Happy Friday!
To make this slightly rainy day (at least in NYC) a bit brighter, I have a giveaway for you!
I am a roga diehard so when Oiselle introduced the Game Day short, I was a bit skeptical. How could they make a short with the yoga-pant style waistband that was better than the roga?
Jocelyn got a pair and raved about them. Still, I was a bit skeptical.
Then I saw how cute they looked on her, especially the contrast color back pocket zipper.
“Boat Look”
I ordered a pair and I was sold. Hooked. So much so that I ordered another pair.
Lucky you – YOU can win a pair!
HOW TO ENTER? TELL ME THE CRAZIEST THING YOU HAVE THOUGHT IN A RACE.
You can comment here, tell me on Twitter (@mbsthinks + @oiselle), send a carrier pigeon like Hedwig (only if you written the message with a quill, naturally).
I’ll pick the winner on Wednesday of next week. You’ll be able to pick color/size.
May the odds be ever in your favor!
Until next time…
The Thinks I Can Think 
“look for a twig. Just LOOK FOR A TWIG.” Find it, and trip on it. Then you can stop running this marathon. And go drink a beer.”
“That grass under that tree looks like the perfect place to stop and take a nap.”
“At this point, I think i just need to take off all of my clothes and that will get me through the rest.”
~ At mile 22; brain power was gone and fuel level was way too low. I kept my clothes on, thankfully.
If I pass out under that tree, will anyone stop and save me? Probably not. I should keep going.
“I’m so tired and hot.” Looks at watch. “Boyfriend is already done.” Does a little math. “Boyfriend will have been done for more than half an hour by the time I cross the finish. NOT FAIR! Must run faster to get back at boyfriend for dragging me into this.”
The thought of exacting revenge was plenty motivating to get through the pain!!
“Screw the timing chip, I am taking my Garmin time because this course is long, whew PR! BEER ME NOW!
On a particularly stomach-achy raceday, I was literally scoping out any possible semi-discreet pit stop (you know, people’s hedges) and scheming on how to get there and do my business in a sneaky manner. This went on for 5 miles. Luckily all that scheming distracted me from my issues at hand.
During Ragnar: “Well I never thought I would die via rattlesnake bite but if it allows me to stop running I will accept my fate.”
This isn’t exactly a race but in high school I was on the field hockey team and we would have these runs that we called “football runs” because we ran around the football practice field. The runs were probably around 2-2.5 miles but at a very fast pace. I remember one day being in the middle of the run and really pushing and just hurting. I remember thinking maybe I can just “trip” pretend I turned my ankle and walk back to the start faking an I jury. Crazy thoughts but never actually did it.
“Kentucky Fried Chicken”
What would happen if I passed out, would coach be mad? I have never actually passed out in a race but my ears started ringing in the final laps and my eye sight blurred and I almost did after this one
After seeing a sign about Ryan Gossling being at the finish line.. “Does Ryan Gossling even know where Akron is? Maybe he’s holding a puppy!” …Irrational half-marathon thoughts for sure.
Running a half marathon a few months after having a baby, I remember telling myself to just get to the finish line and get to the baby so that I could nurse her and relieve my breasts that were getting more and more uncomfortable and filled with milk with every passing mile.
I was running my first half marathon and there was a group handing out vaseline on popsicle sticks and someone was holding a sign that said “Don’t eat the vaseline.” My thoughts – “Someone ATE vaseline? How do you screw that up?”
I have started singing Finding Nemo’s “Keep on Swimming,” but “Keep on Running” instead. It helped to pass a mile. I think I might just sing a disney song a mile from now on.
“I wonder if I go pee in that Popeyes Chicken if I will get disqualified for leaving the race course?” This was during my first half marathon when there were only a few potties on the race course.
When I get crazy during long races I tend to get ridiculous songs running through my brain that actually seem to help pass the time. Ridiculous like “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” But if I try to think of a better song to get stuck in my head, I can’t! It’s like I’m in a rut. Now that I’m a triathlete, I get Dori’s (Ellen deGeneris’s) voice (from Finding Nemo) stuck in my head: “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..” Then “just keep pedaling, just keep pedaling…” Then “just keep running. Just keep running.” They don’t allow headphones or earbuds in triathlons – so I’m training my brain to have more variety…
“I just took food from a stranger and ate it…Mom would be so pissed” 2012 Boilermaker, Utica, NY – thank you Popsicle crew!!
“No one will notice if I hop over this median and join the runners that are 2 miles ahead of me… “
At mile 23ish in the Miami marathon there were a group of girls salsa dancing under a bridge. “That looks like fun. I hurt so much, I should go dance, that will make me feel better. Nahhhh. I can barely run, let alone salsa dance!”
I often think about a sign I saw once at a marathon: “You’ve trained longer for this than even Kim Kardashian’s marriage lasted”. Always makes me smile.
“Eat the course!” (What?!)
During my marathon that I didn’t really train for (hey I had done other marathons- I’d be fine!…wrong) I actually got so low that I was hoping someone would put me out of my misery. “Could someone please just ask me to stop running so I can be done??” Turns out no one asked me to stop đŸ™‚
I have to keep going, thisis going to be a great twitter, instgram and facebook post!
whoops, this**
Hahaha, I think this during every run when I’m struggling. “Yeah it’s hard but if you finish x miles, it’ll sound more BA when you brag about it on instagram later.” *Spoiler* no one really cares about your workout posts lol
Wow, I am sliding down this hill on my back as fast as the runners are running down this hill.
That was my thought after falling in a cross country race. I am graceful!
throwing your nathan water bottle to the side of the road is a bad idea.
– most recent half marathon. that shit gets heavy by the end of it!
puffy clouds! puffy poofy clouds! >>> trying to distract myself from my hurting, aching, blistering feet
spent the first half of my first marathon debating whether to use a portapotty (which i have a real fear of) or run off the race quickly and stop at my apartment (about half a block off the course)!
“I’m never doing this again. I’m never doing this again. I’m never doing this again.”
-Approx. miles 18-25.5 of Boston this year (and then immediately upon being denied a finish, “I HAVE TO DO THIS AGAIN.” Hoping to fall back in love with the marathon distance like you did!)
“Sure, it makes sense to pee your pants at mile 10 of a half-marathon that isn’t your goal race just because you’re too stubborn to not get the 2:10 you want as a marathon tune-up” … spoiler alert: I didn’t get the 2:10 anyway. But I will hold my black Distance Shorts close to my heart (at least, more so than I already do because I love them) because of what we went through together that day.
“I should have stopped for that beer. It couldn’t have made this any worse.”
The marine corps 1776k had boot camp signs throughout the course and one read “suck it up,Barbie”. The next two miles I kept trying to think what Barbie I would be. I ended up thinking I’m more of a Theresa.
“Would I be disqualified if I started elbowing people who clearly shouldn’t be lining up in the under 10 minute/mile section?”
Nothing induces rage in me faster than people who line up in a corral that’s way to fast for them, then walk 4 abreast and take up the whole course.
During a 5k on Roosevelt Island after a rowdy night w/ out of town friends…
“WHY did I think it was ok to stay out until 3am, WHY am I stuck on this tiny island, WHY am I doing this to myself, DON’T THROW UP.”
Buuut then I PR’d. I embraced the suck because I blamed fatigue, when really it hurt because I was going so fast (for me). So glad I didn’t bail!
“Ugh, beer sounds disgusting right now”. Nashville Half last year, it was hot, humid and people were handing out cups of beer outside their houses. Never did I ever think I would pass up beer until that moment.
I am definitely going to shit myself if I don’t find a port o potty ASAP.
Running the Ragnar relay was crazy overall, but the craziest thing to me was wondering how much coverage the bushes on the side of the road would offer-I’d never needed to do that before, but it was definitely necessary then!
This gatorade tastes like beer! (it was beer. at mile 11 of a half marathon. missed the part about the “water” stop being sponsored by the B’ham hash house harriers)
On an out-and-back half marathon, I’m sure all the oncoming runners who had already turned around thought I was crazy. I was making this pleading, longing eye contact with anyone who would look at me, hoping they’d read my mind and tell me the turnaround was juuuuuust ahead. (No one did. I’m sure I just looked like a creep. As an aside: I made it!)
haha i love reading all of these comments. I think so many weird things but it’s hard to remember them now. Maybe “just keep swimming, just keep swimming. just keep swiiimmmming.” And during the Philly Marathon, ” I am seriously going to write a letter to the makers of Immodium in thanks for making this marathon PR possible.”
The comments are so funny! I play this game while I’m running and make up stories about the peoples lives around me. I trailed this guy during the Chicago Marathon for several miles. In my head I created this elaborate life for him… his name was Ronaldo and he was an Vegas ex-con turned family man. Three times divorced and father of 12…. I had a lot of details formed in my head.
this is hilarious – I think I need to work on funny thoughts to keep myself goin’, all that legs of an eagle stuff. the weirdest I get is making to-do lists in my head or, more often, thinking about what I’m going to eat afterwards
HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS WAS BEING POSTED?!?!!?!? My PR Team will be in touch with your PR Team.
This is more said and not thought (crazy thoughts go through my head on a pretty much hourly basis) but I ran the SUPER HILLY Marine Corps 17.75K this spring when I was kind of out of shape. The uphills were killing me and I really wanted to walk, so I thought about when I was little and my mom used to get me out of bed for school in the morning by saying “Up up up!” in a singsong-y voice. My mom is a rock star runner and I am always afraid of looking like a wimp in front of her, so I started repeating “Up up up!” to myself over and over again for about 3 miles and picturing her disapproving look as she whipped the covers off my bed when I was going to be late for school. It was actually super helpful, but I’m positive all the runners around me were starting to wonder if I was crazy after hearing me repeat the same one syllable word for 25 minutes.
“was that man dressed as Carly Rae Jepson singing Call Me Maybe, or have I started hallucinating …”
A friend later informed me that I had seen correctly, and she even added that he was waving around a poster with (presumably) his phone number. Race spectators are the BEST.
During my first marathon (which I didnt train properly for) the only thought that got me through the last 6.2 miles was “if you finish you’ll get one of those space blankets. Do it for the space blanket” (it was 26 degrees for the duration of the race”
“WHERE THE &*%$ IS THE FINISH LINE. .10 MILES MY EYE.”
Thought I already posted, but don’t see it-sorry if I’m posting twice. I’ve often wondered during longer races if a random homeowner would let me use their restroom, drink some COLD water, and maybe even let me watch a little reality tv.
I ran a race in Donegal & there were no portapottys, just signs into peoples houses to use the restrooms so bizarre!
Counting every step of the race to avoid thinking about how I feel or how far I still have to go (only 2000 more steps)…..
So, I haven’t had a hamburger in years but during my last race all I could think about was an In-n-Out burger with fries. They don’t even have them out here, but I told myself to keep running for that burger. When I was done the burger was the last thing that sounded good, haha.
If I stop here and pet these Golden Retrievers for 15 minutes would they deduct it from my finish time?
Why did I sign up for this?
During my ill-trained-for first (and only, to date — but there will be more!) marathon I kept trying to talk myself out of the idea that once I got to mile 18 I could just quit (the course went right by my apartment at the time). I was unsuccessful: I went home, sat down, had a beer (or two….), turned on the tv for race coverage…..and found myself becoming sentimental and frustrated for having given up. So i got back up, went back out and finished the darn thing. I do think the beer took my mind off the discomfort….though it’s not an approach to race day that I ever plan to use again! I still don’t know if this actually counts as having done a marathon since i took a not insignificant time out…..
(2 weeks out from Step 1 during the Brooklyn Half, mile 7): Goljan is about to kill my PR **switches to Goljan on ipod** GETS FASTER. WHAT.
I’m such an idiot. While running a 8min/mile pace I thought, surely walking would be faster? Thank god for garmins!
The thing that got me through the NYC ’13 half was thinking that running 13.1 couldn’t be worse than waiting 45+ minutes in my corral in that freezing weather… ha.
Hmm, I can’t remember anything too crazy… maybe I have repressed those memories, or maybe I was just too exhausted to think? Just the usual “Why did I sign up for this again?” / “Am I done yet?” / “I’m so tired!” thoughts…
Hmm cannot think of anything crazy right now, but i definitely had some choice words for the hill at mile 25 of Big Sur…
Would anyone notice if I peed my pants?
Some of the craziest would have to be my runner brain math.
isn’t there a way someone else can pee for me?
“Did I really just get hit in the face by a pigion” – Mile 25 of the San Fran Marathon (which I then blacked out until 6 hours later while driving my car to dinner)
“Yes. Yes, I will.”
– Grabbing a beer at the 12.5 mile marker of the Philadelphia Half Marathon, 2010. And I PR’d by 5 minutes. I wish that was the actual answer to PR’ing, but alas …
The craziest thing that I’ve ever thought in a race was that my watch had switched into some crazy alternate foreign country mode, when I found myself unable to read it a few miles from the finish of the Boston Marathon… I kept trying to scroll through all the different screens and couldn’t decipher any of it!
This weekend, at the SF Marathon: “I wonder what the world record for OVER-running a course is…cos I think I am a contender.”
“Ok, if I just cut through there I should be able to cut off about 6 miles. Wait no, you may then be running with the elites so it would be obvious you cheated….OH PUPPY!”
During my first half (when it was 14F in NYC) “Don’t stop for water, walking, anything! You will freeze your fingers off and die.”
I wonder if anyone will notice if I take this dress off and slink off into the woods? (dressed as a crampy Mrs. Claus). Dress stayed on, but not without some awkward shifting…
I kind of wanted to send my comment via carrier pigeon, but since time is of the essence….I thought commenting here would be a more wise decision đŸ˜‰
The craziest thing I’ve thought during a race was during the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run, after being sick for 2 weeks and feeling exhausted by mile 7, was when I saw an ambulance and thought about jumping in and asking for a ride to the finish line rather than running the last 3 miles of the race.
Around mile 23 of the 2012 Chicago Marathon…
“If I just close my eyes for a couple miles that’ll help, right? I can sleep while running, right?”
Two seconds later someone on the side of the course yelled to me “KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN!!”
My craziest thoughts came from an aquathlon (1 mile ocean swim + 5k beach run). This was the last race of a series of summer races, and if I did well, I could win the “Queen of the Beach” award. I was warming up in the ocean when the race official announced that they would separate genders for the first time- men 10 minutes before women (it was typically a mass start). I didn’t hear the announcement, and because everyone was in swim caps and wetsuits, I didn’t notice that I was lining up with the men! During the out and back run, I saw that I was the first (and eventually, only) girl out there! I had convinced myself through 4k that I was winning by 10 minutes! Once I had 1k to go, I figured out what happened and was obviously embarrassed! I kept thinking, “You’re going to have to tell the race officials that you made a stupid mistake!” It was the first (and last) aquathlon race I ever “won”.
“I’m running so slow all of the post race beer is probably gone.”
“Am I really doing this? Why do I do this again? All the elite runners were done more then an hour ago! How do they do it so damn fast? At least there’s all these people around me suffering the same fate…”
During Eugene marathon 2010, mile 23 (Mixed use trail full of people on bikes, walking, skateboarding, etc… I was slightly dilerious from being really dehydrated…) my mantra became “Up down, Up down. Left Right, Left right. A, B, A, B, MARATHON!!!”
During Eugene marathon 2010, mile 24ish on the crowded, mixed use path along the river filled with bikers, kids and parents out walking, skateboarders, etc… I was slightly dilerious from being really dehydrated. My mantra became “Up down, Up down, Left right, Left right. A B, A B. MARATHON!!!”
“I want to throw up… But wait, I didn’t eat anything today. Didn’t even drink my morning coffee. WHAT?!”
mile 23 of my last nyc marathon i started thinking about what would pop up if i google imaged “jack-o-lanterns.”