My Top 10 Funniest or Most Embarrassing Running Moments

Since marathon training is quickly coming to an end and my mileage is decreasing, I have decided that I am going to bring some humor back into my blog posts. Before I get into the details of week 28, I am going to share my top 10 funniest or most embarrassing running moments. These are probably not the only funny or embarrassing moments that I have ever had running, but these ones are the most vivid in my memory. Some of these moments have happened during marathon training and some have been from my past few years as a runner. As I came up with this list, I have realized that many of these stories involve being chased by dogs or getting injured. (Perhaps I need to live in a “bubble” for the last two weeks of training to avoid either of these situations.) Anyways, here are my top 10 funniest or most embarrassing running moments for your viewing pleasure:

1.) The time that I fell off of the treadmill and tried to crawl back up the treadmill to turn it off before I let myself fall off instead. (See my October blog post “The Tale of the Treadmill” for the full story.)

2.) The time that I went snow tubing, landed on my face, got a concussion and missed 3 weeks of marathon training.

3.) The time that I entered an open cross country race in college and came in last place by 2 minutes.

4.) The time that I ran screaming through the hills of my neighborhood because I thought that two wiener dogs were chasing me and they were really in a yard with an electric fence. (See my January blog post “Who Let the Dogs Out” for the full story.)

5.) The time that I ran the Bridge Run half marathon for the first time in Vibram Five Fingers and sprained my ankle at mile 10 and finished the race anyways. (I will never go back to Vibram’s after an excellent year of running in Mizuno’s!)

6.) The time that I ran in the middle of the street during rush hour traffic because two dogs knocked down their fence and chased me across the street. (I avoided getting hit by a car, but I now cross the street whenever I have to run by this house.)

7.) The time in college that Katelyn and I thought that it would be fun to run from campus to the Pittsford end of the canal to the Fairport end of the canal and back to campus on an extremely hot and sunny day. (We did not end up running the entire time, but it took us 3 hours to accomplish this and we came back looking like lobsters.)

8.) The time that Sandy and I went trail running, followed by some hiking where I tripped up a hill and cut my knee open.

9.) The time that I tripped over a pop can during a run and twisted my ankle.

10.) The time that Sandy and I were passed by an elderly gentleman who just breezed by us at the finish line of the Santa Run. (There is a picture of this online and he looks like he’s making very little effort, while we look quite the opposite!)

I will recap week 28 now that you've had a good laugh about my running stories. Week 28 of training was pretty great because it was my second week of tapering. I am now beginning to understand why tapering is so important to running a marathon. My legs and body are beginning to feel well-rested between runs and I haven’t been very sore. The decreased mileage has definitely helped my body and my runs have felt much better this week. I was able to stick to my training plan this week and did not have to skip or shorten any runs. I always feel guilty when I skip out on my training so I am glad that I had a pretty good week. I have been changing up my routes in my neighborhood for my short runs and the change of scenery definitely made a difference too. 

I have a 5 mile loop by my apartment that I usually run, but on Tuesday I decided to change it up for my run. I went out in a different direction and I was still a mile away by the time that I got to mile 5. Since I was only on schedule for 5 miles, I decided to walk the last mile back to my apartment. I was amazed at how much easier it was to walk back up the hill to my apartment after spending a few extra minutes walking. 

On Wednesday, I had the best run that I have had in weeks. I was on schedule for 8 miles and tried to get out before the rain began. I was only 1 mile into my run before it started raining and it was pouring rain for most of my run. I actually felt really good for the entire run and I was maintaining a very comfortable pace. I changed up my route again so I found myself 1 mile away from home when I was supposed to be done. Since it was still pouring rain, I decided to run the extra mile home. Within 1 minute of completing my 9 mile run, the rain stopped and then the sun came out pretty soon after that. However, I will take a run in the rain over a run in the heat any day.

I ran 4 miles on Thursday and tried a new workout for this run. I tried Hal Higdon’s 3/1 workout where you run ¾ of the run at an easy or comfortable pace and the last ¼ of the run fast or at race pace. I ran the first 3 miles between 9:30 min/mi and 10:00 min/mi, which is a pretty comfortable pace for me. I ran the last mile at a 7:30 min/mi pace and hauled it back home. It was a great workout and a nice alternative to a tempo run. I have not really focused on any speed work during training, but I thought that a change in my workout would be nice on an easy day. I definitely want to try different running workouts once the marathon is over and I cut back on my mileage for the summer.

I woke up early this morning to run since I learned my lesson about starting a long run too late in the day during that terrible 22 mile long run. However, Mother Nature had other plans for me. I do not mind running in the rain, but it was pouring rain for a good part of the morning and the weather report said scattered thunderstorms. I spent the morning and the early part of the afternoon debating whether I would go out when the weather cleared up or wait until the morning. I ended up going out to run around 3:30 and I was extremely happy that it was still overcast. It was cloudy until the last few miles, but it was not too hot for most of my run. I ran at a slower pace today since I am trying to get my body ready to run the marathon at a slower pace than my half marathon pace. 

I had a pretty good run today, but my body is extremely happy that there will be no more double digit runs until race day. My long runs are usually not too difficult for me. The hour or two after each long run is usually the tougher part, but a shower, food, water and the couch usually take care of that. I do not foresee having any problems next week because my long run is only 8 miles next week. I cannot believe that there are only 2 weeks left until the big race. I am a total mix of emotions still about this race, but I feel pretty good after this past week of training. I am happy that the mileage is going to be pretty low and I think that this will really help me get ready for the big race. Here’s a quick glance at this past week before I head into the final countdown:

Week 28
5/7/13 – 5 miles in 47:18 (9:27 min/mi pace)
5/8/13 – 9 miles in 1:29:50 (9:58 min/mi pace)
5/9/13 – 4 miles in 38:05 (9:30 min/mi pace)
5/11/13 – 12 miles in 2:08:21 (10:41 min/mi pace)

501.1 miles complete in 80:59:51 and only 15 days until conquering 26.2 miles!