A few years ago at a local 5K/10K sponsored by a college group on campus. After the race started, I ran over a couple of blocks to watch the runners come by. This would have been around 0.6-0.8 of a mile into the race. Standing on the corner was a college student volunteer with the required stopwatch around her neck reading splits as she was directed to do. However, she was actually standing at the 6 mile mark for the 10K. She was probably instructed to read the splits as the runners came through, not realizing that the splits wouldn't make any sense to the runners until the second time they came by her.
So here she is reading her splits: "2:57, 2:58, 2:59, 3 minutes, 3:01, etc." as the runners come by. The runners, thinking that they were coming to the mile mark, started clicking their watches, looking at each with confused looks, and generally figuring the course was wrong.
I kindly leaned over to her and told her that the splits she was reading would be meaningless to the runners because the mile mark was further up the road. (This race did not have kilometer marks.) Rather than stop reading the splits, she continued but added a disclaimer... "3:15, 3:16, but this doesn't mean anything, 3:19, 3:20..." Now the runners reactions switch to wondering why she is reading splits if she is not at any particular marker along the race. Sensing it might involve a long explanation to straighten her out, I walked away laughing.