The best and ridiculous complements/remarks you recieved before and after a race

I was in the regional race where the top 4 advance to states (3200 meters) and I was in fifth and my teammate was in 4th when his dad starts screaming to him "you're going too fast!!! you won't be able to hold this pace! be patient!" this of course being the end of the 5th lap entering the 6th lap..he dropped back..and I finished 4th....thanks....I guess......

In 2002, I got outkicked by a little high school kid (I was happy for him, very tough little fellow) in a 10km in Japan. He was 1st, I was 2nd. I mis-timed my kick and was toast with 50 meters to go.

My girlfriend at the time went to the race with me and the first thing that comes outta her mouth is "YOU LOST."

That was the last day that she was my girlfriend.

Jason

After a hard 3200m on the track which took everything out of me, I threw up on the track. I tried to hit the grass but that shit just came out.

Then some girl came up to me and said this brilliant phrase, "Are you okay?"

I didn't say anything as I looked at her. God she was so f***in ugly and I just wanted her to go away...Because hell no I wasn't okay...Damn.

During the cross county state championships in my senior year in high school I was in first place with 100 meters to go but another girl passed me in the final strides.

After the race my coach goes to me "don't worry, you'll win next year"

Christy

This didn't actually occur before or after a race, but when I went to the health center my freshman year to get some tests done the doctor gave me a free mental examination too. She said a lot of dumb things, but my favorite was her response to me informing her that I had run 90 miles the week before. "You shouldn't run over 20 miles a week. It's been proven that after 20 you're just creating extra wear and tear on your joints with no added health benefits."

Moral of the story: Women will always try to ruin your career even if their doctors.

As far as coaches saying stupid stuff I used to have a coach who was notorious for it. In the middle of the race he would say stuff like "you have 3-5 minutes of running left" or "your parents came all the way down from (insert home state here), you better pick it up" and of course the legendary "use your spikes."

My college coach was also known for saying some of the most irrelevant things to everyone on the team. You would really have to know him to truly understand how much of a character he was.

During a 3000m steeple, coach yells to me, "Your'e getting tired,...your'e slowing down!" I'm racing and really not paying attention to him but just remember thinking, "no kidding."

Before one of the last interval workouts I did in college my coach described was I was supposed to be doing. "Run the first one fast, the second one is going to be harder so your going to have to run harder, so when you get tired, just try to run faster." I now use this advice in every workout I do, it really helps.

After a steeple race my sophmore year towards the end of the year where I really felt the years worth of training had paid off and I had PR'd by about 20 seconds, absolutley my best race that year where I put everything into the race. First thing my coach tells me after the race, "You think you can run faster? I bet if you run 15 to 20 seconds faster next race you would have yourself a good PR."

After a big cross country race where I had ran pretty well and was one of the two guys who had run well that day for my team. I remember looking around at my team and seeing everyone beaten up, exhausted, sick, muddy, wet - from the rain. No real good moods going around because of everyone's performances and the conditions. My coach comes up to me and says, "So, where do you want to eat?"

This list goes on and on...

Charlie- if you see this, could you shoot me an email? I have a KC running question for you.

When I was a senior in HS, I won my league XC meet by exactly a minute. The coach of the 2nd place runner, who was regarded as a guru in coaching circles, came up to me shortly after the finish and mentioned that he'd heard I was jogging 2-3 morning miles a few days a week, that it was a bad idea and I should stop doing that. I really didn't know what to say.

when I was running in middle and high school it took my mom a couple of years to learn that I ran cross country and track, not one year long sport known as "cross country track." I was proud of her when she learned the difference.

I was getting beat pretty bad at the '97 PA State XC meet, the only time I ever made it there. Going into the last half mile, most of the spectators had headed for the finish line. So I had no problem hearing my mom tell me that she couldn't find a meet shirt for me, to which she proudly added that she she got me a hat instead. That was a couple of steps back in her understanding of the sport.

Forgot to include my email the first time-- again, if you see this Charlie, send me an email if you can. Thanks!

My senior year in HS, we had a relay team trying to qualify for the Millrose Games. It was a pretty big deal since our school hadn't sent a team in almost a decade. Needless to say, our coach very much wanted to be coaching and not simply watching the meet at MSG. So just before the race he gets the 4 of us together for a little pep talk. He says something to the effect of, "Okay, my life is pretty shitty at the moment. The Giants are playing terribly, my wife is on my case all the time, my kid is annoying the hell out of me, I was down for the year at the racetrack..." Then he goes to me and the other senior on the team and says, "Okay, for you two this is your last shot, just try not to screw anything up. And for you other guys, once these morons graduate you'll have no shot next year so this is pretty much your last shot too."

Then he just leaves. We all had a great laugh since we all knew that he was seriously trying to "psych us up." We ended up qualifying, probably because we were able to laugh about it and get rid of all the nerves.

"Relax & Remember To Breathe"

Settled me right down!

At 11 miles of a marathon a spectator yells to me "Good job. Way to hustle!" I hadn't heard that word since junior high basketball practice.

Turns out it was a great thing to say because it still brought a smile to my face at 25 miles when nothing else would.

96 or 97 I ran in the 10,000 meters at the Texas Relays. I was trying to run under 32:30 (I know, slow as shit) so that I would have a decent time going into All Army Track Camp. I wound up getting lapped by the winner (Kenyan college runner I think) but still all in all I felt I ran decent for the warm conditions and the fact that I was slower than the speed of smell. I was lapped on the 2nd or 3rd to last lap and tried to hang on to the guy for as long as I could, sending my sorry ass right into oxygen debt. I was dry heaving the last 300 meters, annd upon finishing aroun 32:50ish, I staggered out to lane 5 and barfed on an officials shoes. To which my 10 year old son who was leaning against the bleachers rails responded "ohh...awesome!!"

From junior high to high school my mom only came to one meet. In my senior year of district cross country she showed up and I easily won my race. Right after I got done she was very concerned about watching the girls race so I asked her why. She told me that she wanted to see if I was faster than "everyone" there and she hoped I beat all of the girls.

At a certain college that I transferred from the coach consistenly got so wrapped up in our track workouts that he would leave during them to go pay his bills or run other errands.

Another time at the same school the same coach decided that since our football team was playing in the same town as our meet that we would stay and watch (must to the dismay of the entire team). As we raced and came near the end he yelled, "Hurry up or we'll miss the start of the football game!"

He was quite a dedicated coach, don't know why I ever left that fine institution.

Funny & nice! Hopefully see you in Birmingham, great luck!

'79 July 4th RR, Hamilton, MA: Age 12, small local race some moron in his 30's actually pushed me into a parked car after gun, and said "you shouldn't be here up front." I ran 28:50 for 5th place and the moron finished 6th.

'88 MATSG 10K, Pensacola, FL: 5th place PR time 34:50; 6th place runner a full 200M behind me, as I walked through an empty finish chute, an enormous volunteer yelled: "Keep it moving, let's go, hurry up, keep it moving!" There may have been 200 people in the race, tops.

'98 Tower Trot 10K, Western Springs, IL: After fading a little in mile 5, another runner starts actually telling me, during the race, that I am "starting too fade" and that I probably need to add some interval work to my training...mile 6, I pick it up, finish hard, beat the idiot fairly soundly and he actually follows me into parking lot to repeat in more specific terms the kinds of track workouts I should be doing!

My senior year of college we had a new coach, a guy who ran for the college as a senior when I was a freshman. Well, the guy is pretty much a moron. It was the first indoor meet of the year, and I was running the DMR and 1500. I ran the mile of the DMR and turned in a 5:05, not too bad for the first meet. Well, the dumbasses who planned the meet had the 1500 scheduled for about a half an hour after the DMR. Needless to say, I ran like crap and finished second in a 5:10. (I mean, seriously, I didn't even bother cooling down after the DMR, just started warming up again) The head "coach" came up to me after the race and said, "we really need to get you under 5 in the 1500." I responded with something like, "Do you think maybe my time might have been affected by the race I ran before the 1500?" What a dumbass. After I ran a 4:42 a few meets later, I went up to him and asked him if 4:42 was good enough for him, or if I should be running under 4:20.

best so far is "remember to breathe," "use your spikes," and "hustle."

what a fag..