European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The rules of defensive running by Marc Bloom new York times one Day last March i was running North on York Avenue in Manhattan engrossed i conversation with a training partner when at a Busy intersection a car came screeching toward me. I had no time to Dart away. In an instant i was sprawled out on the car s Hood in Shock Lucky i had not been killed. When i peeled myself off the car i Felt a painful swelling in my right knee i was still dazed but miraculously nothing else Hurt. The Motorist waited but i waved him on limping to a Deli where my Friend obtained an ice pack for me. The next Day i went to my doctor who told me i d suffered Only a bad Bruise. He treated the knee area with electric muscle stimulation told me to continue icing it and not to run for three Days. When i did resume running the knee was Fine. I could count my blessings As a runner what i d feared most was a Long Layoff. The doctor also admonished me for being so Cavalier about my Well being. I was not in a position to assess the possible damage. I could not have known immediately if there was a fracture to the knee or for example damage to the liver or the spleen. He said i should have Laid Down and had my Friend Call for an ambulance to take me to the Hospital for a rays but i d foolishly jeopardized my health hoping after a Little ice Massage i could resume running right then and there. Despite some close Calls with motorists before i d allowed logic to be dwarfed by a common impairment known As runner s invincibility. This is the View that when we runners Are out on the roads feeling fit virtuous and on top of the world nothing bad can happen to us. It s a belief that obscures common sense. On that fateful run it caused me to become absorbed in talk and to ignore potential threats at every Corner. And after the Accident in a form of denial i did not even protect myself legally by exchanging information with the Motorist. A runner is considered a pedestrian by Law. I should have gotten the Driver s name address License number and License plate number in Case a compensatory claim needed to be filed. For a minor soft tissue injury of the Erma Bombeck kind i incurred i would have been entitled to full reimbursement of medical expenses regardless of who was at fault according to Guy i. Smiley an attorney specializing in personal injury. For a More serious disability i could have brought suit against the car s owner. Runners and motorists Are natural antagonists Frank Shorter and his training partners once ran Over the Hood of a car whose Driver had harassed them and every year throughout the nation runners Are hit by cars resulting in injury and death. The exact numbers Are impossible to pin Down because in police Accident reports runners usually Are grouped with other pedestrians. In new Jersey last year a 37-year-old Atlantic Highlands Man was killed on a training run by a Motorist whose car went out of control and a 38-year-old Livingston Man was killed during a race by a Van that struck him from behind. The last running fatality in new York City was in 1986 when a 27-year-old Man was hit from behind in Central Park according to Gerard Soffian assistant commissioner of planning for the department of transportation. The first Rule of defensive running is to face your enemy which has been shown to reduce greatly the risk of Contact. Other guidelines for defensive running include obey traffic regulations by pausing at Stop signs crossing at Corners and not going through red lights. Use sidewalks and shoulders whenever possible and when there s no shoulder Don t assume motorists will think to give you extra room. In darkness Wear a reflecting Vest or striping choose smooth surfaces and avoid winding Back roads. Don t Challenge vehicles by racing across intersections or veering out into the Road to establish territorial rights. Right or wrong the car always has the right of Way said or. Norbert Sander Winner of the 1974 new York City Marathon and director of the preventive and sports Medicine Center in Manhattan. On Long runs when you re fatigued or on fast runs when you tend not to be very accommodating traffic will be most irritating it s Wise to confine such workouts to Park trails or spacious Countryside. Don t use headphones. It la limits a runners feel fit and often believe they Are invincible. Your ability to tune in to motorists said Soffian. Moreover if you Are hit by a car wearing headphones May Compromise any personal injury Case in a suit against a Motorist. The invincibility syndrome flourishes in races where runners think they deserve a Sanctuary from vehicular intrusion. The Power to halt traffic gives chauvinistic runners a false sense of Security said Craig Virgin a world class runner. The Only nationwide study of runner vehicle accidents was done in 1980 by the insurance Institute for Highway safety. It found that in 31 percent of the cases studied runners were primarily at fault in another 28 percent runners shared the blame with motorists. There s Little evidence that runners Are any More careful today. I was t. But i Learned that flesh and blood no matter How powerful is no match for a moving car. Marc Bloom former editor of the runner mag Azine writes on health fitness and sports. We be known for some time that alcohol drugs and cigarettes affect a fetus. But the los Angeles times recently ran a Story on a woman whose child became hooked on Ryan s Hope while in the  morning she sat in front of the set and after the baby was born and she was too Busy to watch her husband recorded the show so she could watch the tapes. They re not sure when they  addiction but when the baby was fussy they noted the theme from Ryan s Hope seemed to Calm her Down and she watched silently with her Mother As if she understood what was being said. The phenomenon not new to researchers. A British medical journal did a study with the babies of women who regularly watched a British soap and identified the same problem. They called it fetal soap addiction but pointed out that it had implications beyond soaps. They contend that children Oan be influenced and learn to recognize sounds before they Are born. Page 16 the Sta a and stripes no wonder we have children who want their ears pierced at age 2, Date at 9 and get their own apartments at 13. They be experienced More life by the age of 6 months in Uteri than Shirley Maclaine. I wish i had known this when i was carrying my children i d have glued myself in front of the Waltons and palmed them off As reality. As it turned out my kids first word was t mama or daddy it was Jordache. I be tried to think Back on some of the sounds that May have affected my unborn children in some Way after they were born. The sound that quickly comes to mind is the turning Over of a motor in a car. In their life As a fetus they must have been stimulated by the sound because after they were born every time a car started they scurried around to find their shoes. I tried from time to time to slip out of the House to no Avail. I even tried rolling the car out of the driveway before i started the motor but they always heard and ran to the window screaming take Mel take me once they saturday july 30,1988 were in the car and sitting by a window their screaming stopped. I probably watched too Many game shows. The kids Are always teasing Are my clean clothes hidden behind door no. 1, door no. 2 or door no. 3? choose carefully or you will lose the sight of a Good Eye from the  the other Day one said the greatest single disaster recorded in the 20th  your bedroom i said. Sorry mom you did t answer in jeopardise. What is your bedroom that Means i get the car for the weekend and a Chance to try for the big Money next  come to think of it i have to admit the whole theory sounds a Little farfetched. Call me when a Newborn focuses on the to set and says so you re Erica. Somehow i thought you d be  c 1988ermabombeck