It’s not so rude to point!

When I showed up for a run with a new pair of socks the other day, my favourite running partner, Tanya, had a good laugh.  It wasn’t because they were bright fuchsia either – it was because they were right foot and left foot specific.  Unlike shoes which hold their shape, it is a little harder to tell them apart, so the manufacturer conveniently labelled the left sock “L” and the right sock (you guessed it!) “R”.
This is only funny because both Tanya and I both believe we have left-right confusion.   While I will admit I haven’t been able to find a study to prove this condition actually exists, there are plenty of surveys out there that estimate anywhere from 15-20% of the population experience this some or all of the time.

To those of you in the rest of the general population I’m sure that sounds crazy.  You learn quite young that your left hand makes the L, right?  I mean…correct?  I know this!  I know the hand with the wedding ring is my left, the hand I write with is my right; my passenger sits to my right in the car, and right is the direction I am allowed to turn on a red.  Yet somehow, when someone says to go left or right, or when I am giving directions, I really have to think about it before I make the turn or give the instruction.  (Does this happen to you?  Try this little test!)

Back when Tanya and I first started running together, we used to verbalize the turns.  An instruction of “Left here,” would invariably result in us banging into one another, followed by a “you said left!”  “that is left!”  “no it isn’t! It’s right!  Right? No…” “wait…what?”  This is only exacerbated as our brain cells go numb during a long run.

So when now we’ve developed a fool-proof system.  The person who mapped the route just points when we get to a turn.  This has multiple benefits – for example we don’t have to stop talking when it is time to turn, and we avoid that awkward banging into each other thing.

You’ll be glad to know that I get my lefts and rights…um…correct when given the time to think before reacting.  This means I get my socks (and shoes!) on the correct feet, so I can pass on Tanya’s suggestion of getting a sock-matching “L” and “R” tattooed on my feet!