What's the dumbest running decision you've ever made?

Being a vegetarian, carb-loading, and shitting my shorts a lot. One time I borrowed another kid's shorts for states and shat them.

toolbeltworldstar wrote:

Being a vegetarian, carb-loading, and shitting my shorts a lot. One time I borrowed another kid's shorts for states and shat them.

Does the borrowing of the other kid's shorts count as a dumb running decision or a smart one?

What are you talking about?? I paid the premium for the backdoor.

Fartlek with no underwear on in March during a cold rain, caused a UTI that campus clinic thought was an std...or was it an std that I thought was a UTI??Either way it was contracted either from running or from a runner on the women’s team.

Running 3 hard sessions the week of regionals to qualify for njcaa nationals in the 4x800. I was on the relay, and we had no competition. I ended up taking my 4th 200 way too hard and tore my hamstring on the curve. No nationals for me.

Also running in true, bitter Indiana cold with nothing but shorts and a long sleeve t shirt. My noots were so cold I had to walk back to my dorm, as running was too painful. Also had to have someone turn my key in the elevator bc my hands were rocks.

2013 Got in the best shape of my life but only raced a couple times.

2015 burned out mentally after a winter of just pounding the roads. Took 3 months off, hit the weights, gained weight. Wanted to get back in running shape quickly and started doubling. Stress Fracture, out for four more months.

2017 Finally started to get back in shape. Decided to do a night trail run and twisted my ankle bad, kept running on it and a week later, twisted it again which led to an avulsion fracture. Still slowly trying to come back from that 8 months later.

I went through early 2015 doing the best training of my life. I was running 17 mile runs on the weekends, 80mpw, and crushing workouts like 8x1K at 5K pace and endless, hard workouts like 6x400-200-200 at mile pace. Then.....

I find out that my wife is cheating on me, we get divorced (no kids thankfully), and I fall into a huge depression when she continues dating the guy she was cheating on me with and moves in with him.

I went from 80mpw and 5:40-paced tempos to a guy a living in a 600-sq ft. apartment, depressed, unable to eat and barely run. I stopped running for about 4 months and lost ALL of my fitness. I did nothing but watch TV, read articles online, and eat small cheap meals like ravoli in a can.

My first race back was a 19:35 5K about a year and half later and 10lbs heavier. Very humbling.

I always think back to what I could have done if depression and a bad wife wouldn't have taken hold. If I would have actually raced off that fitness and just toughed through a few more easy runs even though I was just mentally out of it and frankly, heartbroken.

I have sadly never reached that level of fitness again...and I'm getting to old to handle those workouts....but I am training again and feeling like I can compete with a healthy mindset.

Big-Tex-Mex wrote:

I went through early 2015 doing the best training of my life. I was running 17 mile runs on the weekends, 80mpw, and crushing workouts like 8x1K at 5K pace and endless, hard workouts like 6x400-200-200 at mile pace. Then.....

I find out that my wife is cheating on me, we get divorced (no kids thankfully), and I fall into a huge depression when she continues dating the guy she was cheating on me with and moves in with him.

Man. That's really, really tough. Been though some major marriage issues myself, and I know the pain, depression, and the barely-making-it-through-each-day feeling. To this day I have no idea how I didn't get fired from my job or lose my marriage. My productivity sank, and I spent all day at work trying to snoop for information that only made it all hurt even worse - while simultaneously trying to win my wife back because I had screwed up too. It was an incredibly messy situation and we had two kids ,to boot.

I couldn't do anything but feel sorry for myself and obsess over the situation and fixing it.

Be kind to yourself, man. It is impossible to go through something like that without growing and getting stronger. Your running was a sacrifice, unfortunately, that was paid in order to become a better human. As Desi said after winning Boston... just keep showing up. It gets better. Sounds like you're in a better place now but I know the hurt never fully goes away.

I would call what you did dumb. You were doing your best to survive.

setyourselffree wrote:

I would call what you did dumb. You were doing your best to survive.

WOULDN'T. oops.

Precious Roy wrote:

Stretching on a high hamstring injury. I was relatively new and thought my hamstring was just tight and needed stretching. It took about seven years for the injury to completely resolve itself.

I feel your pain. I'm still getting over a lingering hamstring issue that cropped in 2010. I was not very good with the rehab during those years which i'm sure prolonged the healing process.

Pebs wrote:

Precious Roy wrote:

Stretching on a high hamstring injury. I was relatively new and thought my hamstring was just tight and needed stretching. It took about seven years for the injury to completely resolve itself.

I feel your pain. I'm still getting over a lingering hamstring issue that cropped in 2010. I was not very good with the rehab during those years which i'm sure prolonged the healing process.

HOT DANG SAME THING HERE

Pebs wrote:

Precious Roy wrote:

Stretching on a high hamstring injury. I was relatively new and thought my hamstring was just tight and needed stretching. It took about seven years for the injury to completely resolve itself.

I feel your pain. I'm still getting over a lingering hamstring issue that cropped in 2010. I was not very good with the rehab during those years which i'm sure prolonged the healing process.

I've had 6 hamstring pulls in the past 6 years (2 on left, 4 on right). Don't know if I'll ever be normal again.

minty wrote:

Retrospect wrote:

Going high-carb vegetarian when I took up running at 16 so I could be a "lean healthy plant-powered running machine". That machine fell apart big time age 28, took decades to repair the damage.

Only because you did it wrong lol

Yeah, going whole-grain, organic, meatless,eventually gluten-free, no added sugar or "junk food", while supplementing with vitamins and minerals...that was the "wrong" way. Despite 15 years of effort, and a bachelors' in biology, I was "doing it wrong". Yet after only a month of going low carb/high fat with no supplementation needed, every one of my chronic health problems vanished or were greatly alleviated, at the same level of effort and research.

But it wasn't the diet, it was "my fault". Blaming the victim is always a good rhetorical option, right?

I found out my GF was cheating on me right after graduating college last May and fell into a huge funk. I kept some semblance of training going until September and then I completely fell off and did maybe 20 miles/week with nothing else until April. I just started trying to come back and it's so frustrating and excrutiating.

Retrospect wrote:

took decades to repair the damage.

[/quote]

Yet after only a month of going low carb/high fat with no supplementation needed, every one of my chronic health problems vanished [/quote]

I packed my gels into packed luggage since I didn't want to hassle of them being in carry-on for a destination marathon. Luggage gets lost, so I just have carry on which has all my other running gear. I had used Gummi Bears in the past with success so I grab a big bag and some ziplocks that I can pin to my shorts.

About half through something is not right. I have go and go now. Unfortunately, there is no place to go and no place to hide, I end up pulling a Paula. I had to drop out because there was no way I was going run another 13 miles like that even if my internals decided to cooperate. A gracious soul along the course gives me a towel. I have to make my way back to my hotel by myself. No way was I going to get into the sag van and subject the poor people in there to my stench.

I finally get back to my hotel and cleaned up. I take a look at the bag of Gummi Bears only to discover i had accidentally bought sugar free.

Pursuing my collegiate career at Oklahoma State

whoops wrote:

Retrospect wrote:

took decades to repair the damage.

Yet after only a month of going low carb/high fat with no supplementation needed, every one of my chronic health problems vanished [/quote][/quote]

"whoops" well describes your reading comprehension.