Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
FannyFifer · 18/04/2013 13:42

Wtf, if you need a shite go to a toilet.

Jaskla · 18/04/2013 13:43

It isn't just a normal urge to go that can be put off for those thinking he should have waited/gone to look for a toilet.

It's an awful cramp-like pain like you'd get with an upset stomach - obviously running plays havoc with the digestive system!

I have had it once - luckily I was only 2 minutes from home but I agree that if you weren't near a toilet then you'd be stuck.

All he can do really is try and make sure he 'goes' before he leaves the house or plan a route where he can pass home/a toilet. I agree that 3 times in 15 years doesn't warrant packing bags/tissues every time he runs.

LessMissAbs · 18/04/2013 13:48

That's a bit extreme FannyFifer - I mean carrying loo roll and a plastic bag with you when running is doable, but an entire portaloo!

Anyway OP, it sounds like your DH didn't actually crap in the street but behind a bush. I agree crapping in the actual street, on the pavement, with people around you, would be entirely unreasonable, but concealing yourself when you've checked there are no other people about, in undergrowth, if you're really desperate, 3 times in 15 years, is just dealing with it sensibly.

This is why runners are often better with other runners...

Bogeyface · 18/04/2013 13:52

Spare

I am not talking about random things that just happen. This is something that he knows could happen every time he takes a run so why not take a nappy bag with him? If you knew that you suffered travel sickness then yes, I would expect you to take a sick bag on a coach for example.

stop being so squeamish about a natural bodily function!

Who's squeamish, most of the women on here are mothers, poo comes with the job! As I said above, its not so much about the shit, but the fact that he left it there. Its no better than if it were dog shit.

Bogeyface · 18/04/2013 13:54

Why is it ok to say "I am a runner, I need to shit therefore I can shit where I like, get over it" but not to say "I am a dog owner, my dog doesnt have worms therefore it can shit where it likes, get over it"?

MandragoraWurzelstock · 18/04/2013 13:55

'Running causes this to happen, it's not pleasant but what is the alternative?'

Erm, don't go running where there's no toilets?

I mean yes if you don't expect it to happen, like, you suddenly become unwell, then of course it's excusable.

But if you KNOW it's likely to happen then really words fail me.

TheSeventhHorcrux · 18/04/2013 13:57

As a sufferer of IBS I am all to familiar with the urgent urge. There have been times when I have genuinely genuinely thought that I was going to soil myself from the horrific agony and urgency of the disease.
The sudden and indescribable hideousness of these attacks are weekly but only ONCE have I actually had the lack of self control to wait for a toilet. It was in a field next to a motorway where the nearest toilets were 20 miles. I have never been so mortified in my life.

YANBU OP at all and anyone who thinks its acceptable is be VVVU. It's filthy and an adult should have the control to hold it or make a plan. It's no excuse being a runner - plan your damn route if it's happened before.

JuliaScurr · 18/04/2013 13:57

take tissue & bag. hide behind bush to poo
not a problem
littering the countryside with human turds
big problem

LessMissAbs · 18/04/2013 13:58

Bogeyface you are aware that there such things as wild animals, eg foxes, badgers, mice, rats, etc - do you think they all use toilets??

Mandora so all runners and some walkers should forego the countryside and forever more confine their routes to 1/2 mile circuits of the toilets in the local park, or a public toilet block? Mmnn, sounds fab!

TheSeventhHorcrux · 18/04/2013 14:02

so all runners and some walkers should forego the countryside and forever more confine their routes to 1/2 mile circuits of the toilets in the local park, or a public toilet block? Mmnn, sounds fab! - if it means that they won't shit somewhere and leave it then yes. Or alternatively they could learn some control or at least to prepare.

What did your mother always say before you went out? "have you gone to the toilet because theres no where to go on the way"

QuintessentialOHara · 18/04/2013 14:03

I think the general consensus is that we should expect more from humans than we expect of dogs and their owners.

MandragoraWurzelstock · 18/04/2013 14:04

Not as fab as treading in someone else's shit.

sparechange · 18/04/2013 14:08

Bogeyface, sorry, you are making me laugh
He knows it could happen every time he goes for a run?
As someone else pointed out, 3 times in 15 years means there is a 0.02% chance of him needing a poo while he runs

That is like saying every pregnant woman knows she might go into labour at any point after 28 weeks because there is a small % of prem labours so she should put a plastic sheet on every tube/bus/restaurant seat she sits on
Or DCs should never ever be allowed out in public before the age of 8 in case there are any accidents

Are you really suggesting everyone needs to be prepared for something that has a 0.02% statistical likelihood of happening? Really?

GoSuckEggs · 18/04/2013 14:09

Oh Jesus, when i saw this thread title i got scared that it was about me!!

A couple of nights ago i was walking the dog, and suddenly got the worse cramps and had to run behind a tree and shit!

It was horrendous. I didnt think i would be able to make it home. Lucky i didnt try because it was volcanic! Blush

Bogeyface · 18/04/2013 14:22

Bogeyface you are aware that there such things as wild animals, eg foxes, badgers, mice, rats, etc - do you think they all use toilets??

Are YOU aware that you have a choice about it and they dont? I dont expect animals to use a toilet, but I do expect you to show some consideration for others and clean up after yourself. If that means shoving a very very small plastic bag into you pocket or whatever, then why cant you do it?

And every pregnant woman over 28 weeks is aware that she could go into labour at any time, however unlikely that is, and therefore is prepared by carrying her notes and making sure she is going to be somewhere within phone distance of medical help. You know, like the midwife tells you to Hmm

Bogeyface · 18/04/2013 14:23

So all runners are animals who cant possibly be held accountable for leaving random shits about the place?

That explains a lot.

limitedperiodonly · 18/04/2013 14:24

I bet your dog was mortified gosuckeggs. Did he try to get you to the kerb first?

formicaqueen · 18/04/2013 14:31

I have pooed on a run. It was in an isolated rural spot and I couldn't see the problem. Not sure I'd poo on a city run

Skybore · 18/04/2013 14:32

QuintessentialOHaraThu 18-Apr-13 14:03:52
"I think the general consensus is that we should expect more from humans than we expect of dogs and their owners."

Snigger... yet well said Smile

livinginwonderland · 18/04/2013 14:45

My dad goes fell-running - as in, 20+ miles up mountains in the arsehole of nowhere, so there are no public toilets for miles. Runners regularly pee while running or squat behind rocks/bushes to relieve themselves. I have, disgustingly, seen a man finishing the race with poo all over his thighs. You could clearly tell it wasn't just mud and it was horrible - I'd rather he'd gone behind a bush!

Runners trots are a real thing - I would rather someone pooed in a bush than ran past me with poo running down their thighs!

babyfirefly1980 · 18/04/2013 14:46

The thing is Dog owners get castigated for leaving shit around and rightly so. Someone on a run should not think they have an excuse to crap where they want and leave it.

Stropperella · 18/04/2013 14:51

Um, if a particular form of exercise causes you to get stomach cramps and diarrhoea, is it actually good for you? Perhaps those who get struck down with "runners' trots" should just stay in and run on a treadmill.

Skybore · 18/04/2013 14:53

This thread has been an education... of sorts.

ChasingDogs · 18/04/2013 14:54

Well if he's got runner's shits there isn't a lot he can do about it is there?

He does need to go back and clear it up/bury it though. And I'm not sure why so many people think it's fine to shit in rural areas. Some of us do actually live here, and walk in those secluded woods daily (including off the paths). The countryside is not a toilet for runners (or anyone else that doesn't have the excuse of being feral Grin). Clear it up or bury it properly, please!

GoSuckEggs · 18/04/2013 14:57

limitedperiodonly um no.... i had to try and fight the filthy little git off because he was trying eat it. it was not a pretty sight. me with pants down, horrendous shits trying to squat and hold top and trousers out of shit all the while trying to fight the dog away from eating it.

honest to god i was almost sick.