FAO residents of Bromar Rd / Grove Hill Rd re the curious case of The Midnight Runner

[midnightrunnerfan]

Hello!

This is my first time posting. I'm here because I am curious/nosey about a regular occurance of strange behaviour in the Bromar Road / Grove Hill Road area late at night.

I've lived in the area for around 3 years and ever since I've moved to tha area, I often hear someone running past my window late at night.

It's not every night but I would say happens at least a couple of times each week.

Now I've never seen this person but what is most distinctive about it all is that the footsteps are very heavy, so they don't sound like someone jogging, but rather someone very heavy footed - perhaps in more formal shoes. I would also tend to assume that the runner is a man due to these heavy steps.

This usually happens any time between around 11pm at night and 2 or even 3am sometimes. The person always runs up the hill (towards Champion Hill / Camberwell Grove) and it sounds like they're pretty much at full speed.

Myself and my girlfriend have dubbed this man 'The Midnight Runner' :)

As I said this is just me being curious/nosey and am not suggesting this person has done anything wrong! But has anyone else seen or heard this person before? perhaps you know the person or perhaps it's even you?!

Would love to find out more as he has become a regular talking point in my household!

Midnight Runner Fan

[Salsaboy]

Ahhh, that'll be The Phantom.

Don't ever look out to try and see him...........

[urbanpixie]

I suggested staying up all night and watching out of the window, but knowing my luck it will be a night that he doesnt run past or I'll be looking away as he sprints into the night.

Midnight Runner Fan #2

[rbrtdngl]

Always a big fan of a Midnight Runner. Perhaps one evening you could set up a little stall outside your flat to offer him/her a refreshing beverage or cool face towel?

Midnight Runner Fan #3

[colin d.]

hi all,i would say this is possibly someone in the armed services.a friend of mine use to run round peckham rye park with full pack on in the middle of the night as training.colin.

[Jeremy]

Maybe somebody who works a night/early morning shift, and is always running late?

[midnightrunnerfan]

Colin I like your theory but I'd be a bit confused about why this person would have been doing this for circa 3 years? (or potentially even longer).

And Jeremy your theory is also the one I had. Certainly there are places (like the hospital) that are in that general direction that would have plenty of people starting their shift in the middle of the morning.

I think I might have to pull an all nighter and shout out the window the next time he goes past...

[Dopamine1979]

midnightrunnerfan Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Colin I like your theory but I'd be a bit confused

> about why this person would have been doing this

> for circa 3 years? (or potentially even longer).

>

> And Jeremy your theory is also the one I had.

> Certainly there are places (like the hospital)

> that are in that general direction that would have

> plenty of people starting their shift in the

> middle of the morning.

>

> I think I might have to pull an all nighter and

> shout out the window the next time he goes past...

I'm sure he'll be flattered that you have adopted a screen-name in his honour. Then again he might just run past even faster and ignore you.

[ruffers]

From the sound of them do you think the shoes might look anything like this?

http://www.partydomain.co.uk/images/P/22594B.jpg

[Fly]

Are you sure he doesn't run during the day? I've seen someone sprint up your road around midday. Maybe it's a once every 12 hour thing or maybe a continual run looping up Bromar road every 12 hours.

[Huguenot]

It sounds to me that trying to see him would be a very bad idea.

Very bad.

It would be infinitely wiser to turn off the lights and be very quiet indeed.

[spenny]

I'm on Bromar Road, and I too have heard people run past in the middle of the night though not so regularly as to think there's a midnight runner afoot. However, last night, at around 2 or 3, I heard some rustling outside the front of our house, and when I peered out of the window I saw a youngish man, smartly dressed in a dark suit jacket walking off up the hill. Could it be him I wonder?

[midnightrunnerfan]

Glad to know I'm not the only person that may have seen/heard this midnight runner!

It could be that this person runs in the middle of the day but I'd usually be at work at that time so hard for me to say... I only really noticed it happening because you can hear him running very clearly when you're lying awake in bed.

Looks like I'm going to have to invest in a large net or similar contraption to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Although weirdly, since making this post, I've not actually heard him run by... so perhaps he is even reading this thread??

[CasualLime]

Wow, this is interesting. I guess I have some explaining to do.

I am 18 years old and I am captain for my school rugby team. So to get the strength and speed in legs up to scratch for rugby, I used to sprint up hill at full speed giving it 110% every time.

Its hard to sprint up the pavement because its quite narrow. So I would wait until I had finished my homework and dinner, then I would go out of a jog around the area, by that time it would be 10/11, maybe even later. But the roads would practically empty.

So I would finish my jog at the bottom of Bromar Road, then I would sprint up the hill then slowly walk back down maybe 4-5 times to finish up my drill.

Unfortunately, now that the rugby term is over and I am in the last year of school. I don't think I will be sprinting up the hill any more.

Am I who you are looking for?

[ianr]

It sounds eminently sensible to me, given the shortage of hills around here, and the usefulness of fartlek training. I doubt that Sherlock Holmes would have been able to mark you out as a rugby player, but apart from that. ... ;)