Hi. So I’m a bit older than you at (37), and I’ve been running in an area that gets a fair amount of foot traffic for over a decade now. I’ve encountered it all... from people cheering, to waving, to attempting to assault me (but they’d have to catch me first). Had an incident just last week. Guy was riding his hike in the pedestrian only area.. the area with flashing red lights that warn you to dismount and walk your bike. He was pissed that I walked in front of him as he was riding. At first I let it go, but he continued with the “watch where you’re fucking going bro” bs a bit much and I just snapped “maybe you should walk your fucking bike like you’re supposed to”
Guy dismounted and got all in my face. I couldn’t believe the entitlement... I was absolutely LIVID. This was entirely his fault and he just COULDNT be wrong about it. For a second I really thought I was going to get in a fistfight over this.. something as casual as being in the way of someone biking. Eventually I walked away... I was so pissed I was shaking. I thought about it for days.
There are several reasons I mention this story
1) the more frequently you run in public areas, the more likely you will, at some point, have an unfriendly encounter with someone
2) some people are purposely looking for reasons to be offended. Whatever is going on in their life, they need a temporary punching bag to secure their sense of self worth. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or what your intentions are, they have already framed the scenario. Their definition of the situation is completely objective in their minds, and often the evidence to the contrary just makes them madder
3) there is no reasoning with them. Their minds are made up about the situation before you even begin speaking with them
4) the worst thing you can do is let them live in your head. I was super pissed about this guy not just because of his entitled behavior, but because of how much he rattled me... how much I let him ruin my Saturday... how much self reflection I had to do
So there you go. It’s probably not super helpful, but know that this situation is NOT a commentary about you. Rather it is a sad commentary about THEM. Imagine what kind of life this person is living that allows them to walk around with this attitude and take out their insecurities on a complete stranger. You just had an unfortunate encounter with some random fuck head. Eventually it will likely happen again at some point. Just disengage and get on with your day as quickly as possible. If you really want revenge, continue to just live your life and be happy