly uneven, off-camber, and usually have various cars, people, trash on them so I rarely run on them.
Not sure where else I could find this information and while I'm sure I won't see this police guy again, in the event that I do I don't want to try his patience.
Thanks. |
I am not sure if it is illegal to run against traffic in Korea (or elsewhere) but it is dumb to do so and potentially dangerous to you.
The simple truth is that drivers do not expect a runner, bike or whatever coming at them in the opposite direction while they are driving in their lane. They will typically look out for other cars.
As a runner, you just expose yourself to injury (potentially grave injury) by running counter traffic. Be smart and if you street run, stick to smaller side roads and run WITH traffic AFTER rush hour. Dress BRIGHTLY to be visible and glance back sometimes to see if cars are coming. Whena car comes up behind you, MOVE TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD as you will not win any collision with a hunk of heavy metal moving at speed.
At this rate sidewalks can be safer even with the uneveness, crowds and hard surface.
For the record, I ran in Busan for 11 years and am mostly a street runner. I quickly identified streets that were safer than others and adopted methods to keep aware. I did not use my ipod while street running because not hearing sounds around you is a sure fire way to get yourself in a bad spot. I also located running paths near my place and street ran to those as part of my runs. Once on the path, on went the ipod.
This is pretty basic advice anyway and it can be used for most urban runners.
Anyway OP, what distances do you typically run and at what frequency? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
SeoulMan6
Joined: 27 Jul 2005
Location: Gangwon-do
|
| Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 1:11 pm Post subject: |
|
|
People don't run on roads or even sidewalks here. They go to the track at the local school or park, or they go to the gym.
- Cars don't stop for pedestrians. Pedestrians stop for cars.
- The pedestrians think it's gross that your sweaty body is whooshing by them and/or jogging in place next to them while they wait at the crosswalk.
Do yourself and everyone else a favor and find a safer way to exercise while following the local custom. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
FDNY
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
|
| Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 3:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| lille wrote: |
| If you decide to run on the Han river, please use the running path and not the bike path. I can't count the number of times I've taken a corner quickly and had to just about jump off my bike trying to avoid a runner in my lane, earphones in, totally oblivious to the fact that they almost died of their own idiocy. |
Ya, runners are basically idiots. And you're also right about boneheads wearing audio or using handphones. I used to have a REALLY load airhorn for my bike. It was the kind that you pumped up with a bicycle pump. I would come up behind people not paying due attention and BLAST 'em. Always good for a laugh. As for "runthegauntlet". He needs a severe attitude adjustment. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Patrick Bateman
Joined: 21 Apr 2009
Location: Lost in Translation
|
| Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 5:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| FDNY wrote: |
Ya, runners are basically idiots. And you're also right about boneheads wearing audio or using handphones. I used to have a REALLY load airhorn for my bike. It was the kind that you pumped up with a bicycle pump. I would come up behind people not paying due attention and BLAST 'em. Always good for a laugh. As for "runthegauntlet". He needs a severe attitude adjustment. |
Yes, that's the correct way to handle a situation. I especially like it because it inconveniences everyone around you, not just the person you are trying to harass. It's like a sniper using an A-bomb to neutralize a target. Genius. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Zackback
Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: Kyungbuk
|
| Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 6:55 pm Post subject: |
|
|
A sweaty body is gross? Well I have to smell people people smoking cigarrettes when I use the sidewalk. Now that's gross....and more unhealthy.
Local custom nothing. Korea claims to be a global society and since they so often claim this then this is something they have to learn to live with....people jogging by them - oh man how offensive! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
|
| Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 10:02 pm Post subject: Re: Rules of the road regarding running? |
|
|
| PatrickGHBusan wrote: |
Anyway OP, what distances do you typically run and at what frequency? |
Thanks for the informative post.
I started running about 7 months ago and am just now getting over 50km a week consistently.
I generally do these over 5 days with one or two easy doubles and a long run ~15-18km (though I haven't been able to do that very consistently yet).
I seem stuck around the sub 42 min. mark in the 10k so I'm cutting out intensity and trying to up the kms over the summer months to build a bit of a base. Quite a few big 10k races around here in the fall so that'll be my target. Hoping to be consistently under 40 minutes by that point.
Which marathons did you do? Get a chance to do the Seoul, Gyeongju, or Incheon international ones? They look amazing.
Last edited by runthegauntlet on Thu May 26, 2011 10:42 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
|
| Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 10:24 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| SeoulMan6 wrote: |
People don't run on roads or even sidewalks here. They go to the track at the local school or park, or they go to the gym.
|
Seeing as how you can find at least a half-marathon virtually every single weekend of the year (you know, one ran on the roads), I can't take this post seriously.
| SeoulMan6 wrote: |
Do yourself and everyone else a favor and find a safer way to exercise while following the local custom. |
Already mentioned that I couldn't take you seriously, yeah? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
|
| Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 10:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| FDNY wrote: |
Ya, runners are basically idiots. And you're also right about boneheads wearing audio or using handphones. I used to have a REALLY load airhorn for my bike. It was the kind that you pumped up with a bicycle pump. I would come up behind people not paying due attention and BLAST 'em. Always good for a laugh. As for "runthegauntlet". He needs a severe attitude adjustment. |
Right. You laugh about 'blasting idiots' but I'm the one that needs a severe attitude adjustment.
Irony much? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
|
| Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 10:27 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Oh, I always train with headphones, too.
On the run or on the bike. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
soulofseoul
Joined: 23 Mar 2010
Location: Seoul
|
| Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 3:11 am Post subject: |
|
|
| runthegauntlet wrote: |
| soulofseoul wrote: |
| runthegauntlet wrote: |
| soulofseoul wrote: |
| Find a path and get off the road Unless youre completely nuts |
I'm not sure which is more profound, the message itself or the quality of its delivery. |
It doesnt matter which you decide is more profound, just stop running on the darn road |
The magnitude of your fail grows exponentially with each successive post you make.
At this point it's pure conjecture as to how big it'll get. |
at least Im running like a moron in Korean traffic lanes goof! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
