Last spring break I went down to Tennessee to work on the Cumberland Trail with a group of kids from school. Anyway I was out on 6 miles run and I was running by this house with a fence, on the other side there was this dog barking like crazy and following me along the fence. So on my way back I was teasing the dog and it started growling, barking and showing it's teeth like it's going to bite me. Then I saw the driveway for that house and the fence ended the dog ran outside onto the road started chasing me. I picked up a rock and pretended to throw it at him/her finally it stopped turned around and went back to the house.

Lesson to be learned here was not to tease dogs even if it's behind a fence...

Training for a marathon in November I went out early for a long run. At 6am it was dark, cold and foggy. The starting point was up in the hills of my town. It was a 3 feet wide paved trail with branches, plants, trees in both sides of the trail. I got there; stretched next to the car doubting if I had to wait for daylight. The full moon was illuminating the trail so I decided to go and see the sunshine while running. Just half mile into the trail I saw a deer standing in the middle of the trail, wondering if I turn back or yield and make loud noises to scare the deer away, I did the later. Wrong choice! The deer launched against me, I turned and started to run when my legs tangled and I collapsed into the ground. I could hear the deer running closer and closer to a point I felt he was going to smack me. Then he went into the branches and passed me. I stood up shaking and tried to run the other way as fast as I could but I was shocked and just could walk. After few steps I looked back searching for the deer. The air was heavy and the trail was quiet. And just when I was controlling myself I heard the deer running through the branches behind me. This time I did not stop and run to the nearest park about half a mile away. I was so frightened that went into the bathroom with stomach flu. I did not leave the bathroom until daylight. True story

Well here is one of my most unusual training runs...well for me not soo unusual. Last winter I was outside running and we had alot of ice not much snow but it was really icy. I am pretty klutzy.. so I was running along looking down and trying not to slip on the patches and chunks of Ice all over the place. Doing pretty well and all of a sudden WHAM!! I ran right into a tree branch and slammed into the ground. Well it hurt some but mostly my pride.A little old guy stopped his van and asked me if I was ok and I said yeah and he left so I walked back to the car and went home when I got there my Hubby was looking at me like I was from Mars and I asked him what?? :eek: He said go look in the mirror and low and behold I had a blacking eye and blood was running down my cheek. I must have looked a sight driving home. Lucky I didn't get pulled over by the police. Anyway I didn't feel to bad and it cleared up after a few days. Lesson learned look all directions when running ...cause those trees will get ya every time ;)
Chris in OH ...who now has an irrational fear of trees

Now that is funny!!! I will be thinking of that during my next race and hoping that I don't put things on in the wrong order. I am doing my tri's in just my swimsuit right now so I wont have the problem but there are so many others that can crop up just when you feel you are making good time. Murphy's Law.

Good stories everyone.

BrianMc,

Thanks for sharing your story that was really funny many runner/cyclist have dog stories but a bear story.....

Dkidd -

Yes - only in Texas. In Washington state they either stare at you, having stopped chewing their grass as they can't believe their eyes or they run away (mostly the baby moo moo's).

All -

Keep these coming. They're hilarious! Especially the bear one.

My only contribution is: While riding my bike down a country road where people have dogs and fences, but the gates are usually open, I come upon a chihuahua. They're small. You'd think they'd be fast, but not fast enough to keep up with a bike going 15 mph. Wrong! I had a chihuahua chasing me only 6 inches from my foot hellbent on having my foot as a chew toy. I had to stand up and bike faster to get away. I finally got far enough ahead that it gave up, but for a second there I was a little worried for my foot.

2 things,
1, during track season my freshmen year of highschool i was running with the track team in a neighborhood, and i turnd around and was running backwards yelling at my teamates and encouraging them. Well one of the girls (she sadly passed away in March...but lets not go there) yelled CAR!!, and the next thing i know my right leg nailed the front bumper of a parked car and i fly over the hood and right wheel and land flat on my a$$. THat wasnt embarassing at all...YEA RIGHT...so i get up...make sure there is no damage to the car and run off.

2....damn another parked car story...well its not during training but i was on my mtn bike coming home from a friends house and was riding with no hands and talkn on the fone..all of a sudden my front wheel goes to the right...i drop my fone and try to grab the bars..cant grab them in time..and nail right into the wheel of a parked car...holy crap i was so scared that there would b damage to the car...but i only hit the wheel..so its all good...go ahead..laugh all u want

My wife and I were visiting her parents in Jacksonville, FL and I wanted to stay with my training [ at least the running] while on vacation. While running one morning, I ran past a house with a tall privacy fence which boasted a 'beware of dog' sign, which didn't really strike me as a red flag [ but perhaps should have.] As I was passing the house, the canine referred to in the posted sign started barking, and sounded very agitated and LARGE! I laughed to myself as I passed and thought ' Wow, it is a good thing that privacy fence is there, that dog sounds mildly intimidating.' As I passed the house, the barking grew more ferocious, and seemed as though there was no longer a privacy fence blocking the sound! I turned around to assess the possible 'situation' and discovered that a german shepherd the size of a large shetland pony had leaped far enough to get is front legs over a 6 and 1/2 foot tall privacy fence. The dog was bearing its gigantic teeth and slowly pulling itself over the fence. Needless to say, my split times for that mile were considerably lower than the rest of my training run, as I proceeded to sprint approximately 1/2 a mile. Adrenaline rush like I have never known, and I decided to find a different way back to the house.

I have so many funny training stories....most of which involve half-marathon runs and serious GI problems.....but I will save those for another day.

Last fall I was on a nice long bike ride, just riding along minding my own business. Then this hornet/wasp stinging insect-thing flies into one of the vents of my helmet. As you might have guessed, the insect-thing wasn't happy to be there. By the time I stopped, got my helmet off and got the hornet from hell untangled from my hair, I was stung about eight times including once over the eye. I must have looked like a crazy lady, standing there beating myself over the head.

My head swelled up so much I coudn't get my helmet back on and my eye swelled shut (I ended up with a black eye). I had to call my husband to come and get me - didn't want to ride the last 20 miles with no helmet and one eye. The worst part was explaining to everyone at work how I got the black eye.

I was stopped at a light at a busy intersection. When the light turned green, I jumped up to get on my seat, but my shorts, which are a little too big anyway, got caught on my seat and get yanked down some. Well, my left foot is still clipped in so I kind fell back down on the bar, but I jump up again and pull my shorts down even more, but now I am rolling and can only get my right heel on the pedal. Do I try to clip in and get control or stop in the middle of the intersection and pull my shorts up? I keep going, crack exposed to traffic, swerving around like I am drunk or something. Finally, I get my right foot clipped in and I cruise through the intersection and pull my shorts up!