What are your most embarrassing workout moments?
By Crazy Legs on Jul 30, 2010 with Comments 4
Vancouver's newest landmark: "Mom's Puke Tree". YIKES!
I went for my run the other day and it took me past the spot my kids have gleefully dubbed “Mom’s Puke Tree” (yes, it is still alive despite what I did to it that day). Anyway, I’m happy to report the incident did not repeat itself! Although I have to say I was REALLY conscious of my stomach’s mood as I ran up the hill around the corner from it!
Thinking back through the years, I can list other moments of extreme workout embarrassment:
-having to ban spicy tacos before my Downward Dog (well, duh!)
-wearing a white running shirt… (Duh, again!) Sweat+white shirt= googly-eyed passersby that weren’t – as I mistakenly thought – admiring my running form;
- stopping to say hi to a male neighbor on a run and then when I got home realizing my running top had crept up around my belly button. (How long did I run with my stretch-marked-four-baby-belly hanging out?!!);
-Tripping on a treadmill in the gym. (Okay, this one I don’t feel so bad about ’cause I’ve seen the YouTube vids and I know I’m not alone.)
-Running into a bench that I didn’t see until the runner in front of me lunged to the side. (ditto another time with a pole)
And the whopper, thank goodness it wasn’t mine: Several years ago on my very first long run with our local running group, my friend pointed out a woman running up ahead of us. It was quite obvious from behind that she had experienced the “runs” on her run! I was mortified for her – so much so that I consciously did NOT look at her face. I didn’t want to know who it was when I was going to be running with her for the next 18 weeks….To this day, I’m glad I don’t know who it was (is that weird?).
I guess I’m lucky that I haven’t ever felt so embarrassed that I’ve stopped working out. That one would have done it for me, though!
Anyway, please to share….has anything embarrassing ever happened to you during a run or workout? Here are a few others that people have shared:
About a week and a half ago, I was running down a bike path and noticed little gnats flying around everywhere. By the time I finished my run, my face was freckled with dead gnats that had stuck to my face because of the sweat. Fortunately I had a towel in the car with which to wipe them off.
Jen82 wrote: I was running on a new path next to some woods and from the corner of my eye i see something run out of the woods, so i paniced and screamed and pushed the runner passing me, which in turned scared him and he screamed. turned out it was some teenagers coming out of the woods, we could hear them laughing so hard at us as they ran back into the woods. iv never gone back to that park.
Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article
OK, I am not sharing the most embarassing moment.. soory!
BUT, what is this with white workout tops.. I don’t get it!! If there is a heavy duty liner inside but most often not.. men must make these tops!!!
When it came to handing out gracefulness, someone forgot about me. I have fallen so many times while running and had so many mountain bike accidents, I tend to have cuts and bruises all summer long. Fortunately, no one sees most of these falls.
But in terms of embarrassing (or downright scary), I was skiing with a group of friends in Crested Butte 11 years ago, following my then 23-year old boyfriend down the double black diamond chutes, thinking my then 35-year old self was too cool for school. The only problem was that the 23-year old was a better skier, so when the trail turned into a cliff, he was easily able to turn himself back around. Not me! I got stuck and eventually fell 200 yards down the entire rocky cliff, while all my friends watched and waited. I should have been really hurt, but instead, I walked away without a bruise.
No more double black diamonds for me!
OMGosh Melinda, it is so fortunate you walked away from that!
It’s funny (or not) how many of our embarrassing moments come after trying to look cool in front of others. My, um, ‘stomach upset’ came right after running up a hill in front of another runner trying to look cool – I came off looking anything but after throwing up!
I guess they’re all experiences we can learn from.