Crazy things that have happened to you while out on a run.

Ran into a bear. Ran. Into. a. Bear.

http://psutafalumnigolf.blogspot.com/2009/07/bear-story-requiem-for-ursidae-she.html

For those that know thunderstorms, ran into the teeth of a gust front as I sprinted home to beat the storm. Didn't quite achieve that, but didn't get struck by lightning. Nothing like running all out into gusty winds blowing a cloud of dust right into you.

Was doing an easy run the other day and ran into Alistair Cragg on a nearby trail and like a running nerd I turned around and ran 5 miles with him.

Running up in Maine and got flashed by 2 girls in a convertible as they drove by.

Now, it would be really interesting if one were Joan Benoit Samuelson and the other Pam Anderson.

On Sunday, 3/29/2009 I was getting ready for my longest training run leading up to Boston, which was coming up 3 weeks later. I drank coffee (which I only did on days I really wanted to run well), and drove along my route (a 12 mile out and back on one road) dropping some bottles and gu for hydration during the run. I was starting to feel really pumped up for my run, as I was getting close to my first big race since moving to elevation. I was parking my car where I normally start and stop my run when I saw a man in the middle of the road about 400m away. There are very few people around this area and I saw him waving his hands frantically at a car. The car weaved around him and didn’t stop. I have to admit, the man looked a little crazy from a distance.

I started the car again and drove closer. As I approached I recognized the man to be Meb K. I pulled up next to him as he flagged me down. He was shivering very badly and asked to use my phone. He said he had become separated from his coach during a long run and needed to call him. I told him to get in the car to wait and get out of the wind which was whipping violently and adding to the cold. As he got in the car I saw another runner dart out of nowhere up onto the run and to my car. He got in my backseat and shivered as well. He recognized me form a brief encounter at the gym a few weeks before. The runner was Ryan Hall. I told them they could stay and get warm as long as they needed and to help themselves to the Gatorade I had in the backseat (which they did). They politely tried to have a conversation with me, even though I could tell they were both suffering.

I told them I was getting ready to do my longest run of my marathon training build-up and they both immediately began to tell me that I should not run in the current conditions. They both strongly advised that I run on a treadmill for the day, and head outside the next day when it might be nicer. Meb called coach Larsen on my phone and had a brief conversation. Shortly after he pulled up in a large vehicle and both Ryan and Meb left rode away. They thanked me profusely and urged me to put off my run until another day.

It was so surreal I almost couldn’t believe it had happened. Just a few minutes before I was psyching myself up for a big run, and then out of nowhere I had two Olympians, arguably two of the best American distance runners ever, in my car telling me not to run. And just as quickly, they were now gone. I decided to drive about 30 minutes away to a lower elevation in hopes that the weather would be calmer. It wasn’t, but I decided to run anyway, because I didn’t have the luxury of not having to go into work the next day.

I suppose this question comes down to two catagories: things that actually happened, and things we observed while running. In the second catagory, I lived in Portland, Ore., in May 1980, went out for my usual Sunday morning 20 miler, and was surprised to find people out along Terwilliger Blvd with cameras on tripods. I looked out to the North and saw what appeared to be a low lying dark cloud. When I got home and turned on the radio, I learned that the top had blown off Mt. St. Helen maybe 40 miles to the Northeast. There was a series of smaller eruptions later that Summer that were actually more visible from Portland.

For many years now, I have lived in Washington, D.C. Maybe twenty years ago, on a brutally hot and humid day, I was running with a few friends past the National Mall. a young woman in a wedding gown was by the Reflecting Pool, and a professional photographer was taking pictures with the Capitol Building and Washington Monument in the background. My sweaty pal, dressed only in running shorts and shoes, yelled, "hey, where's the groom?" and gallantly went over to have his photo taken with the beautiful young woman. Hilarious !

To "Ed Words" story here, when I was young, I would sometimes mix it up with motorists who engaged in uncivil behavior. I remember one particularly rewarding moment when, after seeing a motorist toss a McDonald's bag out his car window, I was able to catch up, pick up the trash, and throw it back in his lap before he rolled his window back up. Unfortunately, I've had to stop this sort of stuff, as much as the SOB deserved it. There are too many nuts in this country all too willing to resolve any minor dispute with a gun. I am glad my fellow poster emerged unharmed.

I have run over 80,000 miles over the past 35 years.

one of the best experiences: Running in London, Ontario with two buddies along Thames doing a 3-3-3 pick up tempo workout when a smokin' hot chick with a another guy and girl lifts up her sweater to flash us as we go by!

One of the worst: running with a 28:45 10k guy and a sub 50 sec 400 but also solid XC guy in bush and getting chased by a black bear. Amazing how fast you can go when that happens.

Famous people: bumped into Salazar running on the charles on the 20th anniverery of his Duel in the SUn win and running/chatting with him for a few miles. Very nice guy! I was not running that year but I was in town to watch.

Going out for runs when I used to have long hair I would get whistled at by males driving on the road only to hear their friends yell out, " That was a guy dude"..lol

Also, knowing copperheads exist in my neck of the woods, I have stepped on them on runs without me seeing them, but feeling them hit my leg, and thinking,"That was so not a stick"

I once ran while holding scissors.

I lived for a year in Cairo and would go on runs through the city. One morning, running through a quiet neighborhood, I came upon a pack of dogs. They began to bark ferociously, so I slowed to a walk as I passed. One of the dogs charged at me baring its teeth. In a panic, I turned to run, and the dog bit my butt. It appeared satisfied after that, but I was shell-shocked. I walked home through crowded streets and got a fair number of stares, assuming they were the normal stares I was accustomed to getting as a foreigner in western sports attire. When I got home, I realized the back of my shorts were ripped open. My ass was also bleeding where the dog had bit me. I had to get rabies shots and new shorts, and I never ran near that neighborhood again.

I'm back in the U.S. now, but I still slow to a walk whenever I pass an unleashed dog.

That wasn't a dog, that was Bill Murray.

That is frikin' brutal. I hate unleashed dogs when I"m running. I've been bit at least 10 times. Never run into a pack of dogs though. Saw a bunch of wild dogs in St. Martin but they were no problem.

Almost ran into a deer, less than five feet away, rounding a corner in the bush once. Once a girl asked if she could run with me after she went to residence and changed into her running stuff! She wanted to do a mile and half time test for her gym.

Many close calls with cars; my buddy banged a hood and a guy got out with a screwdriver or something and chased us on foot in a cheap suit and dress shoes holding a cigarette! We were in sub 25 5 mile shape and this guy was not fit. We slowed to torment him.

Ill change my name for this wrote:

Once a girl asked if she could run with me after she went to residence and changed into her running stuff! She wanted to do a mile and half time test for her gym.

Can you elaborate on this story? Sounds like sex might have been involved.

Dennis Reynolds wrote:

Ill change my name for this wrote:

Once a girl asked if she could run with me after she went to residence and changed into her running stuff! She wanted to do a mile and half time test for her gym.

Can you elaborate on this story? Sounds like sex might have been involved.

No, I wouldn't have left that out! She was a University student, pretty cute. I really did pace her for 3 loops of the place we were running, like 8 minute mile pace. Back in those days I was pretty good with the ladies but not on a run; kind of get in a different head. Oh of course if it every happened again I would do something more proactive!

When I was a super running geek, I was running on new years eve, like 8pm, bumped into one of the hottest girls in high school drunk, walking with her girlfriend (long time ago) and she gave me a big wet New Years kiss. that was awesome.

1) Ran into a bear feeding on some berries on a run through the mountains. Bear was 20 ft away when I spooked him, we each turned and ran opposite directions, then stared at each other for 5 minutes before he decided I wasn't food.

2) Some guy at a stoplight told me I had small tits. I'm a guy. And I was shirtless. Told him he had small balls.

3) I got shot at on a night run through some farmer's fields. Idiots were coyote hunting and thought I was prey. I dropped to the ground and flashed my light at them (full moon was out, so light was off). Shooting abruptly stopped. I heard the bullets whizzing through the air.

4) Some perv in a giant diesel pickup stalked me through several miles of a run. I guess he thought he was being sneaky by driving ahead to different points of the trail, but the diesel engine was pretty much a dead giveaway. Creepy old dude.

Doing a long run in South Jersey one fall in high school, we got kind of lost. Probably 70 minutes into the run, we finally found our way out of the woods into a parking lot, which we soon discovered belonged to a nearby paintball factory. Being teenagers, we tried to break in, but the doors were all locked. As we dejectedly turned around to leave, one of us discovered a trailer full of paintball supplies. This caused us to collectively lose our minds for the next half hour, doing everything possible to break in (destroying the trailer in the process) - throwing rocks at the padlock, slamming a pole through the trailer, rocking it back and forth. Finally, we managed to wedge the door open enough for the smallest member of the team to crawl inside.

Immediately after he climbed in, two police cars pulled into the parking lot. We grabbed the freshman out of the trailer and sprinted back into the woods, never finding the trail and sure that the cops were after us. Eventually we staggered back to our cars, covered in mud, bleeding from various wounds, some freshman woozy from running full tilt into a tree.

The next Monday, another teammate and I were called into the main office. We were sure we were about to be arrested for vandalism, and met outside to discuss our cover story. It turned out they were giving us a trophy. Nobody ever found out, and we never talked about it again.

I went back one winter in college with the same teammates. We got lost again, and somehow found ourselves inside a summer camp. We took out a paddle boat and paddled around a lake for a while, then finished up our run.

I wasn't going to post either of these things, but too many similar stories make me feel like I should...

1. Bill Murray

Okay, I am not sure if this is a larger internet meme or something, but I actually did run into Bill Murray one time. The story is actually somewhat running-related, too. I went to college in Charleston, South Carolina. While I did not run for the team, I was fairly competitive at the time. I was training for a local marathon one Fall and after a long run, a buddy and I dropped into a bar on Sullivan's Island for a few post-run beers. The place no longer exists (Bert's), but it was a total dive. Anyway, it was rather early on a Sunday and the place had a handful of "usuals" bellied up. We got to talking and in walks someone rather familiar looking. It is weird when you see famous people in real life. Sometimes they look smaller, etc. Bill Murray actually looked bigger than I thought he would be, both in height and weight. He sat next to us and we exchanged pleasantries. Of course I couldn't help it... I had to start quoting Carl Spackler lines. He smiled but I know he was annoyed. Anyway, he bought a house on Sullivan's Island shortly after he and his wife got divorced. I actually saw him a few times after that, too. He is a part owner of the local 3A baseball team and frequently attended games.

2. Flashing

Also a beach story. My family owned a beach house and a few times in High School, I lied to my parents about going somewhere else and took a group of friends to the beach house for a few days. It is a miracle that I never got caught, but I didn't.

I was a serious runner in High School, but I also liked to party a good amount. On one occasion, a good friend and I took six girls to the beach for the weekend. Keep in mind this was High School, and if I remember correctly it was during the winter of senior year, so we were 17-18 years old. So it was six girls and 2 boys. Awesome. I wish I could tell you that it was a huge orgy the whole time, but it wasn't. My buddy had a girlfriend (one of the six) and I was actually (kind of) dating a girl from another school. It is a long story why she wasn't there, but suffice it to say that I asked her to go and she turned me down due to the six other girls. Anyway, back to the story...

We got our hands on a few cases of beer prior to the trip, so we drank a good amount each night. I decided that I wanted to go run late one night (after probably 8-10 beers) and the other 5 girls said they wanted to ride next to me on beach cruisers. We had a bunch of them at the house. So I ran along the beach for a while, and then made my way to the golf course and ran on the cart paths. There was a lot of maritime forest, so it made for a pretty secluded run. The girls were kind of drunk, and kept having a hard time keeping up with me, so I didn't really notice when they slowed down and fell back. The next thing I knew, they came roaring past me totally naked on the bikes. Totally naked. I still remember it clear as day. They weren't even holding their clothes. The first thing I did was tell them that I was going to throw their clothes in the lagoon and turned and ran back the other way. They shrieked and tired to beat me back to the clothes. It was the only times in my life that I've been wrestled to the ground by 5 - count them, 5 - naked teenage girls. Man, to be a kid again.

This more of a crazy thing I saw a runner cause.

Me and my riding group were out for a long ride this morning. There were about 30 of us and you know what we were all talking about. Everyone had an opinion and a nuance they just had to hold court on. We got started about 5 minutes late when the ride leader and a new guy got into it pretty heavy.

So we were about 30 minutes into the ride and everyone was settled into their positions. I can't say the view is very nice, but the weather was amazing and everything was going perfectly. We were making great time.

A little way up the road I could see a lone runner trotting in our direction. He looked harmless enough for a thirty-something skinny runner on an early morning run. So about half our group get past this guy and he sticks his fist in the air and screams "LANCE! LANCE! LANCE!" My first reaction was "F YOU!" but I didn't say anything. I wish everyone kept their heads down.

The new guy who was arguing with the leader earlier slammed on his breaks and caused 10 riders to swerve off the road into a pile. New guy stopped and threw his bike down and started yelling at the runner. New guy tried to run after the runner who was at least a quarter mile away by now. A few of the riders who fell were up by now and going straight for the new guy.

Basically all hell broke loose and we nearly lost the entire group until we decided to just throw the new guy out of the group until he formally apologizes at our monthly meeting in two weeks.