Chased by kids... Lol.

So yeah, it's been a while since I've posted anything on here. Busy times!
But hey I gotta update you on what happened on Friday.
For me the worst bit of barefoot running isn't the stones, the gravel the pain like all non barefooters would think, no it's passing other people. Some people have no shame in pointing and staring.
So Friday my wife and I took a break away. Off to the lovely Galgorm Manor for a night, away from the kids. It's situated out in the near Ballymena, beside a beautiful river and waterfall, some great forests etc.
So Friday morning I decide on a run. Some tough terrain for barefooting but just about manageable. Stoney, some ridged poured concrete, some nice trails then on to the road home.
Everything was going great, I'd a fair idea where I was going but having not run that run before wasn't sure what (or who to expect). I passed a few people en-route through the forest no issues. But as I came to the end of the forest run I came out in the middle of a small village.
Small town Ireland isn't used to seeing anything out of the ordinary and pretty much immediately it was chaos.
Being about 08:30 in the mornin it was village rush hour, loads of cars and people about. Two kind motorists decided to honk their horns and point, thereby drawing more attention to the outsider with no shoes.
But then my worst nightmare... Up ahead, a high school with some 50 or 60 kids queuing outside it. Loud country kids with no shame... I crossed the road in the hope that the sea of traffic would hide my feet an I'd blow in by unnoticed. But no... As I passed them on the far side if the road I heard "LOOK AT HIM!", "LOOK!", "He's got no shoes on!!". A couple of honks of car horns sealed the deal for anyone who hadn't seen me.
I saw the school lollipop lady (traffic control person who helps kids cross the road on the way to school, for those who live in the US), up ahead and smiled at her as I passed and she looked at me like I'd just spat on her... it was at that stage I could hear the footsteps.
Three school kids of about 14 or 15yrs old had crossed the road and were currently chasing me, trying to catch up. One appeared beside me and with the biggest, dumbest grin said "How are yaaa!?". I wasn't entirely sure what to say, so in my best Ballymena accent said "How are yaa!? Are ya lovin the lack of shoes, hey?". I don't know if it was the crazy accent, the crazy look in my eyes, the fact that maybe they were fairly unfit and couldn't keep up any longer but they dropped back pretty much instantly. It was like I'd said some sort secret local password and they realised they'd made a mistake.
I passed a few more locals on the way back and was greeted with more driserly looks and sneers.
The whole experience felt a bit like Deliverance or League of Gentlemen "This is a local town for local people", but hey I got a good run in. A few blisters to show for it from the poured concrete but I got out alive! Lol.

Comments

Hilarious!
 

Blog entry information

Author
Darkand
Views
45
Comments
1
Last update

More entries in Community Blogs

More entries from Darkand