Tell a story about how you dropped the hammer on a bunch of fools when they counted you out

This actually did happen to me twice, once in high school and once in my early 30s.

In high school, I was running a 2-mile against a team that had 3 of the top 5 guys in the state in the event. About a mile and quarter in, the pace was moderate and I was still with them but I realized if I just waited until the last quarter, I'd be destroyed.

This was a 16-lap race (on an indoor-sized track set up outdoors...don't ask), and with five laps to go I suddenly took off at a near sprint. Nobody did anything, even though I was amassing a huge lead. Pretty soon the other team's coach was screaming at the guys, telling them I wasn't kidding (these guys were good runners but not particularly smart). Finally they picked things up and they did cut into my lead, but it was definitely too little too late and I was still well ahead at the finish. I had absolutely no business beating these guys, but I did.

The other was a five-mile race with a field of 1200. I was probably the sixth or seventh best runner in it. About a mile and half in, I was in a pack of six, running some distance behind the leader. I realized no one else had any plans to do anything for awhile. I began moving out of the pack. No one responded. I caught the leader; he didn't do much of anything either. Soon enough I was way ahead - seriously, about 20 seconds. Somewhere around four miles they started getting closer, but I still finished first. Again, this was a race I should never have won.

Last year I was thinking of running a race against a big rival who happened to be the national record holder. I wasn't feeling so hot and so I warmed up and then DROPPED THE HAMMER by not toeing the line for the race. The ploy worked perfectly and the dude totally lost his mind. his wheels completely flew off in the middle of the race, he lost contact with the leaders and tumbled into the infield like a scared child fleeing the from Space Mountain at the last exit before the ride started. He ended up pulling his hammy in the process and never seemed to be the same runner after that -- especially after I shattered his record.

I can tell two stories, as I was blessed with a decent kick.

Senior year of high school, I ran in an indoor meet that was used in prep for the NCAA meet. Same facility, same track, same timing system, etc. The idea was to work out all the kinks on a bunch of high schoolers. Everyone in the area turned out, and I raced 125493 guys in one of four mile heats. I was new to the area, and hadn't run in the state XC meet, due to being disqualified, so I was really an unknown to all of the major players. We went through the first 800 in a pretty slow 2:18. With 4 laps to go, I moved toward the front, and my coach urged me to take over and push the pace. I dropped a 66 3rd 400m and took about a half-dozen guys with me. One of my local rivals who'd been stalking me blew by me with 350 to go, and on approaching the bell, was clearly charging for what he thought was the finish (with the prior year's 3200m state champ on his heels). I dropped the hammer on them all with 200 to go, closing with a 31 second final 200m, winning by nearly 40 meters.

That next indoor season, coming off of a reasonable fall XC campaign, I found myself in an indoor 3k on my home track. I had no idea what to expect, as I'd mostly raced 1600/800/4x4 my last couple of years of high school. We went through 1500m in a relatively modest split, and I was trailing two older guys (one was an XC all-american) from a good nearby team. The plan was when my coach gave me a signal, I was going to surge for home with all I had left, with a long, steady drive. Just after 3 laps to go, I came around the first turn onto the backstraight, and my coach (an older, semi-senile chap) was jumping up and down, and flailing a towel over his head. I swung wide and dropped the hammer, gapping them by 5 meters immediately, and eventually winning by 50 meters.

Yeah! Too many stories of dropping the hammer in the last 200m or so, so . . .

Couple years back I was running a 10k for the first time. It was actually a 10,000m / 10k hybrid, being a track meet, but using the roads as well so that other events could be done while the 10,000 was going on.

Anyway, I live on the loop that we were using for the race and run it all the time in training, often running to the track which is exactly halfway on the 4k loop from my house(we did two laps and the remaining 2k were on the track). Now, the 4k loop is a real challenge, with a very steep hill (this is where I do my short hill sprints) right next to the track and not quite as steep hill right by my house. We were running so that the steeper hill was down and the less steep, but longer hill, was up.

I had gotten used to running the steep hill both up and down, and could fly down that thing like a bat out of hell. And that was the plan.

I'm a little older than most of the guys I'm running against and didn't know what they had, if anything. We did 5 laps on the track before hitting the roads and all I wanted was to be in the lead when we left the track. We all started off quite slow and I let others lead for 4 laps and then went up to the front for the last half of the 5th lap.

We left the ground and were only 80m from the downhill. I heard someone cheering for the poor soul behind me tell him to just keep with me. Oh! If he only knew what he was in for. We hit the hill and it was Hammer Time! I dropped it and never looked back.

Of course, since I literally never looked back, the second time when I came to the downhill I flew down it again, and I know that none of the chumps could do anything remotely close. As you might imagine, running on the roads I'd have plenty of good chances to look and see if anyone was within striking distance, but I felt that was weak.

I kept the hammer down until I crossed the line and only then did I look back . . . and back, and back, and back. And waited, and waited, and waited. I won by over 5 minutes.

I DROPPED THE HAMMER on my buddy's girl last night.

A couple years ago I ran my first race, a local trail race. Two of my more athletic friends were arguing with each other nonstop about who was going to win, since they both expected to. I went out at a pace I could maintain, while most everyone else galloped off the starting line. It didn't go well for my friends -- they managed to get into a fight with each other after one accidentally bumped the other or something, and they finished way back. I found myself in good position late when everyone around me was dying, so I DROPPED THE HAMMER and sprinted in, ending up in fifth place. All my studying of race strategy definitely paid off.

2008 Olympic 5000 meters final. I had already won the 10,000 meters so the Kenyans thought I would not be a factor. they were focused on running the kick out of Bernard Lagat. But I took charge from the start and kept ratcheting up the pace. Suckers were dropping like flies. Then at the bell I said "smell you later chumps" and let loose a 53.87 final lap. That's right. I DROPPED THE HAMMER ON THOSE FOOLS!!!

So here's an awkward story when I wasn't allowed to DROP THE HAMMER. I'm running this community 10k literally 15 people entered... One of them being a 14 year old in a wheelchair. So they create a seperate wheelchair division and he starts 5 minutes before anyone else. I am a very mediocre runner (36 for 10k) but no one else in this race is within 5 minutes of me by the time I hit 5 miles. Then I see the wheelchair kid ahead of me just as we pull onto the high school track for the final 300M. I had a moral dillema. Should I DROP THE HAMMER, and fly past the wheelchair kid in front of the crowd or just hold off and let him take the win with a 5 minute head start? I did not DROP THE HAMMER and still won by over 6 minutes.

A serious time when I did DROP THE HAMMER was my sophomore year of college. I was not on the cross or track team but knew a couple guys on the team. The student government put on this midnight 5k for students in early May. The track team came out to support it, and anyone who hadn't qualified for regionals ran in it. There was this really cocky 800M guy who wasn't even that good (1:53) running in it that I had never liked. He hung with me for about 2.5 miles then he went around to pass me. That's when I proceeded to DROP THE HAMMER and beat him by 5 seconds 16:52 to 16:57. Best 7th place finish ever.

High school cross-country - never ran during the summer, was often a threat to win tri meets but could never close the deal. Senior year I actually regressed and muddled through the season, getting my ass kicked by people I easily beat the year before.

Final meet, the sectional championship and state qualifier - a freak snowstorm put down 3-4 inches of snow the day of the race. The course was hilly and entirely through the woods, slick and hazardous. By this last meet I was actually in decent shape, and entertained the idea of shooting for a qualifying spot for states, though no one else really viewed me as a threat.

At the gun I went out with the group of 3 guys who were contending for the win, but soon settled in just off the pace - it was too treacherous even with spikes. I needed top 3 so I tried to stay within striking distance, but a mile in they were out of sight on this winding course.

What to do? I pondered this for a few minutes, I was all alone - everyone either well ahead or behind me. Just as I decided to give it a shot, I turned a corner to go up a steep hill and saw that the 3rd place guy had faltered and was coming back to me - literally: he fell and slid past me all the way to the bottom of the hill, a good thirty yards.

Invigorated, I picked it up and left him behind for good. As time went by I saw no else ahead - at least I had locked up a trip to states - until I came out of the woods with 400 to go: Second place guy was dying, and I picked him off with ease, came up over the final rise and with 200 to go 1st place was about 40 yards ahead. The crowd was roaring, and I DROPPED THE HAMMER, blowing by the leader just 5 feet before the line.

Those top 3 guys had all gone out too hard in horrible conditions, it was the only cross-country race I ever won.

NXN 2009 when Lutz won

I dropped a hammer in the toilet before my race

So a few weeks ago i begged coach to let me run a JV meet as a workout. I won the 200 easily in 23.1. ran the 3200 and sat n kicked to a 10:39. ran the 4x400 and split 52 but the reall hammer dropping came in the open 8. They put me as a NT seed so i was in the slow heat(of the JV meet) i chilled in 7th er so till the bell(68 sec first lap) then i popped into 1st between 400-500 with a 13 sec 200 then relaxed till 150 left and took off to win with a 2:07...2nd place wa a 2:19. I whooped thoses chumps candy a**es

After a great winter of training and focus on faster stuff earlier this year I have recently started racing again. A few weeks ago I ran a local HM which was pretty hilly so no great times expected. The field however was fairly deep and competitive and I decided to run hard from the front and push through the pain at the end. As I have been absent from racing for a while due to injury a few of the guys were surprised to see me at the startline but as usual I was ready and pumped so once the gun went off I surged to the front and took the race out super fast. We went through the first 800m in 1.58 and the first km in 2.23. It was an awesome feeling to just race hard again even though I would normally race a HM a lot smarter than that. Even though I faded slightly at the end it was good to get on peoples radar again and certainly raised one or two eyebrows. Great to be back!

I'm glad you're feeling better, but I'm sorry, your narrative fails to describe the moment when you DROPPED THE HAMMER?

This is silly, but I will tell it anyway. I remember getting outkicked repeatedly senior year by one guy in the mile..he ended up 4th in state, I was 9th. We both ended up up having pretty meager careers in D1 schools, but we met one last time at a summer 5k road race about a year or two later...A group of us former high school rivals got to mile 2 or so and the guy looks down and says, "dude, are you wearing trainers?" I said "Yeah", and immediately gapped him pretty well, and won it with a 16:05 5k in a pair of Nike Air Max ...Haha, its a pretty pathetic end to the rivalry but funny to tell..

My first road race after graduating from college was a 5k with some prize money. I showed up thinking it'd be an easy win (totally new area so I didn't know any of the local runners), but the race announcer kept going on and on about this one local running club before the race. He said they would sweep the top spots, and there was nobody else around who could challenge them. I was like, "Aw HELL naw" and DROPPED THE HAMMER from the gun, going out in 4:40. It turned out that one of them actually was a 13:50 guy so he destroyed me, but I took second. I took pride in crushing the other fools, though. Also I forced the 13:50 guy to run harder than he wanted to.

Hammah wrote:

So a few weeks ago i begged coach to let me run a JV meet as a workout. I won the 200 easily in 23.1. ran the 3200 and sat n kicked to a 10:39. ran the 4x400 and split 52 but the reall hammer dropping came in the open 8. They put me as a NT seed so i was in the slow heat(of the JV meet) i chilled in 7th er so till the bell(68 sec first lap) then i popped into 1st between 400-500 with a 13 sec 200 then relaxed till 150 left and took off to win with a 2:07...2nd place wa a 2:19. I whooped thoses chumps candy a**es

Imagine if all varsity guys occasionally ran JV meets as workouts. No JV runners would ever get to win and the varsity runners would just soak up the glory on a short tempo run. It's a "JV" meet for a reason.

I was just a skinny little college freshman in 2005, on the cross country team after four years of it in high school.I was one of two freshmen on the team, and we both caught constant hell from the upperclassmen all the way through the first month.

First meet came, and with a mile to go in the 8K, the other freshman was 10 seconds ahead of me, and I had dropped all but one upperclassman.

Knowing he was too weak to finish strong, the upperclassman said with regret in his voice, "You're stronger, so finish it up."

So, I DROPPED THE HAMMER on his chump ass, and left him and the rest of the upperclassmen in the dust.

First race of the season, Josh Kerzie finished in 29:48, I finished in 30:13, and the upperclassmen had been stomped by two freshmen. Nuff said.