Duluth’s beloved Grandma’s Marathon is this upcoming weekend, which has prompted a series of preview stories in the Duluth News-Tribune. I doubt any stories will hold the clickability of this one from Monday, June 16. Janna Goerdt writes about the issue of runners urinating on the property of people near the starting line every year.
While many Duluthians celebrate and welcome the marathoners who sweep into town each June, some who live along the race course dread the event.
Despite the rows of portable restrooms set up near the starting line, “the runners are everywhere, peeing right before the race,” said Renee Igo. “It’s really a disgusting, disrespectful experience. In any other context, it would not be OK.”
Race organizers say it’s not OK with them, either, but other than asking runners to please respect private and public property, there’s not a lot they can do about it.
It’s funny, but I’ve actually written about this “marathon pee” situation in the past. Apparently people along the warmup routes of major marathons always have to deal with the problem, some even using their garden hoses to spray perpetrators in the act. For serious runners, having an empty bladder — and empty everything else (I’m getting to that) — is very important at the start of a marathon. I talked to some people I know who run marathons, one of whom is very, very serious, and she says she knows people who rub Vaseline down the insides and backs of their legs to keep, you know, stuff, from sticking to them when said stuff comes a’ tumblin’ down. You might train all year to run a particular marathon or might be on the edge of a qualifying average time for a higher level of competition and, so, stopping at the Biffy just won’t fly.
No one talks about this side of the marathon world. I think it belongs right here on the Internet, don’t you? Any stories out there? Google will haunt your world if you start searching on this topic.
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