Now there’s something you don’t hear everyday. I heard this while running a half marathon in Greer, South Carolina. The man yelling was sitting in a lawn chair ... drinking a beer … at 8am ... yelling at a pack of runners.
In the pack, everyone’s jaw fell open as we glanced at each other and then back at the man. He’s not yelling something positive like, “You rock!” or “You got this!” or even holding two thumbs up. No, he’s yelling, “Hey, fat a$$! You look like a hippo in heat!”
I wish I could say the man in the lawn chair was an aberration, but, sadly, he is not.
During the 2019 London Marathon, contractors hired by the race organizers started to clear up the water stops and the finish line before the time limit, while runners were still running. The contractors shouted at and heckled the runners: "If you weren't so fat, you could run", and "This is a race, not a walk". 1
During the 2017 New York City Marathon, a runner was personally targeted by a heckler between the 22nd. and 23rd. mile. A man leered at her and said, “It’s gonna take your fat a$$ forever, huh? “ 2
A fellow runner in the Slow Runners Community on Facebook posted this about a heckling that took place in her apartment complex gym: “I use the treadmill 6 days a week and had never seen this guy before. I know he was talking to me because he actually got my attention. People have done this before usually to ask if I’m ok with them turning the TV on. When I pulled out my headphones he looked me up and down said, 'Mooooooo.' Laughed and left.”
Then there are these comments from a Runbundle thread about being heckled while running:
- “I've been barked at twice by people in cars.”
- “I was in Vegas this weekend and did a run on the strip. I heard someone yell 'Woo pig soooeee' behind me.”
- “I was a new runner shuffling along when someone yelled out of a car in a mocking tone "Are you RUNNING!?" I quit running for like a year or so because of that. I still get heckled with laughter and hoots for my awkward gait.”3
The 2019 London Marathon organizers apologized to the runners who were heckled by their contract employees and said they will make changes to prevent this from happening again. They will start the clean-up operation later, inform contractors of the procedures for dealing with slow runners, and look at how water should be handed out. They also gave the runners who were heckled free entry for the 2020 marathon. (Due to the pandemic, the 2020 race only allowed elite participants. I hope the free entry is good for … whenever.)
The runner who was heckled during the 2017 New York Marathon, LaToya Shauntay Snell, went home home and wrote about her heckling experience on social media platforms. She went viral as other people responded with similar experiences. Now she is a freelance chef, photographer, contributing writer for The Root and founder of RunningFatChef, a food-and-fitness blog that documents her experiences as a plus-size marathoner, ultra-marathoner and obstacle-course racer. She has been featured on multiple platforms such as People Magazine, BuzzFeed Health, Self Magazine, Refinery29 and Women’s Running. She said, “My mission was to let people know they weren’t alone—that they, too, can push past disparaging, unsolicited comments.”
The treadmill runner who was heckled in her apartment complex gym posted her experience in our Slow Runners Community on Facebook. Her post generated 833 comments of support! She plans to ignore the “jerk” and keep on running.
Which brings me back to the lawn chair man -“Hey, fat a$$! You look like a hippo in heat!” - well, we all just started laughing! His heckling became, literally, a running joke. For the next 10 miles the pack banter was almost non-stop:
- at the water stops - “Coming through, hippo in heat!”, “My fat a$$ needs some water”,
- at the energy gel table -“I am one hungry, hungry hippo!”, “I hope this gel doesn’t go straight to my fat a$$!”
- and at the finish – “Thanks to my fat a$$, I made it!”, “Nothing can stop a hippo in heat!”, etc.
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Obviously, these heckling situations do not lend themselves to a “conversation” with the person who just called you a name or compared you, negatively, to an animal. Plus, you can’t change anyone except yourself.
Most of the people who heckle runners are too out of shape to run a single mile. Once I responded to a heckler by inviting him to run with me ... “I only have 5 more miles.” He declined.
Adam Krajchir, founder and director of Race with Purpose has a better suggestion: “Instead of taking the bait and heckling back, use the other's rudeness for your gain. Take negative things and spin it. See it as a compliment, that it means, 'I'm doing something that they can't do. I'm doing exactly what I should be doing.'" 4
Finally, most people are really nice and would never think to heckle a runner. But there are a very few people who are unable to keep negative comments to themselves and you know what? You don't need to listen to them. Keep moving, you are doing exactly what you should be doing.
Most of the people who heckle runners are too out of shape to run a single mile. Once I responded to a heckler by inviting him to run with me ... “I only have 5 more miles.” He declined.
Adam Krajchir, founder and director of Race with Purpose has a better suggestion: “Instead of taking the bait and heckling back, use the other's rudeness for your gain. Take negative things and spin it. See it as a compliment, that it means, 'I'm doing something that they can't do. I'm doing exactly what I should be doing.'" 4
Finally, most people are really nice and would never think to heckle a runner. But there are a very few people who are unable to keep negative comments to themselves and you know what? You don't need to listen to them. Keep moving, you are doing exactly what you should be doing.
2. https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a20866030/what-happened-after-fat-shaming-nyc-marathon/
3. https://www.runbundle.com/opinion/running-rants/hecklers
4. https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a20807044/stop-bugging-me/
