What is the most BS running story/claim you have ever heard?

Always loved the Marty Glickman story.

It is claimed that Glickman and Sam Stoller, both Jewish, were replaced on the 4 × 100 m relay team at the OG on Berlin in 1936 by Ralph Metcalfe and Jesse Owens primarily to avoid embarrassing Adolf Hitler, the Chancellor of Germany.

First off, Glickman and Stoller finished 4th and 6th in the 100 meters at the Trials while Metcalfe and Owens, both black, were 2nd and first at both the trials and in the Games themselves. Why would America keep their top two runners off the relay and instead use their 4th and 6th best?

Second, why would a racist like Hitler prefer a near definite defeat to a team led by two black sprinters to a more favorable results against a slower team that did not feature two black sprinters.

This story makes no sense at any level yet has been repeated endlessly without question.

Go watch that flotrack video "Greatest race/workout combo of your life".

LBXC wrote:

In the '80s, a middle-aged woman came into the running store I worked at and was looking at the shoes on the wall, so I went up and started a conversation--what kind of running do you do, etc.--and she came out with: "Well, I just ran a four-minute mile." The owner, a 2:25 marathoner who ran 100+ mile weeks and really hated people's BS running claims, overhead this and couldn't contain himself. In a voice overflowing with blatantly feigned amazement, he said, "Do you realize that you have the world record by more than 15 seconds?!" A very uncomfortable long pause followed, and then she said in a meek little voice, "It's two times around the ring at the high school, isn't it?

The owner sounds like a prick. I completely understand the animosity toward people who knowingly make false claims about their performances. The guy the OP is talking about obviously knows enough about running that his lies are intentional.

But the lady you're talking about sounds like a beginner/non-serious runner who just didn't know what a good time is and legitimately made a mistake, and your boss decided to make her feel like an ass for knowing less about running in circles than him.

Every time I compete in a big road race, I always have these old slow guys come up to me afterward congratulating me or chatting me up just b/c I'm moderately fast.....Then they get into how they did this race 30 years ago and ran some crazy unbelievable time. Maybe true, maybe BS, but why do I care? All these old guys living in the glory days and coming up to me to humbly brag.

In high school we had a kid move in to the school. This was the mid 70's.

We heard he was Ohio State 2 mile champion. We were pumped, we had a decent team and this was gonna put us over the top.

He lasted one day and couldn't run. He couldn't break 14:00 for 2 miles.

I heard about this third-tier Los Angeles lawyer who claimed he was running across America. Turns out his mountain biked a Walmart Mongoose a total of 50 miles over several weeks, and rode in an RV the rest of the way.

That was a cool story.

Maybe in those days the 4th, 5th and 6th place runners competed in the relays. For example in 1932 Eddie Tolan and Ralph Metcalfe went 1 and 2 but were not in the Olympic 4x1 which was won by Kiessel, Toppin, Dyer, and Wycoff. 1928 wycoff, Quinn, Borah, Russell won the 4x100 while runners McAllister and Bracey competed in the open 100 (Quinn and Borah did not).

No doubt a bitter Glickman exaggerated (not necessarily in this case) but learn your facts about the history of this sport.

Kid could not break 5:00 in high school and then he joined the military where they ran a mile for time. He ran 3:59. I just said "wow that is amazing!!"

When I first started teaching my mentor, a former great track coach, and I were talking to a colleague who told us he finished 4th in the 400 in the 1968 Olympic trials. A year later he told us he won the Cow Harbor Road Race in Northport LI.

TheRealCici wrote:

Every time I compete in a big road race, I always have these old slow guys come up to me afterward congratulating me or chatting me up just b/c I'm moderately fast.....Then they get into how they did this race 30 years ago and ran some crazy unbelievable time. Maybe true, maybe BS, but why do I care? All these old guys living in the glory days and coming up to me to humbly brag.

Yeah, I see that a lot. If I do a local 5K road race I can win it while only running a 17 or 18 minute time (for a mid to large sized city times around here are really weak) so I do ones with good prizes, like tablets or $250 running store gift cards. After every race these old dudes come up and tell me about how they were D1-bound before they did something to their leg (usually knee) and about how if I keep working I'm on my way to studliness, etc.

Why would the 4th place 100 guy NOT be put on the 4x100?

The drugs don't work on Kenyans born at elevation.

I actually think there's a large number of people who think they have run quick times for a certain distance only for them to not know the course was estimated or at least not measured properly. Not their fault, they're ignorant and think they really ran what they did.

Not one story, but the people who try to excuse a failed BQ attempt or a slow time on a long course crack me up. "I swear, my Garmin says I ran 26.8 miles!"

Apparently, every marathon course in America is too long.

When I was in high school, age 14, I dated this guy from another school who ran cross country. He told me how his coach would make them run 60 second 400 meter repeats and other completely outlandish workouts. I don't remember the details, but he would have been a contender for a world record or something. Then our schools had a cross country meet together, and he ran the 5K in about 26 minutes. It bothered me that he was slow, but it bothered me even more that he felt the need to lie about it so ridiculously. I broke up with him.

My doping is Jesus.

I am crystal clear.

I'm clean.

_____ is/was clean.

I didn't dope.

I didn't hear the doorbell.

Every excuse for a positive test.

My athlete's improvement is due to doing more push-ups.

Jama only holds the stopwatch for me in workouts.

I'm training in Font Romeau right now (not Sabadell).

None of my athletes are doping.

Kenyan dominance is entirely due to genetics, altitude, lifestyle, and training.

You can win gold clean.

Performance enhancing drugs don't work.

This kid at my HS runs the mile in 3:40.

Low carb diets work.

I was running 4 minute miles in HS without training for it.

Stretching reduces injury risk.

You don't need to run farther in training than you run in a race.

4 miles per day is enough training for good performance.

Mileage is the most accurate gauge of training.

Everything Jerry Lindgren says about running.

Pre Lives!

Jim Ryun could run 3:24 for 1500m under optimal conditions and on a modern track surface.

All of Ventolin/Calculo's athlete potential calculations.

Mike Rossi ran 3:11.

Robert Young running across the country.

High/low mileage is best.

A universal "good form" exists.

Stability shoes and orthotics are good for some runners.

More cushioning is better.

High heel to toe drop is fine.

Over-pronation is a problem.

180 steps per minute is optimal for all runners at all paces

And many more.

NCAA track coach1234 wrote:

I'm a collegiate coach at a pretty good mid-major.

I once had a guy come to me about walking on. I asked him what his beat marks were in high school (I can look This up myself, but I like to see if someone will lie to me, make excuses or if they even live in reality). He told me he once ran 1:23 for 800m. I asked him if he meant 1:23 for 600m. He looked me in the eye and said, "No, for 800m." I asked him if he meant 1:53 or 2:03. He said, "No, 1:23 for 800m." I asked, "Two laps around a track?" He looked at me like I was crazy. "Yea!" was his reply.

I rolled me eyes a bit (unintentially) and told him that we weren't allowing any walk-ons for the upcoming year.

You should offered him a spot if he could time-trial a 1:43. That would still be a solid walk-on time.

A woman I worked for in NJ claimed she ran a marathon in, I think, Bermuda, and ran 3:07. Impressive, as she was in her early 40's and from what she'd said in the past was indeed a runner but didn't sound like she ran that much. I asked her race details, workouts, etc., splits in the race.....everything, and she could barely answer a question. But, she was quite firm in that she ran a MARATHON.

Two years later, just for the hell of it, I did a little online research....she had completed a 3:07 HALF MARATHON.

That's pretty high up there on the B.S. level.

Ha you crack me up.😂😂😂😂😂😂⬆But I take offense to the "cushioning," I'm an old hobby jogger, my joints are gone-burger.