I run through affluent suburbs, which means good garbage! I've gone out on runs and returned with goodies like perfectly good toys and framed prints tucked under my arm. I've also run to the library and back with armloads of books and videos -- all incentive to run faster, just to get home and dump everything.

I ran the Firecracker 10K in Los Angeles last February. Firecracker is a challenging course through hilly neighborhoods. I finished in just over 53 minutes and was quite pleased with that time on a reasonably tough course, especially when I saw the posted preliminary results that had me in 2nd place in my age group. So I hung around the race finish area for close to an hour, waiting patiently for the medal ceremony. When it was time for my age group, they called 3rd place...and then 2nd place...and it was someone else, whose time was slower than mine! What happened, i thought? Had I read the chart or the clock wrong? I started to wilt a little. But then they called my name for 1st place...what a nice surprise! It turned out that the original 1st placer was in the wrong age group.

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.

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.

runninmama11 wrote:

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

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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!!!

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........

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!