5 Dirty Little Secrets About Runners
These are the things that non-runners might not find charming about us.
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Here’s the deal with runners. Sometimes we do things that people who don’t run might find a bit…odd or off-putting. Of course I think all the dirty little secrets that runners have are charming. That’s because I’m guilty of every single of the things listed below!
- Sometimes we go a little longer than normal without showering. Ahem. There may or may not have been times that I have sat around in my air conditioned house post-run for longer than is probably socially acceptable. Sometimes runs really take a lot out of you and showering seems so hard. I will say that in my defense, I work from home. I would never go directly into an office post-run without showering. Even I have my limits.
- Talking about poop is a non-issue. Sorry, not sorry. It sounds really gross but as any runner knows, sometimes your stomach is not cooperating and you have to make a stop while running. I’m not someone who normally talks about that kind of thing, but very recently I told my running group that I was pretty sure I would need a bathroom break by mile six because my stomach was acting up. They all understood. No one was shocked that I’d said the word poop and I was able to handle my business.
- Chafing and blisters—sometimes we look a bit rough. It happens to the best of us. We forget the body glide or our socks are just too thin that day. The result is often not pretty. Most runners do a pretty good job of taking care of our feet (they’re pretty important to us) but sometimes things like pedicures slide to the bottom of our list. And for that, we apologize.
- Bodily functions happen on the run. If you run, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you don’t…consider yourself lucky.
- Our running buddies know us better than some of our closest friends. This really isn’t a dirty little secret but it’s something that can surprise us. Once you start spending hours running with people, you get to talking and you get comfortable really quickly. I’ve talked about everything on the run, from how hard marriage is to bad dates to career woes and everything in between. There’s nothing that bonds a friendship like a tough 16 miler on a 90 degree day. For that reason, this is probably the best runner secret out there! Running friends = the best friends!
What are your running secrets??