The Running Thread - 2018

[Dis5150]

ATTQOTD: I can't think of anything odd other than riding EE during the marathon. I'm always giving directions at the state park where I run. I've almost been hit more times than I care to think about, so jumping off the road into ditches. But all those things are normal to runners here, lol.

 

[sylkai]

ATTQOTD: When I was in London last summer, I did a running tour. Not a "run for a bit and then stop to hear the tour guide and then run to the next location" tour, but an actual "tour guide gives the tour while we ran along" tour, going about 5k along the Thames. It was a TON of fun. I think there were 5 of us there in total, all Americans except for the tour guide, and we got both a great morning run in and a wonderful tour. One of the best things I did in London, and one of my most unusual runs so far.

 

[MarBee]

QOTD: What is something odd you had to do while out on a run? Can be anything from bathroom related to stopping your run and having a random drink at a bar with a friend.

ATTQOTD: A few summers ago I went out for a run and did not think I needed to bring water. Well it was much warmer than I was prepared for and I was struggling, but a good ways away from home. The water source I would normally go to was not working. I saw a lady watering her plants in her front yard and asked if I could drink some water and hose myself down to cool down some. She got a good laugh but was happy to help me out. I learned to bring water with me on runs after that regardless how I felt on summer runs from that day forward.

Question from this newbie: how do you hold your water bottles on your runs?

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Question from this newbie: how do you hold your water bottles on your runs?

Either a hydration belt, a handheld bottle or a hydration backpack. It means buying more equipment to run with but when you need water - you are thankful for it!

 

[Keels]

Somehow neither of these things shock me

I find great comfort in being predictable.

 

[FFigawi]

ATTQOTD: I’ve stopped for drinks - either at the patio barbecue place, the food truck park or the pub down the street ... usually if friends are there. The pub is .5 from my house, so I generally ended long runs there with a beer, some a/c and ice water, and then I’d just walk home.

^^This does not qualify as either odd or unusual

 

[jennamfeo]

ATTQOTD: In January, I was doing a hot air ballooned themed race, so I dressed up like Pennywise the Dancing Clown from IT. The race was only a 5k and I was scheduled for like 7 that day. So before the race, to get the rest of my miles in, I ran to a grocery store and grabbed some red balloons for my costume and then ran back home carrying the balloons. I am sure it looked a lot weirder at 5am and me not in my full costume. Haha.
Also, during the last Disneyland Avengers race I stopped for jello shots and bacon. That's not unusual, but just worth reminiscing about.

 

[PrincessV]

Question from this newbie: how do you hold your water bottles on your runs?

I use a handheld bottle from amphipod.

 

[huskies90]

QOTD: What is something odd you had to do while out on a run? Can be anything from bathroom related to stopping your run and having a random drink at a bar with a friend.

ATTQOTD: One thing (thankfully) I am surprised has never happened to me is getting hit by a car or biker when out running. I have had so many near misses.

I used to run by several farms and one time some kind of goat, sheep or ram got out its fence (looked like a gate was left open) and on the street as I was passing the farm. I really don't know what it was but it had a big rack on its head. I figured, ehh, it's a goat, whatever, I'll pass it and that thing freakin' chased me for about a quarter mile down the road. Not sure I have ever run that fast.

 

[avondale]

ATTQOTD: Last summer I was visiting Stanford for a conference and one morning I was running from my hotel through a residential area toward the Stanford Dish, which I'd researched as a good place to run. It was still morning twilight, so a little hard to see. I thought I saw a cat in someone's front yard, so I stopped to see if I could call it over to pet it. (I have cats at home.) Turns out it was not one but three juvenile raccoons. They were having a lot of fun somersaulting and twirling around the bushes and trees in the front yard, playing with each other. I did not call them over to pet them. But they were a lot of fun to watch until they scrambled away.

 

[TCB in FLA]

ATTQOTD: When I was in London last summer, I did a running tour. Not a "run for a bit and then stop to hear the tour guide and then run to the next location" tour, but an actual "tour guide gives the tour while we ran along" tour, going about 5k along the Thames. It was a TON of fun. I think there were 5 of us there in total, all Americans except for the tour guide, and we got both a great morning run in and a wonderful tour. One of the best things I did in London, and one of my most unusual runs so far.

Back when I was a student at Tulane many years ago, my cycling instructor (for my PE credit) did cycling tours on the side with a small microphone and a speaker on the back of his bike. I learned more about New Orleans than I ever expected. Best college class I took, hands down.

 

[Slogger]

ATTQOTD-I went running early in the morning a couple of summers ago and came across something odd. I didn't wear my contacts or glasses so my vision wasn't as sharp as most mornings. I was running on a bike path on Hilton Head Island and it looked like a large log or tree trunk was blocking the path. As I got closer the "log" started to move and I realized it was an 8 foot alligator stretched out blocking the path. I wasn't sure if the gator would take too kindly to me interrupting their morning stroll, so I did a quick U-turn.

 

[camaker]

Question from this newbie: how do you hold your water bottles on your runs?

I don't. If a run is long enough to require carrying water, I use a hydration pack. I've got a couple of them so that I have the option of using 1.0, 1.5 or 2.0L bladders. Handheld water bottles make me feel unbalanced and belt-based water bottles either don't have enough capacity or drive me nuts by spinning around my waist when I run.

 

[sylkai]

ATTQOTD: Last summer I was visiting Stanford for a conference and one morning I was running from my hotel through a residential area toward the Stanford Dish, which I'd researched as a good place to run. It was still morning twilight, so a little hard to see. I thought I saw a cat in someone's front yard, so I stopped to see if I could call it over to pet it. (I have cats at home.) Turns out it was not one but three juvenile raccoons. They were having a lot of fun somersaulting and twirling around the bushes and trees in the front yard, playing with each other. I did not call them over to pet them. But they were a lot of fun to watch until they scrambled away.

This was not on a run but I spent quite a lot of time at Stanford and multiple times watched raccoons emerge from the drains. Very startling if you're not expecting it.

Stanford is also the only place where I have been run into as a pedestrian by a cyclist.

 

[Keels]

Stanford is also the only place where I have been run into as a pedestrian by a cyclist.

We’ve got a peloton here that ride on the weekends and think that every hard surface belongs to them. They actually rolled through a bunch of us running a half marathon last year, hollering that we needed to run in the grass.

Cyclists can really be the worst.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

ATTQOTD: Weirdest thing I've done while running is sit down in the middle of the race. But it was the Emperor's Throne from Return of the Jedi during Dark Side.

 

[KSellers88]

ATTOQTD: I regularly save turtles from the road and run through my neighbor's sprinklers, but the weirdest thing I do either before, during or after my runs is take my Instagram picture. These boards and Instagram are my main source of accountability, plus #picsoritdidnthappen. I am always so embarrassed when someone catches me trying to discreetly take a video or picture. I had a guy stop one time and say "are we taking a video?" then he got to be a special guest on my Instagram. LOL. I guess I should just own my weirdness and not worry about what anyone thinks, but I don't see that ever happening.

 

[avondale]

This was not on a run but I spent quite a lot of time at Stanford and multiple times watched raccoons emerge from the drains. Very startling if you're not expecting it.

Stanford is also the only place where I have been run into as a pedestrian by a cyclist.

Funny (as in "odd") that you got run into there... I was extremely amused during my running there to discover that they have two crossing guards at every sidewalk that is cut through by the local train tracks. Even though there were gates that should go up and down for the trains and if you followed the sidewalk, you had to go through a bit of a maze (presumably to make sure you were paying attention) to get to the tracks to cross them. Every time I ran through the different crossings, the poor crossing guards were sitting in their little tents looking incredibly bored. So here I was thinking that it was an incredibly safety-conscious area.

Now when I was a grad student at Boston University, I did get run into by a bike as a walking pedestrian near the BU bridge.

 

[sylkai]

Funny (as in "odd") that you got run into there... I was extremely amused during my running there to discover that they have two crossing guards at every sidewalk that is cut through by the local train tracks. Even though there were gates that should go up and down for the trains and if you followed the sidewalk, you had to go through a bit of a maze (presumably to make sure you were paying attention) to get to the tracks to cross them. Every time I ran through the different crossings, the poor crossing guards were sitting in their little tents looking incredibly bored. So here I was thinking that it was an incredibly safety-conscious area.

Now when I was a grad student at Boston University, I did get run into by a bike as a walking pedestrian near the BU bridge.

This was on campus, where there were no crossing guards to be seen. Outside of campus maybe it is better but on campus it is a warzone ruled by cyclists who are guaranteed to disobey each and every traffic law, preferably all at once.

Ahem. I may have opinions after 6 years of grad school.

 

[roxymama]

ATTQOTD: I once had a coyote run out of a yard at me which was a shock being in an urban area. It eventually got scared of me when I turned to look at it and bolted, but I can add "being chased by a coyote" for a few seconds to my resume. When I got home two blocks later my husband said I looked whiter than normal.

I also had an angry dog run out of a house and try to jump on me, but the guy talking to the person in the house ran and jumped on the dog. That wasn't my favorite.

Edited: I totally misread the question!!! Odd thing I had to do...there was one day I really really wanted an iced coffee so I chose my route to end at a starbucks and walked home. Only thing was I misjudged and so ran the driveway in front of the starbucks multiple times to get to my exact mileage. Is that a better answer?