What running stories do you tell over and over?
How did I get into running?
During my postdoc years, I used to ride my bicycle ~4 miles to work. One day, both of my bike's tires were flat. Since I did not feel like changing the tires, and I was already wearing my athletic clothes, I decided to run the four miles to work. After a few runs, I started adding more distance to my morning runs going from 4 miles to about 7 miles. One of my coworkers took notice that I was running to work and asked if I was training for something. Although I told her that I was not training for anything, she mentioned that if I ran X number of races and joined New York Road Runners (NYRR), I could run NYC Marathon in the following year. Also, she mentioned that racing was a great way to monitor my progress. The funny thing: at that point, I had lived in NYC for about nine years, without having any idea that NYRR (or any other organizations) hosted weekly races.
The one time I missed my half marathon goal by four minutes.
Ok, so a lot of people miss their running goals by a few minutes, but this one was for a dumb reason. For a NYC Half Marathon (I think 2013), I set a goal to run a 1:45 half. For this course, half marathoners did a full loop in Central Park, ran through Times Square, then down West Side Highway to Battery Park. Before the race, I had the feeling that I needed to poop, but I just thought that it was pre race jitters. Plus, I really wasn't in the mood to poop in a porta potty. However during the Central Park portion of the half marathon, I told myself that I better poop before leaving Central bc I would not know when I would see another porta potty. Unfortunately, I waited in line for about 4-5 minutes, and I don't remember how much time my poop took. Since I knew that I wasn't going to make my time goal, I decided to take it a bit easier during the race, which meant taking selfies in Times Square. Hey, Times Square is closed to automobile traffic only two times a year: 1. New Year's Eve and 2. NYC Half Marathon. I guess that I made up some time while running (or my poop break wasn't as long as I thought), because I finished a lot closer to 1:45 (I think it was like 1:49) than I had anticipated.
Sometimes, I wonder that if pushed myself harder after taking my poop during the race and skipped taking photos and selfies, maybe I would have met my goal of 1:45. Hence my McKayla Maroney "face" from above.
Random thought while looking for pics from this half marathon: I remember thinking that I was so chubby back then. Now, I would "kill" to be this size again.
Crapping on myself
A few years back, there was a trend of taking ice baths after running (or any intense workout). I think folks still do this because I still see a couple of videos/reels on social media. Peer pressure got the best of me, so I figured why not. While sitting in the my bathtub full of ice water (after a 15- or 18-mile run), I took a fart...no biggie right? Next thing I know, the water in the tub starting to turn brown. The funny thing: During those days, I would treat myself to a Slurpee after my long runs. So I guess the only thing that my body processed before my ice bath was water, gatorade, Gu, and the Slurpee. So my shit water had a "pleasant" smell of Sour Patch Kids (the flavor of my large Slurpee).
Since then, the smell of Sour Patch kids always reminds me of that incident. Also, I never took an ice bath after that incident.
Running NYRR's New Year’s Eave (NYE Run for the first time
Like I mentioned above, NYRR has a program where if you run nine races and volunteer for one, you can gain a spot in the upcoming year's NYC Marathon. For whatever reason, I struggled to fit in all nine of my races in a calendar year. I have a feeling that I might have been injured or maybe a lot of NYRR races conflicted with my weekend teaching schedule. So the NYE Run (4 miles) is the last race of the season where you can meet the nine-race requirement. It just so happened that my 1st year running this race was one of the COLDEST winters that I experienced in NYC as a runner. I think the temperature was around 13F, but it felt like 7-8F with the wind chill. For the this race, there's sparkling cider at the 2 mile mark. While there was sparkling cider, all of the cider was completely frozen...not that I was planning on stopping to have sparkling cider toast with my fellow runners.
