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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think you can't just crap in the street!!

308 replies

RescueCack · 18/04/2013 07:25

DH has just come back from a run and sheepishly told me that he took a dump in a bush. Again. This is not the first time. It doesn't happen regularly, but it has happened. How can he think this is ok??

He says he has no choice. I asked him, if he was surrounded by people watching him he would have held it, and he said 'yes, but I would have had to end my run'. So finishing a run is more important than not crapping in public???

He asked me to post because he thinks he will be validated. I know he wont. There is no way this is normal or ok. Judge him hard.

OP posts:
LayMizzRarb · 18/04/2013 23:06

What a filthy pig.

Nicknamefail · 18/04/2013 23:18

Not me flogging! But know of others.... (Also v v infrequently like op oh)

Hard to do a 20 mile run close to toilets though.

Bogeyface · 19/04/2013 00:15

In Sue Townsends book Number Ten there is a crack house full of people shitting themselves, so its probably that. Grim.

As I have said before, it isnt the need to shit that is the problem, its the leaving it that disgusts me. Dont do your shit and cheerfully walk away, you would clean up after a dog so clean up after yourself!

cumfy · 19/04/2013 02:00

Yes, why doesn't he just run round the block a few hundred times.

The this will never happen.

lobsterkiller · 19/04/2013 07:29

Not sure if already posted but its called "runners tum". I used to run but had to give up in the end due to the need to go to the loo everytime i ran, however i always made sure i got home!!

youmaycallmeSSP · 19/04/2013 10:06

Oh yuck. If he really was caught out and had no other option then he should at least have gone back with a bag and cleared it up after his run.

Maybe he should get one of these. My 3yo rates it Hmm

holmessweetholmes · 19/04/2013 10:35

Good lord. Talk about overreacting. Human shit is not nice - I get that. But how many runners do you think are regularly (or indeed ever) crapping on runs in the street? Have you seen any? Is it likely? If it's in a bush or out in a hedgerow or field, nobody will ever know it's there. Some are carrying on as if their children are going to be knee-deep in it. And those of you using it as a reason why people should give up running... what nonsense. And I'm sure the great explorers and mountaineers etc should have just stayed at home in case they needed a poo while they were off discovering new countries or scaling Everest or whatever, in case there was no Starbucks handy.

TheSeventhHorcrux · 19/04/2013 10:50

But how many runners do you think are regularly (or indeed ever) crapping on runs in the street?

Two days ago I used to think none, now I know that is a hell of a lot more! bleurgh

Skybore · 19/04/2013 13:38

foreverondiet Thu 18-Apr-13 22:24:28
"I have been caught out, so now use a glycerine suppository before I leave the house."

Too much information, thanks!

Skybore · 19/04/2013 13:42

And if the goal is NOT to do a crap when you are out running, why would you want to use a Glycerine supp anyway?

fromparistoberlin · 19/04/2013 15:03

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww at marathon runner shitter photo

lottiegarbanzo · 19/04/2013 15:26

I ran for years and have never done this, or considered it. Plenty of fibre and regular habits, no need! In fact I believe exercise helps digestion, so you're more regular as a result.

I've also done lots of hill walking, so see nothing wrong with peeing behind a bush when really necessary but would never poo. I have come across human poos on top of mountains, visible under a rock and it's gross, really, really foul. Much bigger, wetter and smellier than sheep poo, which is pretty innocuous.

I think any runner who believes they may feel the need should carry a bag and a trowel, just in case!

lottiegarbanzo · 19/04/2013 15:31

Btw, if this really disgusts you, don't ever go on holiday to India. Not an issue confined to runners there!

merlottits · 19/04/2013 15:43

Yes please NEVER visit India.

People just drop trou and lay a cable all the time. Revolting.

I can't get worked up about the odd runner's turd. Still reeling from the news that Gary Lineker shat himself during 1990 world cup.

TheRivieraKid · 19/04/2013 15:49

Catching up very late with this thread but I think it's crack that makes you need to take a dump quite quickly Jamie. A few years back we lived in a house that backed onto another row of houses. Local druggies used to use the path as a place to take a crap all the time. Not a nice sight when you open your curtains, and it stunk in the summer.

I think it's disgusting. YANBU OP.

TheSmallClanger · 19/04/2013 15:51

Adults, without SN or sudden health problems, should not leave their poo lying around in public. It is disgusting. The general code for hillwalking and rough camping is that you bury it.

On a related note, DD asked me once last year what happens when you need the loo urgently during the Tour de France. I had to admit that I did not know. DD pointed out that wetting yourself and then riding a bike for hours sitting in it would give you nappy rash. She didn't mention the other thing.

fascicle · 19/04/2013 15:55

A vote for the OP's husband. If this happened to him regularly, you'd expect him to carry a bag, or have an emergency poo plan. But he was clearly caught unawares (3 times in 15 years is rare in my book). The only other option may have been to have crapped in his clothes (please see Paula Radcliffe note below). Surely that's more unpleasant/disturbing for your hubby and anyone else who would have seen him.

For all the runners who haven't felt the need - you're very lucky. Don't assume that other runners' constitutions are the same as yours. Regardless of how healthy your diet is, how regular you are, whether you've already had a good crap that day - if the contractions come, it can be hard to stop them. I've always managed to get home, but it's a horrible feeling.

Re: Paula Radcliffe. I think it was during a London Marathon she had a public wee, and the Athens Olympic Marathon where she had some sort of infection and accidentally crapped herself in her kit, having pulling out of the race close to the end.

JamieandtheMagicTorch · 19/04/2013 16:46

Thanks to those who replied about crack Smile

Floggingmolly · 19/04/2013 17:07

A vote for the op's husband
He wasn't running a marathon; he was going for a jog.
There are no circumstances under which having a shite in a public highway in civilised society is acceptable.

I'm assuming crack addiction doesn't apply?

limitedperiodonly · 19/04/2013 17:24

Very brave of you to refer to runners as 'going for a jog' floggingmolly Grin

I've never noticed my local streets and parks awash with human shit. Perhaps I'll inspect the next public turd I see more closely. Or perhaps not.

This thread is slightly hysterical and I'm not a jogger, marathon runner or irresponsible dog owner. It's fun, though.

Idocrazythings · 19/04/2013 17:37

I've followed this thread and found it quite amusing, and commented a few times. However I'm getting a bit Hmm. Really it's not a joke and people like the OPs husband are usually pretty embarrassed by it.

Even though the OP says poo. We're not really talking about a poo, runners trots is actually really sharp stomach cramps, followed by an urgent need to poo; sometimes you can ignore it, and it goes away (long enough for you to get home) other times it builds in intensity. The result is actually a pretty explosive poo. not one easily picked up really I have been lucky enough to always make it to a toilet, but I've come close.

They'res no predicting it, it might not happen for weeks then happen for a few runs in a row. It might happen 20min into a run or after 120 min. You can try running on an empty stomach, diet changes, drinking while running not drinking? but it doesn't make a huge difference. Immodium helps but who wants to take that every run.

If running is your main form of exercise and you really enjoy it, then the randomness of it happening is enough not to put you off running.

Do other runners agree?

fascicle · 19/04/2013 18:09

Yes, I agree Idocrazy, although there are some runners on the thread who don't seem sympathetic, since it hasn't happened to them. Generally, I don't think people appreciate that this isn't like 'normal' bowel habits or evacuation. It's more like being in the final stage of labour, fired by rocket fuel.

lottiegarbanzo · 19/04/2013 18:16

But if you think it might happen to you, don't you carry some means of containing or concealing it? Even if that means doing it in your undies or shorts, bagging and binning / carrying them?

As someone said, for hill walkers and campers, there is a protocol, you bury it. I appreciate most runners don't carry much with them but those who need to, like fell runners, do carry essential equipment. I don't see why those prone to exploding bowels shouldn't be equally prepared, just in case.

Idocrazythings · 19/04/2013 18:24

I don't think they do fascicle which is why I wrote it (several others have said it too) it's disappointing, mainly, what other runners, who don't get it, are writing. Which is why I wrote what I wrote. That and the fact I don't want everyone thinking runners are a bunch of dirty mingers!

PassTheCremeEggs · 19/04/2013 18:29

This is so grim. Our dog disappeared into a bush recently and rolled in human poo - I've never been so repulsed. Your DH should take a bag, it's not that hard, I pick up after my dog every day, why on earth is it ok for him not to pick up after himself?? Ewwwwww.