A moral dilemma

I asked myself some questions this morning of when someone else's plight becomes sufficient for me to pull myself out of my ego-centric world of the schedule is king, and perform a selfless act for a fellow human.

I hate being stopped in the middle of a run to be asked for directions - really hate it. This morning, I was running a 'course' on my Garmin (virtual me from a month earlier) to check how my HR had progressed in the course of a month. I passed a woman in a car, to hear the dreaded "excuse me". This time though, it was followed by "could you help me push my car?". The moral dilemma started to play out in my mind as I summed up just how important today's HR data was compared to the plight of this woman. After what seemed to me like an age, but in reality was only a few steps, some threshold was reached in my brain, and I hit 'Stop' on the Garmin and turned round.

I quickly ran to the back of the car and started pushing, but when she started pushing too I asked why she wasn't getting in the car, the assumption being she was having trouble starting it. "I've run out of petrol - I just need to get it down the road". The scenarios being played out in my mind were now along the lines of the distance to the petrol station - almost a mile, the state of my calves and glutes after that distance, and how a gentle recovery run ahead of the half marathon on Sunday had just turned into a potential injury.

Not being able to start your car may be regarded as misfortune, but to run out of petrol looks like carelessness. I'd just run out of charity.

She must have heard my jaw hit the tarmac as she turned around and saw the look on my face. "Now we've got the car moving I'll be alright".

Damn right you will. I carried on my run as grumpy as hell. I hit 'Start' on the Garmin and continued the 'course'. I realised though that any comparison of HR data between the 2 runs was pointless so I gave up on the course and went straight home.

3.8 miles - not quite what I'd intended but it will do as part of the HM taper.

Grrrrr.