Incredulity, mainly

Here's an article from the Moscow Times, appropriate for the day I did my first 10 miler of the season: Joggers Battle with Dogs, Locals and Incredulity.

Some great observations in the article that really ring true.

A former Moscow Times reporter: “If I ran through after 2 p.m., I’d get heckled by groups of men drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. A couple times, some of them sarcastically jogged along with me, laughing uproariously. They thought I was hilarious.” (Haven't had this experience yet, but I've imagined it happening a hundred times. I know one day some teenager is gonna be drunk and want to make a scene for his girlfriend.)

Representative from the Russian Athletics Federation: “We have nothing to do with people who just run around outside for exercise.” (Frank, but true. Provides a good tone for the article.)

A former NY Times correspondent in Moscow: “A television documentary warning Russians against associating with Western journalists showed some film that the secret police surreptitiously took of my daily 3-mile run through the city. 'While pretending to engage in ‘physical culture,’ the announcer ominously explained, I was really carrying secret messages between the United States Embassy and nefarious Russian dissidents.”

I guess I can't complain to much about the pollution and stares - never had the KGB on my ass!