What is the worst insult anyone gave you about your running ability and how did you respond?

MORAN

"Jakob called me 'the next guy' - so I responded by beating him".

Signed: Josh and Jake.

A guy on my team said the ONLY reason I was any good was because I trained.

I started running track in 7th grade. For my first track meet, my coach put me in the JV Girls 1600m. As I was preparing for the race, my teammates asked me what my goal was. I told them with confidence that my goal was to run 5:30. All but one of the group laughed at me, a lot.
I ended up run 5:56 for that race and proceeded to claim all of the school distance records within the next year (I also really did break 5:30). My teammates stopped wanting to race me. I also competed for five years collegiately.
I loved running track and I really think that brief experience sparked something.

I was a junior in HS, running near the front of the lead pack in our 1982 HS league meet at Garret Mtn, NJ. Around the 1.5 mile point, a friend of mine from a rival school and the race favorite, looked around and saw me running next to him, looked at me with this frown like WTF was I doing there, and immediately turned it up a notch to pull away from myself and the rest of the pack as we entered the hills. He ended up cruising to a 10 second win in 16:12. I ended up 5th (16:33). He never spoke to me since. He went on to take 7th at NJ Meet of Champions at Holmdel that year in 16:01 (got 1st team all-state honors). I went home devastated in the Group 4 race - missed qualifying for the championships by 14 seconds (ran 17:00) : (

I said, "I'm faster than The Flash."

Insulter said, "No you're not."

I said, "Uh huh!"

Insulter walked away defeated.

I ran my one and only steeplechase in college. I never practiced the water jump prior to the race. Needless to say I should have since I slipped and fell in on every single lap. Yes on a few I face planted. After finishing the race in a surprising second place, my coach came up to me, put his arm around my shoulder, and declared "we found your race!"

BTW - I never ran the steeplechase after that race.

Another made up idiotic post.

You ran like a dry creek.

You were passing rocks and trees like they were standing still.

While waiting for the marathon to start I got to talking to a guy and we were talking about our hopes for the day.

I told him I was going to try for a BQ and he asked what my previous PB was? I told him and he said very dismissively "there's no way your shaving that much time off"

I copped a resentment. I bq'ued.

The day before Boston my family and I were sitting in a park and I look up and who do I see sitting across from us? That guy.

I couldn't resist and I walked up and said hello and he said "who are you?"

"I'm the guy from the NCR marathon who you said I'd never shave that much time to BQ"

He thought for a second then gave a smile and shook my hand and said "Congrats"

🤣

People on here asked if I was a girl as my 10 pb is 69 minutes but I've trained hard since September and I'm shooting for 66/67 soon

A well known coach who’s occasionally ridiculed on these boards for being rather shady and who I used to run for once told me I wasn’t motivated enough because I couldn’t stay healthy trying to hit his prescribed 120 mile weeks. I responded by getting healthy enough to hammer everyday for about 80 mpw. I then fractured my femur doing so, in his mind proving his point.

Still mad about it. Probably should’ve told him to go F himself but I was starstruck at the time that he even let me into his group in the first place.

At a track meet my senior year of high school, the sprint coach sat next to me and said, “Why do you keep running, you’ll never be any good at it.” That was in 1977. I am still running, ran in college, have run 50+ marathons, and place high regionally in my age group to this day. And I keep running because I enjoy it very much.

Guy on our team speaking about a new JV girl who was rather ungainly -

"She looks like a giraffe being born."

* People who look like you don't run cross-country. Insulting.

* You look like a sprinter. I would rather look like a sprinter than a Marathoner.

* Are you a professional boxer? That is better than looking like a runner.

* You look like you're on steroids. THAT WAS INSULTING.

Ex girlfriend who was abusive told me once when she was pissed off "You'll never run a 15 minute 5K". I had run 16:21 a year before and was running 90-120 miles a week, 18.9 BMI and could run 25 seconds for 200m so I had the speed. It was the worst because it came from someone who was said they loved me. 4 years later I couldn't even break 18 minutes because of that toxic rs despite training harder, mental health was in bits. This year 2024 2 years single and I'm running back in 16 minutes, no cortisol running through my veins and I'm gonna do it but not for her, for me.

At the gym there was a runner doing a fast tempo at 5 minute miles, wearing his club singlet. After he stepped off I got talking to him, he was a 14 guy, I suggested he come along to the parkrun on Saturday mentioning he could easily run first and he said in the a digusted tone of voice "I'm not interested in running 16 mins".

Please name and shame 😂😂😂