Track Etiquette

At my school, both the boys and girls track teams practice directly after 6th period, the last class of the day. Between the two high school teams and the group of college runners that workout every once in a while on our track, it is definitely fair to say that the track can get a little overcrowded. Most of the time everything works out pretty well and all parties involved get done what they need to, put in some work, and move on with their lives, but sometimes it can be a little trickier than that. Therefor there are a few guidelines that one should always remember when sharing the track.

In order to accommodate all of these people, it is important to remember that at no time should you be waiting or standing in lane one. Lane one and two are the lanes that everyone is using when they are doing their interval or tempo run, and it is really annoying when you are trying to keep up a steady and uncomfortable pace and have to slow down or veer off the track because someone is in your way. To prevent this, it is important that one always stands in the infield between intervals, and not wait in lane one while they rest. It is equally vital that if one has some down time between intervals and is told to walk or jog slowly for a certain period of time in between that they do this in the outer lanes so that they do not disrupt the flow of the runners doing their workout at the moment.

With all of those people on the track just trying to get the best workout in that they can, there is no time or reason for superiority complexes. The boys are not more entitled to the track than the girls, and the faster runners are not more entitled to the track than the slower runners. Everyone is out there doing their best, and everyone should have equal opportunity to use the track. If someone is ahead of you in lane one but you are gaining on them, it is only right that you pass around them on the outside, and not make them move out of the lane and disrupt their flow. They are most likely working equally as hard as you, so just because you may be doing sprints and they are doing a tempo run at a slower pace does not mean that you are entitled to a free and uninterrupted run if you are both putting in your maximum effort during the workouts.