scenario:someone steps on your shoe in your race

Kick it off.

I would probably regret the decision but unless I was absolutely carrying bricks and hating every second of it I wouldn't stop to put it back on, and I'd be too pissed to just do nothing.

Drive by shooting later on.

It depends on the kind of race and the laps remaining,I mean 800m with 150m to go, no point really, but a 10k with 20 laps to go, probably.

This happened to me in my state 1600 meter race senior year. Someone stepped on the back of my shoe and it was 3/4th on, 1/4th off. I tried to kick it off but it wouldnt come off. So I decided to run with it how it was. After about 100 meters it went back on my foot perfectly.

Ask Matsumiya in the Beijing Olympics. Poor guy.

There was an incident where a guy's spikes tore apart the shoe (and foot) of one of Rojo's runners at the starting line of an 800m. Dude was a badass but couldn't finish the race.

I think it depends on the distance. Longer distance race? Fix the shoe. Shorter distance or very few laps remaining? Kick it off. Fingers too cold to fix it? Kick it off.

I remember when Rupp did that. Everyone was like whoa.

Two biggies:

1976 Olympic Trials 10,000 meter final. Bjorklund's spike comes off. I don't recall how deep into the race, but I think less than 6 laps left. Ran one on and one off, kicked down BR, made the team.

1992 Olympics Marathon. Hiromi Tanaguchi got his heel stepped on and lost a shoes at the water table. Went back for it for obvious reasons. although he was a 2;07 guy and 1991 WC, he couldn't get back into it. I think he finished in the top ten, however.

Wrote Blaine Newnham in The Register-Guard:

As he started his drive to make the team, the East Grandstand echoed `BJ, BJ, BJ.' They were calling for their man - the guy with one shoe on and one shoe off - to overhaul Bill Rodgers. They probably remembered that he had his left foot operated on in 1972 and missed the Trials, the same foot which lost its shoe with three miles to go in the race, that he's given up six years of his life to make the Olympic team, that he's moved from Minnesota to Baton Rouge, La., to Boulder, Colo., to prepare himself for this one chance.

How would you like to run three miles with Shorter, Rodgers and Virgin on a 4:30 pace? Everything's going to plan in this, your big chance, and you lose your shoe. Garry slid his bare foot along the sand brown Urethane of Hayward Field. He tried not to think about it.

At the bell, Bjorklund was 25 yards behind Rodgers; he pulled even and passed Rodgers with 50 yards remaining, running 28 minutes, 3.74 seconds to claim third by less than a second. "To be honest with you, the thing that got me there, the thing that kept me going, was the people in those stands," Bjorklund said. "They were chanting `BJ, BJ,' and I could feel it pulsating through me. You don't even know you have feet at that point."

Before big/crowded races, run a wrap of tape around the heel and instep. Problem solved.

I thought Bjorklund lost his shoe around the midway point.At NCAA, Leigh Daniel stopped to put her shoe back on and still won. I think it was not a very fast race, she fixed the shoe early and worked her way back to the lead pack. Finally caught up with a few laps left.From wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_Daniel

Daniel's victory in the 1999 NCAA outdoor 10000 metres immediately took on legendary status among track and field observers, as one of her shoes came off during the race and she had to stop to put it back on, thus ceding an estimated 120 metres to her opponents.

1993 WC, Geb steps on Tanui's heel and causes Tanui to lose his shoe with 1 lap to go. Tanui then started his kick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE7o6gnP98g

Bekele lost his shoe during the 2008 world xc in Edinburgh and stopped to put it back on then ended up winning.

stuck with match.com wrote:

1993 WC, Geb steps on Tanui's heel and causes Tanui to lose his shoe with 1 lap to go. Tanui then started his kick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE7o6gnP98g

I never heard of that race - excellent call, stuck. Wow.

It depends on witch shoe got stepped on.

I lost a shoe 1k into an 8k national xc race. There was no way I could go back and get it. A guy in front of me also lost a shoe about the same time. He stopped, took the other one off and ended up getting 3rd.

2004 Hartford Public High School Invitational - 2 mile. Gavin Coombs lost his shoe 20 meters into the race. He attempted to run the race and covered the first mile in 4:25 before dropping out a lap later. Pretty impressive stuff to run 2000m at 4:25 pace without a shoe.

http://www.mensracing.com/photos/2004/hphsinvite04/hphsinvite30.jpg

http://www.mensracing.com/photos/2004/hphsinvite04/index02.html

About the race

This race had a lot of high schools studs,

Ahmed Haji - 2 time XC New England Champion, ran for providence

Gavin Coombs - Multiple New England Track Champion, ran for NC state.

Victor Gras - 4:04 Mile as a Junior

Chris Barnicle - 2nd in the 2 mile National meet, impressive result at Peyton Jordan this year.