I cried mid-run yesterday in a busy park

Edit: Wow ladies. Thank you all. What I was hoping for out of this thread was a mutual laugh but what I got instead was a profound sense of community and pride for being part of this group of xxrunners. You’re all amazing. Here’s to many more miles and tears together ❤️

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I’m hoping you can tell me your story of crying in a public place while trying to complete a run like a total crazy person.

Everything turned out fine so I can laugh about it now but still feel really silly.

Yesterday on my long run I was on about mile 12/17 as I passed by a park with a playground and parking lot. There’s a hill right before you get to the parking lot, but there’s some shoulder so even though it’s a hill, it’s not enough to feel like you need to cross over to the other side. As I got to the base of the hill I heard a mom scream a child’s name and saw a toddler making a break toward the road. His chubby little legs were pumping as fast as they could, and a slightly bigger brother was chasing him as he headed toward the street. I couldn’t see if there was a car coming. All I could do was send up a prayer and try to turn on the jets to make it up this hill. Felt like running through molasses. I felt helpless and knew I couldn’t get to him before he was in the road but I irrationally thought if there was a car coming maybe if I got up higher on the hill it would see my reflective gear or hit me instead of these two boys. Right as I got to where I could see that no cars were coming, big brother tackled him one step into the lane. His mom and I got there at the same time and I made sure he was ok then kept going. I was having a hard time calming down so I got onto the park sidewalk to walk thinking that would help. As soon as I did my throat closed up and I had to sob to get the adrenaline out. It was busy. I was fully drenched in sweat and wearing my running vest. I know I looked insane to several people passing me. But I couldn’t control it.

So glad those boys are ok but I’ll definitely be seeing this in my stress dreams from now on. Have you cried mid-run?