Stories

Mishaps and misadventures STORIES

runners navigate the always challenging conditions at the mdra mudball. Photo by Wayne Kryduba

Another issue, another column of misadventures. This time, runners share stories of races that didn’t go quite as planned — one fall and one off course adventure.

I’ve had my fair share of race mishaps. A couple memorable falls include a trip off the shoulder during a Ragnar Relay that ended in a nasty gash across my forearm courtesy of the guardrail. Another fall at the end of a 50K resulted in nothing more than some minor skinned knees and scraped hands.

I’ve also got turned around in a few races. One wrong turn cost me a podium finish as I

BY NATE LECKBAND

went from second to sixth. Another cost me a PR as I added almost half a mile to a seven mile race.

My worst course error occurred at the 2016 PNC Bank Milwaukee Marathon, and that time it wasn’t really my fault. A citizen of Milwaukee thought it would be funny to throw some turnaround cones off the Hank Aaron Trail into the woods, and the volunteer course marshal in charge of directing the turnaround traffic failed to show up.

After I figured out to turn around, my extra mileage put any sort of finish time I would have been happy with well out of range. By the time I reached the finish, I’d run almost 29 miles.

While my falls and running off course were memorable, they weren’t nearly as memorable as the stories below.

Falling in a 5K

Mallory Henderson, from Sylacauga, Alabama, told me about a fall during a 5K in Talladega, Alabama. Mallory followed the example of her parents, ultramarathon directors, and began running when she was a kid. Here’s her story:

A few years ago, I was running a color run 5K in Talladega, Alabama. Usually I do longer distances (ultra marathons), but I was running this one for fun. I was almost done running when I heard a man tell his son that we were almost to the finish line — less than a mile away!