For starters it helps me not be an obese, lazy, worthless piece of crap with heart disease and diabetes and tons of medical bills increasing insurance rates for super healthy genetic outliers that never seek medical care except for emergencies.
For starters it helps me not be an obese, lazy, worthless piece of crap with heart disease and diabetes and tons of medical bills increasing insurance rates for super healthy genetic outliers that never seek medical care except for emergencies.
I got stranded about 4 miles from my parents house once. I was supposed to take the bus home, but the bus was more like a van and there wasn't any room for me. I think it was part of some public transportation experiment. Anyhow, my parents were on the other side of the country at the time, so I just pulled my running shoes from my bag and ran home at ez pace.
I live in West Virginia. My lazy fat a$$ brothers can’t catch me.
Outran a physically superior attacker despite being beaten, bloodied and hurt. The chase was not insignificant and I truly wondered if I would survive. But I did.
This is an extreme example, but it always sticks in my mind:
On 9/11 the only 2 firefighters who made it to the 78th floor (the impact zone) of the South Tower were both marathon runners. (This was the highest any first responders got in either tower.)
Orio Palmer and Ron Bucca.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orio_Palmer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Paul_Bucca
I believe they ran from the 41st floor up to the 78th with all their gear on. Of course they did not survive when the tower fell, they were focused on rescuing people.
But running and being fit can very well save your life, whether it's escaping a building that's on fire, surviving surgery or a car accident, or running from a mugging. I remember people talking about walking down all the stairs of the Twin Towers during the first bombing in '93 and thinking "this is why you stay in shape."
had to run from my bpd ex-gf one time (serious). i was sprinting down the street haulin ass in the middle of the day during rush hour one winter and shes chasing me in her ford pickup yellin out the window at me. good times. (not really)
Once I was walking to work when I looked at my watch and realized I was going to be a minute or two late getting in. I started to panic as I didn't want to be seen as one of those guys who just happily wanders in late...
Anyway, long story short - I sort of ran / walked / ran over a couple of blocks and made the time up. Arrived bang on time with no one any the wiser as to what might have happened!
Outside a club in Spain, a cop got super pissed at me and tackled me (I don't speak Spanish so not sure why, but my friend said it was somehow an illegal club). I was able to slip out from under him and run away. Lost my shoes, though.
One time during the summer I was talking to this girl a lot. Didn’t have a car and her house was 4 miles away. She knew I was runner and offered to let me shower at her house if I ran it.
So I ran the 4 miles, took a shower at her house, then we smashed.
I had a partial scholarship to a D1 school because of my running so I guess my education that enabled me to get the job that I have today.
Good health and probably have avoided a lot of health related issues due to running.
One time my college buddies and I were on a ski trip a few years after college and rented a ski-in, ski out place. We all got really drunk one night and decided to go sledding on the ski mountain. We were dodging the snow cats that were grooming the mountain and all that. After a few runs and a few more beers, one of the guys was on the track team with me in college and I convinced all the other guys to hike all the way up to the top of the mountain (our house was maybe halfway up or so) and then race all the way down to the base on the sleds. For glory. The track buddy and I (despite crashing like 20 times) narrowly beat everyone down, and then just kind of looked at each other and starting tempoing back up the mountain on the road to the ski house (I think it was about 2mi or so due to switchbacks, getting lost, etc.). We were probably there, sitting by the fire, drinking more beers, for like 45 min or so before the rest of the crew started trickling in. Some of the other guys literally almost died out there. Good times. Really good times, actually. And probably the most practical use of running I've had IRL. I'm also kind of drunk now.
I can honestly say that aside from the health benefits running hasn’t really helped me in everyday life. However, it’s definitely a good feeling to know that if it came down to it there’s a 99% chance you could outrun whoever the problem was. I mean, it’s not exactly the most glamorous thing to do, but there’s something cool about knowing you could realistically outrun almost any group you’re with.
NightLifer wrote:
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 did that once and realized almost two miles later I was running the wrong way... Lol!
Once I was hammered coming home from a pub. I'd stupidly shoved over some shopping trollies stacked up partly blocking the path I was on.
I noticed this car park nearby with guys in it. I walked down the road and heard this car accelerating towards me. I pretended to tie my laces to check it hoping it was nothing to do with me. It was and screeched to a halt behind me, 3 big guys including the driver jumped out shouting 'let's ave im'
That bought me time as I sprinted down the road and they all piled back in the car. I could here the car closing in on me and there were no turn offs.
I just made it to a junction with a shopping mall one way. They seemed crazy so I reckoned they'd drive the car after me up the kerb.
The other way was the train station and stairs that would mean they would have to stop the car. I belted up the stairs ran over the line and leaped up the opposite platform barely glancing if a train was coming
I remembered there was a small gap in the fence on the platform & slipped through. There was an area of undergrowth so I hid there for a bit to see if they follow came round the other side then slipped off home.
You could see they were nutters just looking for some excuse to beat someone up. If I'd just run they'd have overtook me in the car but I'd picked up the shoe lace trick somewhere.
I doubt I ever ran as fast as that 200m down the road though.
I've used running other times. Even if someone is a faster sprinter you get 20m by surprise. Just as they start to catch you they tire and your away. I'll stand my ground if it's someone IL meet again or them in the wrong though.
Two big guys were deliberately kicking a football between my running group doing it. I said I'd take both of them on and a lot else. Either could have beat me probably but it puts that doubt in their mind.
I used to do that but I'd fall down too much. Was still cheaper.
Free_the_Thigh wrote:
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.
I had a similar experience. I was brought in for an interview for an associate attorney position. The group interview was with associates and junior partners at the law firm. When I told the group that I was a runner they brought into the interview a senior partner who thought that he was a serious runner since he had run a 3:15 marathon. When I told him that my PR was 2:37 he told the group that they needed to take me seriously for the job which I got. The senior partner became my mentor and we worked together for 28 years. He was very supportive of my running and I was able to get the PR down to 2:27 and take time to travel for running as desired.
Chasing bad guys when I was a cop. No one every got away
I find that running actually helps me during most of my races.
When I was in college, I used to run at night in bright-red clothing. One time, I ran past the campus police (there were 4 of them walking together in a line through a tunnel).
I slowly started sprinting through the tunnel and when I reached the campus police, I looked over my shoulder to one of them and then sprinted at full speed.
I was so fast and full of myself that at the time, I knew that if I stole someone's purse or bag, I could waive it at the campus police or taunt them and run past them. It was because I was wearing split shorts and they were wearing dark pants with boots. Yeah, they can enforce laws and make people feel safe, but you know for a fact that they are slow because they are in uniform.
It was instances like these where I started becoming known as "that runner guy" on campus.
I live in neighborhood in the Bay Area that is really congested in the morning. When my son was in preschool the school was 2 miles away. Fortunately, there was a paved bike and walking path that ran near our house almost directly to the school. It took about 16 minutes to run it in the stroller - often less time than it took to drive, find a parking place, etc. It was certainly less stressful to run.