Active Community: Message List - Share your funny or bad running experiences

Re: Share your funny or bad running experiences

BlueSwimmer — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:38:33 GMT

Great thread topic! I have two stories- one mine and one a friend's.

Hers:

My friend and her family (grown kids, hubby, in-laws) all do local races together. Her husband and kids are all competitive runners and she follows slowly in the back.

At one race, she and her daughter accidentally mixed up their packets, so my friend "won" her age group by about 10 minutes because it turned out that her daughter the former college runner was wearing my friend's chip!

She was so embarrassed that she left without claiming her prize but then they MAILED it to her. It was a gift card, so we decided she should buy toys to give to charity this holiday season because she is too embarrassed to confess to the race organizers.

Mine:

I was on vacation in New Orleans and running through the beautiful Garden District. A gorgeous mansion had workmen swarming all over it and the imposing double front doors were wide open. Being an old house freak, I was so excited to get a peek inside. I ran by with my head fully swiveled to the side, rubber-necking at the entry hall. This meant I didn't see that they were pressure washing the building, and had a hose pulled from a water truck across the sidewalk at knee height. Yep, I went flying! I had to hobble back to our hotel in shame...knowing it was my own fault for being nosy.

Re: Share your funny or bad running experiences

jumper7928 — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 06:42:31 GMT

It was my freshman year in highschool. i had joined cross country for my school. i originally joined to lose a few pounds i had gained from being lazy and sitting on my butt for the past several years. I ended up liking it and made 5th spot varsity. my coach said i was a natural. We wone our league and came in 3rd in the hardest district in ohio. coach was expecting all the girls to step up to the plate during regionals. our school hadnt made it to states in 15 years and we were the first team in many years that had a chance of making it. The one girl showed up at regionals stoned and wasted she had partied the night before. The other broke up with her girl boyfriend 2 days ago and wouldnt stop crying at the start line. Our number one runner who also happended to be a freshman had shin splints and was stressing big time over the compition, and the other was getting sick of running, wanted to be done and wasnt taking her 4th spot varsity seriously. The only people that were okay durining the start of the race were me runner #6 and runner #3! the gun goes off everyone starts and is pusing and shoving and all. Some girl cuts me off bad in the first .25 mile i cut her back off and shove her a little. Thats when she spiked the back of my shoe making it fly off my foot. I ran the next2 miles shoeless in the mud on pavement on gravel and in the woods! it was a mess. My father made me stop to put my shoe back on and i finished with an extra minute added onto my time....... we came in second last in our region even though if it were a good day we would have had chance of going to states #3 and #6 pulled their weight and both beat their personal records.... however with the rest of the team in no mans land their was no hope for us. The rest of my years of cross country were much more productive i graduated highschool being #1 spot varsity and many colleges have been recruting. we did end up making it to states my junior year and i never lost my shoe again!

Re: Share your funny or bad running experiences

crl8686 — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:43:08 GMT

This morning I was running on the treadmill at the gym, wearing a beloved old T-shirt from a 1989 race. The shirt is in good condition, but it does say "MARCH 12, 1989" in relatively large letters. So I finished the run and went to get a drink of water. A young woman behind me at the water fountain asked me if I had really run that race in 1989. When I told her yes, she responded "Wow, that's before I was born...."

Re: Share your funny or bad running experiences

MikeDaMarine08 — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:36:50 GMT

Stevemustangred wrote: My reaction in the same situation would have been a combination of a sub 3 minute mile and the situation described in the Urbster's post!!! LMAO

My story involves a visit from the rudest family of all; The Browns. They don't care when they call, when they call you will answer.

I was on an 8 mile out and back training run on a sunny Saturday afternoon. I hit mile 4 and made my turn. About mile 4.5 there was a knocking at my door. It was the Browns. The knocking got to the point where I had to open the door and take care of those rude Browns. I didn't make it too deep in the underbrush, I didnt have time to look too far for anything that would cause a rash in the wrong place. My selected spot did not offer too much cover or concealment either. I felt like waving at the gawking motorists as they drove by. When all was said and done I ran the remaining 3.5 miles minus my favorite running shirt that I had given to the Browns to make them go away........

Re: Share your funny or bad running experiences

BekahT — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:21:43 GMT

My family does not like me to run around the neighborhood. So that being said I wasn't sure if I should tell them when I almost was hit by a 4x4 truck! I was having a great run and had my mp3 player as usual but I turned it down low so I could hear and be aware of things around me. I was nearing a turn, I was on the sidewalk and I heard some screeching and looked up to see a white truck flying towards me! I ran the other way and got out of the way in the nick of time! It freaked me out! Someone had hit him and sent him spiraling out of control and onto the sidewalk. I was glad that day that I was not running even 2 seconds faster or I may have been hit. It also reminded me I need to get some sort of ID bracelet.

Re: Share your funny or bad running experiences

Stevemustangred — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:46:31 GMT

runninmama11 wrote:

...transformer blew...above my head..wires fell...I froze and just stood there...

=========================

My reaction in the same situation would have been a combination of a sub 3 minute mile and the situation described in the Urbster's post!!!

Re: Share your funny or bad running experiences

runninmama11 — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:01:36 GMT

A couple of months ago I was running when an electric transformer blew right above my head. A couple of wires fell right behind me...I have no idea how I didn't get shocked! I froze and just stood there completely dumbfounded as all the neighbors came out to see what the noise was. Needless to say I still sprint everytime I pass this particular set of wires...I don't want to experience deja vu!

Re: Share your funny or bad running experiences

Urbster — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:48:59 GMT

Well I have a friend, we'll call her Turbster, she went to the running store and got a great pair of brand new running shorts, first time wearing them, first (and last) time not wearing underwear. Normally she has no gastro-intestinial issues running 4 miles or less but has been known to need to make a stop on longer runs. At mile 3.5 she thought she could hold it.....she couldn't......she didn't. The last .5 mile home was the longest of her life. Poor girl.

Re: Share your funny or bad running experiences

karmasnow — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:21:01 GMT

oh man, steve, that sucks. i came across a deer lying in a ditch by the side of the road once, not during a run - i was on my way to the dog park - and i thought that was strange, so i stopped my car and got out. turned out some a**hole had hit the deer, broken its back, and left it to suffer and die on the side of the road. i, like you, cannot get that image out of my head. eventually someone else stopped, turned out to be a deer hunter, and he wound up putting the deer out of its misery. he kindly waited until i left the area.

Re: Share your funny or bad running experiences

Stevemustangred — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:07:09 GMT

A kitten ran toward me, crossing a highway, while I was on a training run. The stupid poor little animal. It was horrid and I still have that vision in my head ten years later.

One the other hand I had a stray dog run with me for several miles during the Texas Independence Relay last March. This was out in the country just across the street from the middle of nowhere. The dog scared the heck out of me at first because he ran up behind without making a sound. It was nice to have a companion for a while on the lonely highway. Eventually, his owner drove by and picked him up so at least he made it back home safely.

Later, during the same race in the middle of the night, on another stretch of long lonely highway I could hear coyotes howling in a field by the road. I was wearing a headlamp. I turned to look at the field and the whole pack of coyotes started howling in unison when they saw my light. It was eerie and just a little bit scary since my support vehicle was too far away to provide any help if the coyotes got brave.