While training for my latest marathon, I was faced with either doing a training run or picking up the latest bourbon barrel stout bottle release at the brewery one mile from my house. So I combined the two activities and ran home double fisting the two prized bottles. I dropped them off and continued the rest of my 12 mile run.
Have run to catch a train too many times to count.
Also was a mile downriver on a rafting trip once when we sprung a leak and realized we forgot duct tape. I had to run back to the car to get it.
My friend was getting swindled in Europe and shoved a guy and ran to get away.
Another guy got busted for open container and tried to run from the cops but was too drunk and fell. That didn’t work out.
another data point wrote:
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.
BS. You didn’t hike up a ski hill that as if any reasonable amount of vert. No way. Also, lucky a snowcat didn’t run you over and end your running days for good.
Running helps me to be on time for classes, especially when there are short breaks in between classes.
In middle school and high school, I would have to run to the local dollar store or grocery store when my bike broke down or got stolen. Busy school schedules, lots of homework, no driving before 16, and living in a spread-out suburb meant that running was quite useful.
I got selected for Marine Corps Officer Candidate School largely based on my running ability. My grades in college were mediocre and my extra curricular outside of running were non existent, but I aced the physical fitness test with a 15:37 3mile run. Believe it or not the Marine Corps really cares about stuff like that.
6 years later and I’m flying helicopters. Barely ever run now, unless I’m forced to.
So basically I got a job making six figures because I could run well.
Everyday I’m blessed with good health
oakland runner wrote:
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.
I bet it helps you when you chase ambulances too!
I'm an ex-UK Cop.
My running got me the job in the first place as the local Inspector who did all the pre interviews was a runner and wanted me in the force x/country team. Needless to say I got the job after running the forces standard 1.5 miles in 7.34 on a hilly lap around our local Police HQ !
Our force often won the National Police X/C Champs for forces with sub 2000 personnel.
I was more of a track man, where I ran my lifetime 800m PB of 1.59.8 in the Police National Track Champs finishing 5th.
On a more practical note, my running prowess enabled me to capture a local juvenile burglar who broke out of the Police Station which was supposed to be bomb proof and IRA proof (back in the day )!
Saw him nonchalantly walking down the street where he saw my Police car but didn't spook !
It wasn't until I opened the car door and then we were off down a Derby city main road in rush hour traffic.
That morning before work I'd run a 12 miler so was well warmed up.
Chased him for a good 600 - 800m in full Police Uniform apart from the helmet of course !
He then decided to try and fight me on a building site and made the fatal error of pulling his plank of wood over his shoulder, where I took him out. Backup then arrived and the youth in his interview couldn't believe he'd been captured. The Detective told him that I was an Olympic runner ! Very satisfying.
A more humorous story about running helping me out was when I celebrated my 30th Bday after the morning shift in the local pub.
@ 6-7 pints later I went home p*ssed but knew I had to sober up quick as I had an indoor 1000m the next day !
So I went for a run and nearly fell over in the first few steps but then managed to carry on. My head was banging and began to feel more drunk as the alcohol was flying around my body. Gradually, I managed to sweat it out and the next day, ran a decent 2.39 . Not recommended of course, but effective.
Suzie Hamilton once outran a seriel killer:
once I was going to be late to my buddy's wedding so I dropped my wife off and parked the car far away in downtown DC.... had to run a mile in a suit through a construction zone , hurdling cones, jumping grates, Made it just before the bride walked down the aisle.
A bunch of my college teammates got summer jobs working as valets for the casinos in Vegas. Jogging back to pick up cars significantly increased tips and amount of cars they could deliver so they always made bank (for college student summer jobs that is). Cons - hot as hell!
Running helps with pick-up games of ultimate frisbee, where half the game is running around trying to swat the frisbee away
My girlfriend & I went kayaking. We dropped her car off at the end spot & then took the kayaks in my truck to where we were beginning. After a nice couple hours of kayaking, we finished & she realized she forgot her keys in my truck!?! So, I had to run a couple miles on the road back to my truck (while she waited at her car with our kayaks). Luckily, the river was twisty, so I only had to run about 3 miles back to the truck.
My job had a Weight Loss Contest. You could earn points by either number of pounds lost or number of hours exercising per week. It was a group challenge & everyone wanted me to be on their team. I think we won a gift certificate to a local restaurant.
WHTaft wrote:
another data point wrote:
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.
BS. You didn’t hike up a ski hill that as if any reasonable amount of vert. No way. Also, lucky a snowcat didn’t run you over and end your running days for good.
Yeah, it happened. It was at Okemo, in VT. It’s a decent mountain (for the east), but it’s not the Alps. You’re right that we were lucky the snow cats didn’t run us over. We kept diving into the woods whenever we heard them coming. It was a total sh*t show. Can’t wait until this year’s trip (though now most of us have kids now, so a bit of a different vibe).
I find running is helpful after a night at a restaurant. Easier to skip out on the check. Those fat wait staff can't run across the parking lot without becoming winded.
Philip Exeter CC wrote:
I find running is helpful after a night at a restaurant. Easier to skip out on the check. Those fat wait staff can't run across the parking lot without becoming winded.
"Fat wait staff" to describe people who are rushing about serving patrons for 8 hours. I don't think so.
Hiking at about 10K ft one summer with a less fit sister-in-law who was visiting from out of state and wasn’t acclimatized to the altitude. We got lost and ran out of water to boot. No phone reception on the mountain. My SiL was getting really sick. When we finally got to the highway so I knew which way to go for help, I propped her up under a tree and ran like hell the 6 miles or so to the top where there was a ranger’s station. She told me later she had thought we were going to die up there (dumba$$es like us without enough water do die on that mountain every summer). I hadn’t been feeling quite that dramatic, but I have to admit she had scared me when she sat down on the trail, green around the gills, and announced she couldn’t go on.
OK- not really what you're looking for?
I'm 59, I've been running for 47 years.
I am healthier than non-running friends of mine who are 20 years younger.
Guys my age can't believe the energy I have.
That, I think, has helped me.
The fitness you develop from running is useful for a variety of other physical activities: hiking, backpacking, biking, swimming, multiple softball games in one night, any survival situation that require endurance.
Also, I have won some price money. That is useful.
I was at my high school and I was watching a football game that ran late at night. When the game was ending I could not find a ride home so I decide since I only live a mile from the high school I would just as fast as I could and I beat my curfew with a minute to spare.