My coach from high school didn't really have any good sayings during he race but it was just the language he used before hand that made us laugh. It was never a swamp or muddy conditions, it was a Quagmire. We never met anywhere, we always acclammated in a spot, or would reconoiter over by the fence. His one saying on race day though would be "awww you look like you're about to uncork a beauty!"
Here's a nutty guy at 38 to 56 seconds in:
Thief wrote:
At a local high school meet, I enjoyed when the guy with the lap counter yelled, "Run like ya stole something!" Not your average motivational line
similarly, i've heard "run like you're naked!"
we were down at a meet down south and right before the start the race starter said, "assume the position" and then some random redneck screamed, "and that don't mean bend over"...thought that was pretty clever.
After season in 2000 I was running a PA XC race and another guy pulls up on me; so I start to go with him. As I do I look at him and say, "hurts to have an ego, don't it".(oh important detail for latter, I am black)
He looks at me very strange and takes off. I chase this guy the rest of the race forget about him directly after.
The following fall I transfer from junior college to the university level at my first xc party this guy comes up to me; I don't recongize him and he asked if I had run that race and what I said, so I told him. He gets this look of relief and says oh, I thought you said "it hurts to be a negro".
I almost cried laughing...
"Alright Ladies. Looking Good, Running Well Too"
thisonetime wrote:
"hurts to have an ego, don't it".(oh important detail for latter, I am black)
I thought you said "it hurts to be a negro".
I almost cried laughing...
Hahahahahahahaha!!! We have a winner so far.
My father apparently refusing to call me by the first name.
The misinterpretation post above me, the (abbr)"You run, I'll cry" are my votes
My buddy had gained a little weight in the 5+ years since graduating, but still occasionally hopped in a road race and competed. At the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco he went out pretty hard but was gapped pretty early by the top African runners in the field. At about half mile in, the race looked like 5 Africans in the front, my friend 20 seconds or so back, and then nobody (everyone else was just there to party I guess).
As the Africans run by there's a guy on the side yelling, "Go Kenyan!" "Go African!", etc.
When my friend ran by he looked up and yelled, "Go...lumbering white guy."
I think that was the day my friend quit racing.
Mlb commentator for yankees v. Mariners circa 1994:
Mike Blowers has problems with it and won't be able to make the play.
Winter 2007, Lehigh, high school indoor track: "BE THE HYPOTENUSE!!"
When my friend ran by he looked up and yelled, "Go...lumbering white guy."
In high school in the early '70s, we ran a meet every year at Texas Southern University, an all-black colllege in Houston. The teams were from predominately black schools and the crowd was raucus and REALLY into the meet. So, we are running the 2-mile relay and I'm second leg. Our leadoff took a fall and brought it to me in last, but only a couple of yards off the pace. I got all hyped and chased them down in the first 200, then hung on and kicked in to the lead by the end. I'm not sure where it came from, a six second PR for 880, but I remember as I was sprinting down the final straight hearing a lady in the stands scream above the crowd, "Look at that lil' white boy run!" It may be my proudest moment in running.
The women's coach at a rival college runs around the course telling her runners to "Hurt some feelings!!"
I personally never heard him do it, but when I was coaching in the late 1970s there was a coach at another DI school who was renowned for telling--loudly--a lagging xc runner, "If you can't run faster than that GET OFF THE COURSE!" The coach was deadly serious and other spectators didn't comment at the time, but they practically pissed themselves when retelling the story.
And one time I had an athlete in the late stages of a track 10,000 who was being inexorably cut down by another runner. My guy was on the other side of the track when his opponent caught up and went to pass him, and I was yelling vigorously, "Hold him off, Howie!" And when that didn't work, "Check out and go with him!" And, when it looked like that wasn't going to work either, under my breath I added, "Spit on him!"
Except I guess it really wasn't under my breath enough, because half of the students who were in the stands with me gave me that "did he really say that" look, and the other half (who knew me better) were laughing themselves silly.
Not An Expert wrote:
In the last third or quarter of a race I have always responded well to having people yell "Don't be a f***ing pussy!" at me. My coach in undergrad, being a decent human being, couldn't bring himself to do this. Our girls' team, however, loved yelling it. If they raced first they would be doing their warmup, and if they raced second they would be doing their warmdown, so regardless they were all together along the course. Thus, any time I ran past time our ladies' team in the second half of my college cross races, I would have 6-12 intelligent, enlightened, liberal, empowered 18- to 22-year-old women screaming "Don't be a f***ing pussy!" at me. It got me pretty motivated.
this wins
Wheating fanatic wrote:
I was cheering on a fast junior high girl from my running club with my dad and her dad in the 3200. After 2 laps, she took the lead over a black girl who had blitzed the first lap. After they went by, her dad explained to us in all seriousness that black people are great at the sprints, but are not mean for distance running. This was in the late 90s, so African runners already dominated. He ran road races regularly and genuinely believed he was quite knowledgeable on the sport.
Black people are better at sprints, east Africans are good at long distance. Are you stupid?
Although this is the exact opposite of what the original poster asked for, the most memorable thing ever said to me while racing was at NCAA cross. I was our 5th man, and the team was in contention to be in the top 5. I was somewhere around mile 5 when I run past the grad assistant and he says to me, "Everyone else is running great, we're doing great, and you're blowing it for all of them. Stop being such a [exptletive]."
Some years later, well after I'm done competing, I decided to jump into a marathon without really doing any marathon training, as such. I was staying with a former teammate who was a reasonably accomplished marathoner (2:21) and who was coaching a group of local joggers that were also running in the race. So he's out on the course at various points. He sees me around 2 miles and I'm out too hard. "Slow down," he says. He sees me again at around 5 or 6 and I am with the same group, not having slowed down at all. He looks at me, doesn't say anything, appears to chuckle, and then just shakes his head. The silene was deafening. Not my best day.
hmmmmmm wrote:
My high school coach used to yell "Quick Hands" to us. We used to laugh our asses of at him afterward. What a dumbass.
iamnotconvinced wrote:
You are an idiot for laughing at him. Do you have any idea what he meant? It's good advice. Many great coaches say this to their athletes. My high school coach said it to me, and it reminded me of what I needed to do. Thanks to his advice, I was top 10 in state and ran under 16 on a tough course.
Methinks you missed the, um, sexual connotation referenced by those words. Or maybe you do understand it and you are claiming that your self-pleasuring helped you to be a better runner. Reminded you of what you needed to do, huh? Of course if that was true, half (more?) of letsrun posters would be chasing world records!
"you're gonna beat somebody!!!!"
During a marathon last month, at mile 5 a spectator was yelling, "You are almost halfway to the halfway point." At mile 5, things are still amusing so it made me laugh.