While first place in this year’s Boston Marathon went to Evans Chebet and Hellen Obiri for the men’s and women’s divisions, respectively, another runner went straight for number two.
A video posted to Twitter shows a runner, apparently in dire need of both a bathroom break not wasting any precious seconds finding privacy. Instead of a proper toilet, they opted to drop their shorts right onto someone’s front lawn during the race on Monday, April 17 to relieve themselves.
In the video, a spectator, possibly the homeowner, appears to check on the runner from the street, prompting an awkward staredown before the gawker heads back to watch the rest of the race.
After around 20 seconds, the runner gets back up, cuts through some trees lining the front lawn, and hops back into the race.
The video, posted by a Reddit user on its Boston subreddit page, was taken down by moderators but was reposted to Twitter, where it remains.
Perhaps understandably, the homeowner was not happy about the unscheduled pit stop. “I have no idea how it can be defended lol. Thank you for the info, I will be filing a report with the BAA,” the user posted in a thread below the original video, noting that there were plenty of portable toilets lining the street near their home for runners to use.
Another user was more sympathetic to the runner’s plight. “I’m sure the runner was really embarrassed to have to do that. I wouldn’t call her out on it any further. If she had to go there was probably no time and unfortunately, it was in your yard. Better than on [Commonwealth Avenue] in front of everyone,” they posted in rebuttal.
After the video was removed, the debate waged on on a drama-loving subreddit, which collected some of the best back-and-forths between the homeowner and other users. While the internet may be divided, one thing is sure: when you gotta go, you gotta go.
Contributing Writer
Laura Ratliff is a New York City-based writer, editor, and runner. Laura’s writing expertise spans numerous topics, ranging from travel and food and drink to reported pieces covering political and human rights issues. She has previously worked at Architectural Digest, Bloomberg News, and Condé Nast Traveler and was most recently the senior editorial director at TripSavvy. Like many of us, Laura was bitten by the running bug later in life, after years of claiming to “hate running.” Her favorite marathon is Big Sur.
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