Watch out! There's a biker gang in town

Let me clarify.  Apparently there's a white, middle-class, suburban, middle-school-aged boy's bicycle "gang" in the neighborhood across the main street from ours.  And apparently they think they're a bunch of bad asses.

Someone forgot to tell them not to F with Mrs. Coach.  (that would be me in this context.  Not you, Neda.  Just wanted to clarify.)

Yesterday the hubby and I went for a quick little three mile jaunt.  (who in the world would have EVER thought I would refer to three miles as a "quick jaunt"???)  I was booking it (for me) and was actually in front of the hubby for a change.  When we run only 3-4 miles we usually stay around the house - our neighborhood, across the street in that neighborhood...  Very suburban, little traffic...  I can run right in the middle of the road (to avoid the cresting of the road as much as possible!!) and not have to worry about getting hit by cars.  You get the idea....  And I'm sure as y'all know - runners are to run against traffic - so even when I do run in the middle of the road I kinda lean towards my left in the event a car does come up my right side - I can easily maneuver over to my appropriate place.

We were in the neighborhood across the main road from ours.  I had only a half mile left.  I had a short straight-away and then an "S"curve and then done.  As I approached the straight away I saw about 10 boys, I'd guess in the 11-12 year old range, on bikes/ walking/ on skateboards.  You know - generally hanging about.  Thinking they're cool.  Normally I couldn't care less. Except they were in my way as I was running in the middle, on the crest of the road.  The majority of this pre-pubescent gaggle was on my left side of the street and a few spilled over the crest of the road and onto the other side. 

In rowing, or on the water in general, the rule is you always give way to the less maneuverable craft.  So a speedboat would give way to a rowing shell.  Well, I saw this as "a bunch of swaggering, couldn't care less pre-teens blocking the road" should give way a person clearly in the middle of a strenuous running workout.  Apparently they didn't see it that way.

I approached and saw they were looking right at me and obviously not making ANY attempt to move out of my way - either in the middle of the road where I was running or the far left side of the road where I should have been running - because I gladly would have moved to any safe, open spot.  And I didn't want to step out to my right - for my luck a car would have been coming up behind me that I couldn't see. So I did what cyclists normally do, I announced myself.  Instead of "on your right"  I said "EXCUSE ME".  Yes, I said it in louder-than-conversational tone because, well, because me even saying it was really unnecessary in and of itself.  They saw me.  They knew I was coming.

They didn't move.  Of course, 10 pre-teen boys pretty much qualifies as possible mob behavior anyway, and you could see that there were definitely some bullies in the crowd.  One in particular caught my eye.  A larger boy, on a BMX, right on the crest -  directly in front of me.  A clear study in pre-teen sociology, for sure.

Sorry - but I'm not about to let a bunch of pimply kids intimidate me on a run.  Call me crazy.  So as I got even closer - I did not change my course - I faced said bully (so close now that I seriously could have elbow-clocked him in the chin) and yelled "I SAID EXCUSE ME!"  And after I elbowed my through I yelled "THANK YOU" over my shoulder.

Ugh.  What a pain in the ass.  It's bad enough that kids are bullying each other so much more in school these days.  But bullying ADULT WOMEN in suburban neighborhoods??  Are you frickin' kidding me?  Of course it occurred to me to see if any of them followed me.  As I finished my run - thankfully before I crossed the street into my neighborhood - I don't need any of them knowing where I live.  I'm not a fan of cleaning up a TP'd house. - I turned to meet back with the hubby.  He hadn't rounded the corner yet but I saw a suspicious bright yellow shirt on a bike frantically heading the other way....

As the hubby and I were walking back to the house (no gang members in sight) I relayed my episode.  "Is that why I saw three kids on bikes following you??"  Great.... Now I'm that lady in the neighborhood...  If only they hadn't been asswipes in the first place we could have avoided this whole incident.  But I do find it hilarious that three of them thought they were bad ass enough to follow me - only to tuck tail and run the other way when I stopped running.  Geesh!