I was out on my run today, over half of it is a secluded paved pedestrian trail that runs through a park I live a couple blocks from.
I live in a famously violent city in a rougher neighborhood with the highest population of the cities houseless community. I am always running by camps in the woods and down and out folks and have been weekly for years with no problem. Still, most people from the burbs gasp when they learn I go running by myself in this area (a disc golfer got shot dead in the back here many years ago by a tweaked out person so that looms large in peoples minds as well).

ANYWAY, today a pretty rough and sketchy looking dude passes me going the opposite direction on a trash bike. As he is passing he reaches down for some narrow cylinder shaped thing on his bikes cross tube which really catches my attention. I watch over my shoulder as he turns around and starts following me. At this point I turn around at full attention with my mace in my right hand and my knife in my left. He starts cussing me out and calling me a stupid bitch because he just dropped something is all. He reaches down to pick it up cussing me out and I say “my bad, I am a stupid bitch” and high tail it out of there and find the closest exit that gets me to a public road.

I do not feel bad for perceiving a threat and acting accordingly but this guy was clearly offended and pissed off and I spent the rest of the run before getting off the trail and to the road hoping he didn’t decide to make me regret. Now I’m wondering if I should start driving out to some other place to run in case I’m on this guys shit list now.

Am I overreacting? I just don’t want to start skipping runs because I don’t feel safe in my neighborhood and driving to a spot and finding parking 3 times a week is a pain and procrastination opportunity you know?

Hey everyone,
I’ve been tracking my training with a smartwatch for a while now, and while I love having accurate stats for my actual runs, I’m starting to feel a bit overloaded by the constant stream of daily metric; heart rate, sleep scores, stress levels, recovery notifications, step counts, etc.
I’m considering switching to using my watch strictly as a training tool: putting it on for runs and workouts, and taking it off for the rest of the day to get a break from the data.

For those of you who have tried this or made the permanent switch:
- How did it impact your training, recovery, or overall relationship with running?
- Did you miss any specific continuous features (like long-term HR trends or sleep tracking), or was the mental reset worth it?
- Did it change how you approach listening to your body vs. relying on data?

I’d love to hear how it worked out for you, whether it was a positive shift or if you ended up going back to 24/7 wear. Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts!

It’s been over 100 degrees where I live for what feels like absolute weeks. And not just hot, humid too with dew points making the air feel like hot soup. And there’s no real end in sight.

I haven’t run since the beginning of July. I feel so antsy and anxious, even walking is miserable. Early mornings are sticky and I’m not a morning person. I don’t feel safe running at night (too many scary run-ins with sketchy characters in the past).

Anyway, I know I’ll be back to running once the heat finally leaves for the season. I’m just annoyed as heck that I’ve lost a ton of progress and motivation. K rant over thanks for reading!

I'm finding myself struggling with running on roads (versus treadmill, sidewalks, trails, boardwalks, etc) - the main issue is the slant of the road. It rains a lot where I live so the roads are slightly slanted with a peak in the middle. Because of this, my right hip is slightly hiked up and my right ankle is slightly collapsing inward. I don't notice any issues when I run on flat surfaces.

This issue became much more pronounced during a recent 10k that was exclusively on the side of a road. By mile 4 my right toe was numb due to my ankle slightly collapsing inward from the slant of the road.

I am currently in PT and working on foot and ankle strength. I'm not looking for medical advice, just curious if anyone else struggles with running on slanted surfaces and how you deal with it.

I'll be running my first half next month! If you have run the Columbus half, how was it and do you have any advice? Anyone else running it this year? Thanks!!

started my official marathon training block on 7/1. went for a spectacular run on 7/2, even said to myself "im having the best morning ever" and was in bliss the whole day!

woke up 7/3 with my left foot swollen like a navel orange. no pain, no idea what or how it happened. Doctor #1 (sports ortho) diagnosed shin splints & low grade ankle sprain. did 2 sessions of PT before i realized the massages they do should not make me yelp in pain.
went to Doctor #2 (podiatrist) for a second opinion, wouldnt see me without an MRI. we are now 3 weeks post-blissful run at this point, but MRI isnt available for another week. MRI finds two torn ligaments in my ankle, plus the beginnings of plantar fascia contracture.
get referred to Doctor #3 (orthopedic surgeon) who does 3 robotic procedures: cleans out the torn ligaments, inject stem cells to create new ligament tissue, and slice open my plantar fascia to reduce contracture.

i am now 2 weeks post-op + 9 weeks post-blissful run. ive missed out on an entire summer of running let alone marathon training and im absolutely gutted.
i started training for the 2026 NYCM in Dec 2024, ended up in the cardiac ICU last november and couldnt run for 2 months. recovered fast enough to do both the United Half & Brooklyn Half earlier this year and was excited to start my official training block. it sucks im back here again but at least its a minor issue.

anyway if youre still reading thanks for listening, i just needed to vent

I took up running about 2 years ago using the C25K to run a 5k with my friends and fell in love with it.

After the 5k I decided to sign up for a fall half marathon in 2025. About two months before the race I went on a hiking trip and got a really bad case of tendinitis in my foot and had to go to PT and not race.

So I deferred my registration to this fall. Started training back in April, have been cross training with functional and strength training and ramped up slowly. I got to a week before my peak week and finished the longest run I’ve ever done (10 miles) and was so proud.

But again, a month before my race I started having symptoms consistent with stress fracture (in my shin). The doctor can’t get me in until after the race.

I’m feeling so sad and discouraged. I feel like I’ve done everything right, and was really looking forward to racing. The race is in 4 weeks and right now I have no pain. Part of me wants to just rest another week and then try to do a few small runs in the weeks leading up and race anyways but I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I miss running and don’t know how to cope or what to do. Some people are telling me to give it up, some are telling me to run anyways. Just needed to rant, but I’d welcome any advice.

I swear I have looked high and low and cannot find any that fit the specs I want. Maybe they don't exist, but I figured I would ask before I give up and settle.

What I'm looking for:

-2 in 1 with the inner fitted short being long, like 7-9inches

-LOTS of pockets, both on the inner leg compressed part and also at least 1 pocket that has a zipper (for carrying phone, keys, cards, cash, gels, etc). Pockets being in compressed sections matter so that things don't move

- High-waisted, as I find that with my body shape it wants to fall, especially if there's stuff in the pockets

-Made of good material for working out, the classic sweat-wicking, non-chafing, whatever they usually claim, and all that good stuff

I have come close on several occasions to finding these shorts; usually the hang-up is that they are not long enough for my taste. Typically, things are around a 5-inch inseam, and I want longer, as things tend to ride up my thighs, and I'm someone who prefers things a bit more modest.

Decathlon's women's Kiprun 900 ultra 2-in-1 doesn't look as long or high-waisted as I would like. Janji's 9-inch trail shorts are SO close to being perfect but don't have an outer layer; again, I prefer modesty and don't like things being tight on my butt for others to see. I think the Wise Women's 532 might be perfect, but they are over $300, not including shipping or taxes. Most of the Lululemon, Gymshark, Adidas, Nike, etc all were too short and had, like, maybe 1 pocket. I think I browsed Hoka and Brooks websites as well and also don't remember finding anything there that fit the bill.

Are there other brands that I'm not aware of? Are there cycling shorts that fit this better? (I did try a brief google of cycling shorts like this for length and didn't find much, but I didn't look too hard). Also, hopefully that dont cost $300 lol. I'm fine to pay around $100 if they are perfect, but $300 for 1 pair is crazy even if they tick every box. At that price, they'd better be indestructible and last me until I'm 100 years old and can become family heirlooms lol.

Also, I know I could buy a pair of good tight ones that aren't 2-in-1 and then just get some loose outer shorts... but if I'm paying a lot of money for a good pair, I just want it to be what I need all in one go and not have to buy more than 1 thing to get what I want.

Thanks for the help, ladies! I know this might be an impossible ask, but I figured it was worth a shot!

(edit: I am 5'7/173cm, preferred inseam of 9in/23cm, with preferred rise of 12in/30cm)

(edit 2: y'all are so helpful; I so appreciate it! I live in Canada and have been doing price comparisons, and the shipping and currency conversion are a bigger problem than I initially realized! Keep the recs coming, but pray for me, ladies; it's apparently rough out here lol)

I don’t know if I’m crazy, but I’m training for a half marathon right now (my first one), and I feel like my runs are taking much more effort than they were when I started.

I almost feel…..slower, but that doesn’t make much sense. Maybe I’m just feeling the training blah.

Just ran my first 10K with CaliFlowRuns! Theme: The Running Dead, and I decided to fully commit to the zombie theme.
I went in as a zombie glizzy and somehow finished looking like the Joker. My makeup was completely destroyed, my eyelashes had a mind of their own, and I was sweating my ass off ,but I had SO much fun.
And yes, I ran the entire 10K in the costume. No costume change, no giving up ,the glizzy made it to the finish line!
Met a bunch of awesome people, took some really cool photos, and the vibes were honestly great. Shoutout to the photographers for capturing the moment!
Next up… half marathon!

Background: was dealing with plantar fasciitis around Feb/March and had to significantly cut my mileage. Just when I was ready to get back into my usual routine, I sprained my ankle and had to stop running completely for 6 weeks. I was able to build back into running around mid-June, which gave me 10 weeks to train for the race.

I stayed pretty low with my mileage and peaked at 19 miles for the week, which is lower than my typical base. I didn't do any runs longer than 6 miles. Despite the reduced volume, I started feeling pretty good halfway through and knew I would be able to run a decent time (for me).

The race itself was a night time trail run. Non-technical trail, mostly dirt and sand, but lots of roots to watch out for with the reduced visibility. It was raining most of the night and started getting pretty heavy around mile 5. Miles 1-3 felt really good - I was running faster than I did the previous year and I knew I could hold that pace. Miles 4-6 were hard. The lack of long runs in my training made it worse than it should have been. I was able to hold enough to run relatively even splits though.

I stayed close to two women and ended up dropping one of them for a mile, but she caught me later. I followed the other one most of the race and was finally able to pass her at about the 5 mile mark. I ended up placing 4th overall for women. It would have been nice to podium, but the 3rd place runner beat me by a full minute and I couldn't have gone any faster if I'd tried.

Coming off an injury and still managing to run a PR (on a dark, sandy, rainy trail) was such a confidence booster. All I could think about while I was injured was finally being able to run again, and this race was just what I needed. I had such a fun time and I can't wait for my next one.

Hey friends, my current weekly exercise split is 3 strength (push/pull/legs) + 2 run (1 interval, 1 long) + 1 yoga + 1 rest.

For the next six months, when I can run outdoors and maybe train for a couple of 10K races (am in tropical area with hot/humid summer and mild winter), I want to switch to a split which is 2 strength (upper body + legs) + 3 run (1 interval, 1 recovery, 1 long) + 1 yoga + 1 rest.

Any suggestions on how best to integrate push/pull exercises into one session of 45-50 mins to maintain upper body strength? What to keep and what can I give up? I currently do bench, incline, push, and tricep presses, pec fly and knee push ups for push day and suspension, seated cable, and bent over rows plus lat pulldown, and either farmers walk or other core exercises for pull day.

Hii, I genuinely just want to know if anyone else has experienced something like this because I am SO confused. Will get it PT checked (i know thats what has to be done and is the most important/responsible) im just a college student who thought could fix it.

A couple of months ago I started getting what I believe is IT band pain on the outside of my knee. The weird part is that before this I had literally never had knee issues. I had been running consistently for around a 2 years, had done 10 mile runs before, and was building up my running without any problems.

Then I got sick and had my wisdom teeth removed, which basically meant I didn’t run or strength train for around a month. I’ve taken breaks before because of other things and whenever I came back I was usually fine, but this time I think I increased my mileage a little too quickly. I went from around 5k to 7k to 10k and suddenly started getting this pain.

The pain was SO consistent at first. It would show up around 3k and then progressively get worse if I kept running. Faster stuff like intervals and fartlek made it worse too. So obviously I was like great im done forever.

I’m training for a marathon and suddenly I can’t even run 3k without my knee acting up.
I started doing strength training and rehab stuff, mostly clamshells, monster walks, wall sits, glute/hip strengthening etc. I also backed off when it hurt. Researched a lot on rehab and running strength exercises/mobility.

Then things started getting really
confusing???
I had a painless 5k.
Then a painless 10k. So on, just following my training plan accordingly.

Ran my first half marathon completely painless for most of it. At the very end both of my knees felt a little funky, but it wasn’t that sharp/annoying ITB feeling I had been getting.
Then I did a fartlek workout with 6 x 2 minutes at around 5k effort and it was COMPLETELY pain free.

Then I ran 10 miles pain free.
Then I ran 20k pain free. Kept training increasing mileage normal all good freling super well.

At that point I was like OMG maybe we’re actually healed??? yayyyy

Then last week I was absolutely exhausted and ended up taking around 6 days off running. I was still strength training, but I skipped my runs because I genuinely felt like my body needed rest.

Today I came back and did an easy-ish 5k. I felt AMAZING cardio wise and even picked up the pace at one point, but then I started feeling a little bit of the same ITB pain again???? Not horrible, nowhere near as bad as before, but enough for me to be like GIRL WHAT ?!

And that’s what I don’t understand.

How can my body be like:
3k = absolutely not
but then:
21k = sure babe
fartlek = no problem
10 miles = easy
20k = amazing
then after 6 days off:
5k = oop you’re done again

Like I genuinely do not understand what is going on

Has anyone else had an injury where it felt like your tolerance was completely inconsistent like this? One day you can run WAY farther than expected with zero pain and another day something much shorter brings the pain back?
I’m wondering if it’s just because recovery isn’t linear, accumulated fatigue, fueling, sleep, training load, pace, mechanics, or if maybe I’m not even dealing with ITBS and just assuming that’s what it is. I did ask my brother-in-law who is a MD and he did suggest the ITB is probably what I was having issues with and supported my rehab exercises.

I’m training for a marathon so obviously I’m trying not to panic every time I feel something, but this has been mentally exhausting because I genuinely don’t know what to expect from my knee anymore.

Would love to hear from anyone who has had something similar, especially if you had the whole “I can randomly run 20k pain free but somehow 5k hurts another day” experience. How did you eventually get consistent again??

I’ve never been someone that did endurance training. Like maybe HIIT online videos as a teen - but I’ve never been an athletic person.

I then lost weight about 3 years ago - 20 kg (I went down to a kind of healthy weight - still according to bmi overweight, not like the unhealthy kind of weightloss). I did the weightloss mainly through a very high volume of weightlifting and a little cardio but mainly stairmaster at a slow pace but for a long time and walking 10k steps a day whilst dieting loosely.

Unfortunately I got very depressed and the gym didn’t do it for me anymore. Gained all the weight back …

I am now back at around 90kg for 165 cm. And have started running(irregularly) in April. Started with runna (on and off, due to being unemployed and it being too expensive). But I did do my first 5km.

Now 6 weeks ago my brother gifted me essentially personal training for a 10km race in October (he is waaaaayyyy fitter than me cardio wise and does multiple races a year and triathlons). I’ve been going running three times a week since (with I think 2 runs that didn’t happen due to me undergoing a small surgery and taking a little break and one run being cut short because I couldn’t finish)

But I feel like I’m soooooo slow. I just see people casually running their 5 km in 30 minutes. Nah … I put like all the effort in and ended up at a little over 40 minutes (down from 45 minutes).

It’s all so discouraging… is there anyone who has had a similar experience in running?

I always struggle with headphones because I usually work out with a slick-back bun. Over-ear headphones either get caught in my hair or completely flatten my bun (RIP 😂). Wired ones are even worse, the cords get tangled, and after running for a while my ears feel sweaty, blocked, and honestly kind of sore.

For the girls who also hit the gym with a high bun or messy bun, what earbuds are you using? Looking for something that won’t mess up my hair, feels comfortable during longer workouts, and still looks cute. Would love some recommendations!

For some unknown reason I have decided to make The Rut 11k my bucket list race, even though I live in flatland Nebraska. It's been over two years since I had our kid and worked out and/or ran consistently so this is very much a 2-3 year plan. But my biggest question is how the heck do I train for elevation when I live at like 1,700ft?

Right now my plan is to 1) rebuild my strength 2) build up to an 11k distance 3) do terrain/elevation training. I fully expect this to take 2-3 years since I am starting from basically nothing.

New mom looking to start running with stroller. I asked two people with Thule Urban Glide first hand how they like the Thule and both mentioned the pain of having to constantly fill up the tires. Anyone have the same issues/ concerns with the Thule? Should I find an alternative option or is this just a part of owning a running stroller?

I went the entirety of last year and all of this spring/summer running without too much injury other than PF at the beginning and I went down on this afternoons long run. I forgot to tuck, so I stopped the fall with my hands (stupid) and my palms are pretty raw, but no actual bleeding. Ankle is a little sore but I guess I should count my blessings.

Mostly mad that not only will this effect upcoming training but also just every day things like bringing laundry down and doing chores (I live alone). Pls send positive vibes my way if you can 😥

Hello !!! ❣️ I am an early morning runner in Denver (not going to be specific about location but downtown adjacent, near a major park, so definitely metro not suburbs) and am looking to build some community & safety. I would feel a lot safer running in a group or even just with another person, especially now that the sun is rising later. My husband isn’t a runner, and sometimes he rides his bike with me, but not consistently. DM for more info/specific location and I can also share my Strava with you! I am a solid 9:30/mile pace but can speed up or slow down.

Happy running!!! 🏃‍♀️ and thanks for reading.

I got the itch back in June to start running again after this sub started popping up on my feed, but kept telling myself “Oh I’ll need these shoes and those shorts” until finally I walked into a Walmart, bought the cheapest pair of running shoes I could find and just freaking did it in July; and have been running almost every day.

Today was my first day that I thought I could tackle a 5k run and it felt glorious! Running seriously feels like something I’ve been missing in my life and I’m so happy to have it back!

Seeing everyone’s posts on this sub have been such a huge source of encouragement! I love seeing such a warm and accepting community and how kind everyone is to each other here regardless of distances, speeds, and everything in between made me stop judging myself so harshly.

Thank you lovely people in my phone who gave me the inspiration to get back on the trails.

Hello, basically I have figured out that the shorts that work for me are double layer ones with little silicone leg grippers, so that my thighs don't chafe and the shorts don't ride up as I run.

I've been using a pair from Decathlon ( https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/women-s-2-in-1-running-and-trail-running-shorts-kiprun-run-500-comfort-black/363217/c383c382m8959586 ) BUT they are out of stock it looks like they are end of line and so I can't buy another pair!

I'm looking for something comparable - a 2 in 1 pair of shorts with the leg grippies. If anyone has any recommendations I would really appreciate it!

Grab a bottle of electrolyte drink, go wild with the foam roller, and give us all the tea on how your training has been lately!

Have a really good run? Share your win!

Struggling with something? This is a safe space to vent and get support!

Thanks for being part of this community!