"OnYerLeft!" I had heard the phrase thousands of times before as I immersed myself into running and training for marathons. As I crossed trained riding my bike, I learned to call out, "OnYerLeft!" as I passed runners, walkers and other riders. As I have mentioned before I was a transformed offensive lineman turned runner.
As I ran more and more and began to look and feel more like a runner it became second nature to use the phrase to practice safety and courtesy on the pathways. I had been running for leisure and competing in 5 and 10k's 10 mile, 1/2 and eventually full marathons for about 12 years when suddenly my wife and I became parents. Talk about a change of focus! My daughter became the center of our whole world and my running fell by the wayside.
My daughter had been born in the Fall and by the following Spring of 2004 as she became bigger as I had, I decided to get back in the swing of things. We purchased a baby jogger and I set out to try and regain my old form. This posed a few changes; for anyone who has ever run while pushing a child, they will tell you, get used to going MUCH slower! I had just missed qualifying for the Boston marathon in 2001, not the fastest runner in the world but I had run a 40 minute 10k which roughly translated to 6:30 miles. Now I was much heavier than I was before, a small reversion to my "football" body, and I was pushing my daughter, who although a delight, proved heavier than I thought.
As we set out on regular 4 mile runs between Lombard and Glen Ellyn, our pace was much slower than it was before, not to mention the lack of the ability to swing my arms with my stride, quite difficult. The thing I noticed the most was, as I was fairly fast before and passed most runners, now, I passed nobody and felt like that rusty clunker on the freeway in the far right lane! I heard, "OnYerLeft!" more often than I had ever before and it hit me; THAT needs to be on a shirt! I excitedlly told my wife who was also excited and pushed me to pursue the idea.
The following Monday on the trading floor I threw the idea to my very good friend and running buddy, Steve Lutz. Without a moment's hesitation Steve said, "I'm in, Let's do it!" OnYerLeft.com was born. We had no idea what we were doing and only had an interesting concept. the following Spring in April 2005 Steve and I launched our venture, OnYerLeft.com Now almost exactly 4 years later, mistakes made, lessons learned, new faces,friends and their expertise mixed in we proudly launch version 2 of OnYerLeft.com
Thanks for visiting our site and joining our community. We hope you enjoy your experience with us and help to spread the message of community through competition, where we can all achieve or personal bests! I'll see ya on the pathways! Dave
Welcome to OnYerLeft!™ We design, produce and sell high quality athletic apparel bearing the logo and phrase, “OnYerLeft!” Our apparel is designed to remind walkers, skaters, runners, and cyclists to call out, “OnYerLeft!t” as they pass others on the trails and pathways. Our primary goal is to promote safety and courtesy among pathway users in order to promote teamwork and to develop a communal atmosphere among athletes.
Promoting Safety and Awareness is our main goal at OnYerLeft!™ This Web site features a full line of athletic apparel bearing the phrase, “OnYerLeft!” Designed with vibrant eye catching colors, this line is functional toward the safety aspect of OnYerLeft!™, but also provides a fun and fashionable way to do so.
Our core belief is developing a sense of community and teamwork among athletes who all work together to achieve their personal bests. This begins by calling out, “OnYerLeft!t” as you pass others on the pathways.
We fulfill these stated goals by pairing with local charities to help raise funds for their respective causes as well as foster safety and education programs for park district’s trail systems and children’s bicycle safety programs. Thanks for taking the time to learn about OnYerLeft!™
