I watched the NYC marathon and noticed a couple people who had taken a crap in their running shorts. I am wondering how this possibly happens. Will someone explain if this sort of thing just happens without knowing or if the people decide to just let it go for time's sake? I'm average runner and think that I would just pull over. Since this is ananomous, I thought someone might explain without embarrasment.
Oh boy. Another thread about crap.
Here we go again...
Sometime the urge hits hard. Maybe they were looking for a good spot to pull over for a pit stop, and then kaboom!
Actually, I've heard it's the result of not enough water. If you're not sufficiently hydrated, your digestive system has a hard time digesting and absorbing food. So those power bars and gels just sort of slosh around down there, causing loose bowels.
I haven't run a marathon, but it seems silly to me to stop during a race. I have stopped during a race because I needed to crap.
I have continued to run whilst crapping several times - a couple of times it was just kaboom (I was close to home and thought I could hold it!)
Once it was a threshold run and it didn't want to disrupt a decent run, so I continued to run, knowing I would crap
Most runs I'll stop if I need to - this happens to me quite a lot on runs of 90 minutes or so. I figure a 2x45 minutes with 1 minute recovery is pretty close to 90 minutes. But if I was taking the marathon seriously 1 minute is a long time, and sometimes I feel a little uncomfortable afterwards.
In conclusion, people should probably pull out, and if you often get this problem, maybe you should limit yourself to shorter races.
Will Sheldon wrote:
I haven't run a marathon
Valuable input for someone who asks about....
Bowel movements during marathon
I'm about to run my first (Memphis) in 3 weeks--do they usually have porta potties along the side of the race? I'd hate to crap in my pants...
anan wrote: I am wondering how this possibly happens..
Hopefully they follow the good policy of never doing anything on race day you didn't practice beforehand.
I once heard Rod Dehaven speak at a banquet. He said he took two dumps during the Olympic Marathon.
During one marathon I stopped to take a dump. I went in the port-a-john and it took about one minute. I ended up running what was then a pr (2:36). I think the one minute loss was well worth it. Unless you're going for the win or an Olympic medal, just pull over for God's sake!
Haven't run Memphis, but they'll probably have them every 2-3 miles. If not you can always run by Graceland and ask to use the King's crapper!
girlathoner wrote:
I'm about to run my first (Memphis) in 3 weeks--do they usually have porta potties along the side of the race? I'd hate to crap in my pants...
Isn't that where he died??
There is a big difference between getting the runs during a run, and DECIDING you have to poo.
I got the runs during my last marathon, stopped at every port-a-pot, dehydrated myself, and finished with a horrible time. (But I did finish without poo on my legs.)
Don't make my mistake, do not eat something new, or something you haven't tested before a race. I know this is common advice, but I did not heed it. I ate a SoyJoy before the Nashville marathon and paid the price for 26 miles.
Will Sheldon wrote:
I haven't run a marathon, but it seems silly to me to stop during a race. I have stopped during a race because I needed to crap.
I have continued to run whilst crapping several times - a couple of times it was just kaboom (I was close to home and thought I could hold it!)
Once it was a threshold run and it didn't want to disrupt a decent run, so I continued to run, knowing I would crap
Most runs I'll stop if I need to - this happens to me quite a lot on runs of 90 minutes or so. I figure a 2x45 minutes with 1 minute recovery is pretty close to 90 minutes. But if I was taking the marathon seriously 1 minute is a long time, and sometimes I feel a little uncomfortable afterwards.
In conclusion, people should probably pull out, and if you often get this problem, maybe you should limit yourself to shorter races.
Gross!
Sargeant Carter wrote:
Isn't that where he died??
True, a lot of bad shit happened in there.
I was at the Hanson Brooks party after the Olympic trials and and was told that one of the Hanson Brooks runners had to drop out of the race because there were no porta potties along the race course and he had to go.. what a bummer!
You're welcome.
Like the music
Unless you're going for the win or an Olympic medal, just pull over for God's sake!
This is sensible. Very much so.