The Running Thread - 2016

[LSUlakes]

QOTD: What unusual item have you carried during a run that isn't something you normally run with?

ATTQOTD: I once ran a beer mile relay. You had to drink the beer the relay runner brought to you and had to bring the next person a beer. The tricky part was trying not to shake up the can to much. It wasn't that it was a difficult thing to run with, just unusual.

Looking forward to everyone's response on this. Hopefully someone ran to the store for a gallon of milk and ran a mile or so back home with it.

 

[opusone]

QOTD: What unusual item have you carried during a run that isn't something you normally run with?

At all costs, I try to carry absolutely nothing with me when I run. The only exception is GU for long runs, and I always have a zippered pocket to put those in.

However, a few years ago, I registered for a local 5k race, and the start/finish line was only about 1.25 miles from my house, so I decided to just run there as a warm-up and run back as my cool down. As luck would have it, I placed 2nd in my age group (small race), and they actually had trophies for all top 3 age group winners. Therefore, as stupid as it looked, my cool down run included me jogging back to my house with my trophy held like a baton.

Same race this year, there was someone giving out marketing frisbees, so I ran back with a frisbee in my hand as part of my cool down routine.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I have nothing for the QOTD today - as many years as I have been running, I have never run carrying anything unusual.

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

ok I am way behind

Short term goal- Dumbo! Long term goal- improve my time

Olympics- My family watched quite a bit. I really got into the women's gymnastics. Ledecky was awesome to watch too. It amazed me how many of these athletes are still in high school. I liked how during the Women's marathon the commentator pointed out that weren't running that fast and the trend now is negative splits. I mean they are running 5 minute miles in my opinion that's pretty fast but I guess it's all relative. Another moment that made me chuckle was when Phelps won one of the races he was on the podium and they played the national anthem he went from crying to laughing. They asked him why later and he said because his friends from Baltimore yelled out "O" at the oh, say does that... part. Being from Maryland and an Orioles fan I thought that was great!

ATTQOTD: I went out for a run with DD5 and she found a baby frog in the grass. She just had to bring it home to show her siblings. So I had to run home with the frog in my hand(didn't want her to crush it on accident). Don't worry when we got home (5 mins later) we released the frog near the pond in our back yard.

 

[RunDisneyDad]

ATTQOTD: I'm pretty boring too...I think keys and a power bar are the oddest things I've carried with me.

 

[roxymama]

ATTQOTD: I feel like I've already told the Great Pumpkin Race story where I carried a big ol' pumpkin for a medal...and my shoes for the last mile when they got caked in mud.

So instead I'll go with a big bag of greasy burgers. Was just a training run on a day I didn't have time to both run and go get lunch so I ran to the hamburger stand and back home.

 

[FFigawi]

Also paid attention to the runners as they hit the water/fuel stations....didn't see much eating going on but plenty of fluid intake.

Many of the bottles were filled with a mix of fuel and fluid specific to each runner. They get their calories from the mixture as opposed to taking the time to eat gels or bloks. It's very similar to what the open water swimmers do to get their nutrition too.

 

[ZellyB]

I can't think of anything too unusual I've carried. I did carry one of those cooling cloths in it's plastic container for a significant portion of my first Disney marathon. We wanted to keep it in the cool water in the container until it really started to heat up outside. I was really sick of that container by the time we finally ditched it.

 

[Anisum]

What month is the race? TIA

September. Sorry about that.

I KNOW! DW and I got the impression they weren't watching what we were watching. The hat swap may have been new, but it makes perfect sense and wasn't that big a mystery.

Re: the shoes... Yes, the elites can get theirs customized. In addition, a few factors impact their shoe needs compared to us mortals: They are only out there for 2:10 to 2:30. Their speed and skill also means their impact loads are very light. Their shoes just don't take the same kind of abuse. I'm also curious about those Nikes, but I'm quite sure they wouldn't work for me.

EDIT: Oh, and these guys don't weigh anything.

All valid points. I'm sure if I was super fast and didn't weigh anything I too could suck it up and run in Nikes for my country.

Favorite moment? Seeing that Meb and I FINALLY have something in common - we both did pushups during a race this year!!!

Wait, what about your charming personalities?

QOTD: What unusual item have you carried during a run that isn't something you normally run with?

Mail! I used a training run to deliver my dad's mail when it got sent to my address by mistake. Also a half gallon of orange juice and a newspaper on Thanksgiving Day. We needed the sales ads for the weekend and I wanted OJ. It was only a 1/3 of a mile home though since I picked them up at the end of my run. In September I'll be carrying a pumpkin though. I have @roxymama to thank for that because if I hadn't heard about her pumpkin run last year I would have never looked and found one this year. I'm a bit nervous about finding a good pumpkin for carrying.

 

[Barca33Runner]

QOTD: What unusual item have you carried during a run that isn't something you normally run with?

Tried to think of something, but I really don't run with much. Adjusting the hood/face/ears of my Eeyore onesie is the biggest unneeded annoyance I've had from running in something out of the norm.

 

[roxymama]

In September I'll be carrying a pumpkin though. I have @roxymama to thank for that because if I hadn't heard about her pumpkin run last year I would have never looked and found one this year. I'm a bit nervous about finding a good pumpkin for carrying.

YAY! I'm a run-enabler! Did you see the medals this year? Spoiler alert below. The little pumpkin guy is one of the medals and a pumpkin is the other and you can attach them together like he's carrying the pumpkin OMG!!! I'm waiting to see how the weather is before signing up for the Chicago one again. But you know I'm majorly tempted.

Oh and edited to add: grab a pumpkin with a good stem/handle. It makes it easier to do a "football style hold" and kind of rest your hand on the handle lightly.

 

[Chasing Dopey]

All valid points. I'm sure if I was super fast and didn't weigh anything I too could suck it up and run in Nikes for my country.

 

[Slogger]

QOTD: What unusual item have you carried during a run that isn't something you normally run with?

Carried a football for 3 miles as part of a kickoff event for a local school.
Carried a little brown bag of Fireball whiskey from the store on a run from the beach. Unopened of course, but got plenty of stares and comments so apparently running and drinking alcohol must be taboo.

 

[JulieODC]

I think the "strangest" thing is probably mail -- I ran my sister's birthday card to the PO last week!

 

[derekleigh]

QOTD: What unusual item have you carried during a run that isn't something you normally run with?

Probably have mentioned this before, but a gun. A while back, there used to be a small prison about 4 miles from where I live and they had two inmates MIA. I run early in the morning (i.e. dark times) so I (legally) carried a handgun until both with caught.

I also carried a relay Torch for the something my MIL usually did, but she hurt her ankle. Cannot remember for the life of me what it was for, but it was law enforcement involved.

However, a few years ago, I registered for a local 5k race, and the start/finish line was only about 1.25 miles from my house, so I decided to just run there as a warm-up and run back as my cool down. As luck would have it, I placed 2nd in my age group (small race), and they actually had trophies for all top 3 age group winners. Therefore, as stupid as it looked, my cool down run included me jogging back to my house with my trophy held like a baton.

Same race this year, there was someone giving out marketing frisbees, so I ran back with a frisbee in my hand as part of my cool down routine.

The Frisbee would have made for a good fartlek run; toss Frisbee, sprint to it, run for a bit and repeat!

 

[Keels]

Wait, what about your charming personalities?

Well, I mean, I wasn't going to say that, but ...

 

[PrincessV]

ATTQOTD: Once, when my son was sick, I ran to the drugstore for an Rx and carried it back home. That's all I can think of!

 

[baxter24]

QOTD: What unusual item have you carried during a run that isn't something you normally run with?

A box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts! We have a race in Raleigh called the Kripsy Kreme Challenge that happens every year. The goal is to run from the NC State bell tower to the nearby Krispy Kreme (2.5 miles), eat a dozen doughnuts, then run back. You can do the challenge where you have to run there and back and eat the dozen doughnuts in an hour or you can be a "casual" runner and eat as many doughnuts as you'd like and there isn't a time restriction. My husband and I ran as casual runners and only ate three doughnuts each but we still decided to run back with our leftover doughnuts thinking we would eat them later. Not fun carrying a box of doughnuts for 2.5 miles but the experience is really fun!

 

[cavepig]

I've ran with mail too to mail many times or I drop stuff off to people if I'll be running by their house on my route. I stopped off at a garage sale last fall and picked up 3 hoodies (for Dopey throwaways), that was actually a hefty sack to carry the 1.5 miles home I ended up walking. Oh & I've done the grocery store stop a few times too as it's only 1/2 mile to carry back.

 

[gjramsey]

ATTQOTD: I have trying to think of anything I have carried, and can not remember a thing.....it is either turning 50 has started to turn my brain to mush, or I have not done anything unusual!