Any instances where your running actually helped you?

One time my friend parked really far away from this dinner that he drove me and a lot of my friends to. It was freezing out so I offered to take his keys and run to the parking lot a mile away to drive his car over so the rest of them could avoid the cold. I didn't even get a thank you...

Doing research in the chemistry department and kinesiology department in school, I often had to go back and forth to go get things for my adviser. It was about half a mile, but it was nice jogging super easy at like 8:30-9:00 pace and coming back feeling fine in half the time it would take to walk.

Dropping off or getting back our vehicles from the service garage... most places are within 6 miles of home, so I can get a workout in and not have to put miles on the other vehicle, depend on the garage's shuttle, or arrange that errand with my spouse.

Had running on my resume, mentioning I had ran a marathon, and bonded with my interviewer over it. Pretty sure it was a large contributing factor towards me getting the job.

This guy grabbed my phone whilst I was walking through a park once. He shot off at top pace and I tempo'd it following him. Sure enough his pace only lasted a few seconds before I began reeling him back in. Shortly afterwards I caught him and exacted vengeance. Very satisfying...

I am a caregiver. One of the few methods of helping elderly or sick or mentally challenged people is walking with them. Runners know how much a little mobility & fresh air can help. Many caregivers, like so many nowadays, do not even like to walk or exercise at all! We have an aging population and we need caregivers.

I was visiting a girlfriend in Oklahoma when unbeknownst to me she found out I was cheating on her.. .at a gas station stop, she turned and assaulted me, punched me in the face, I turned and just ran... ran a few miles to where a friend lived. So, yeah, helped me get out of a sh!tty situation. Also, multiple dog attacks and once a gang attack running has helped.

Not me, but my brother always used to pick fights when he got drunk and then outran the hooligans.

I recently won a vacation day over my co-workers for running so there's that.

My friends routinely use Uber after a night of drinking. I find it much better to run the 2-4 miles home from the bars.

I DO THAT TOO!!! BRO

Had to deliver a pricey bid for a public improvement project to City of LA. Couldn't find parking except a parking structure 3/4 miles away. Had 5 min left to get from 3rd level,across traffic and into the bldg and up stairs. Made it by 10 seconds.

i had to take a dump once and ran to the bathroom

Lots of times.

One that sticks out - I went to London and out for the evening with a date. We went out for a meal, and then to some kind of wine bar. My date got increasingly angry/possessive that I was talking to other people, and when we were talking in the outside garden threw a glass of wine at me which smashed against a wall that was behind me. I literally ran... I ran out of there, ran down the street, and ran streets and streets away until I went inside (which turned out to be an arcade). I don't know if I was followed but I did get away. I thought it was about to turn violent. I ran to my friend's flat in Waterloo. Being able to run in that situation made me feel a lot better. I just bolted.

The person contacted me after, phoning repeatedly, my friend took the phone call. 'Apparently' what had happened after was someone had seen the whole thing, came out of the bar and beat my date up. I didn't really know what to make of that, apart from I never wanted to see that person again.

I've used running as a mode of transport a lot.

track chick wrote:

'Apparently' what had happened after was someone had seen the whole thing, came out of the bar and beat my date up.

I didn't read your username so I had assumed you were a dude and some random guy just started wailing on some chick while a full grown man ran away LMAO. Equal rights... and lefts. Seriously though, glad you got away and sorry in advance for sounding like a chauvinistic misogynist.

To be honest if someone throws glass near enough at my head I'm not going to stick around and fight them, that would go for if they were male or female or if I was male or female - that person was completely unpredictable and I feel lucky I got away. I didn't want to stick around to reason with them or anything like that.

Topical, as this exact question was on my mind earlier this week...

A late-afternoon work meeting was dragging on to the point where I realized that I had exactly 3 minutes to catch my train home. I was able to run about a half mile in ~2:30 and make the train by seconds. As I sat on the train, I realized how grateful I was to be in good running shape. 99.9% of people in that situation would have missed that train.

Lots of times, running from police (once), private security guards, the football team, the baseball team, chasing down would be thieves, getting from point A to point B when a vehicle wasn't available.

The only thing it hasn't helped me with is the reason I started it, to impress the chicks.

Helped me get my wife and my job and is making awesome kids.