The most painful T&F event you've experienced?

[79]

Emotionally and physically, I would say the cross-country.
I was good at it when I was a teen, but what a nightmare, especially when it was rainy and muddy.

[dukehjsteve]

Emotionally, an easy answer. In a 1965 dual meet with Wake Forest, who had no good HJ'ers at all, I NH'ed at my opening height of a whopping 6'0", earning 0 points instead of an easy 5. Fortunately we still won the meet. But 58 years later, I'm still mad about it.

Physically, 5 years ago I was struggling to finish a 5K Trail Race. I collapsed 20 yards from the grassy finish line. In acute shoulder pain , I crawled to the finish,

[Atticus]

When my college teammate, Rod Utley, TJer, took a discus to the head in practice. We were all terrified, but he made a full recovery.

[dupontred]

Getting tripped and falling on a cinder track. First stitches I ever got.

[lonewolf]

The last third of any race beyond 440 yards.

[DoubleRBar]

Physically, when I ran my first marathon (1965). I ran the first ten miles way too fast, took no water during the race, and struggled with cramps in both legs during the last mile. Bruce Dern (the actor) passed me during that final mile. It was a miserable experience, especially the last few miles, however I did manage to finish the race.

[bad hammy]

Back in the day I was basically a decent HS miler/two miler/XC guy who could score points in the 880 if we had to have them, running the 1320 on a decent DMR - our miler was a 4:11 guy as a junior. No races were ever as painful as the one time I tried to run an all-out 440 in practice . . .

[Trickstat]

Getting tripped and falling on a cinder track. First stitches I ever got.

I wasn't there the time my teenage big sister fell headlong on a cinder track during a 100m race. She had bits of track coming out of her knees sporadically for a few weeks after that.

Watching her try to throw a javelin during her one heptathlon a few year's later was pretty painful...

[Walt Murphy]

It was the coldest I’ve ever been in my life. The wind-chill factor in Ames, Iowa, the site of the 2000 NCAA Div.I X-Country Championships, registered a numbing 19-below! Coaches and friends I’d known for years were bundled up so much they were barely recognizable. But the cold weather didn’t stop Penn Relays Director (at the time) Dave Johnson and me, along with T&F News correspondent Don Kopriva, from hopping on a golf cart to follow the races around the Iowa State course. We’d done this before, so how bad could it be? Well, with Johnson at the wheel, with only a pair of socks(!) on his hands, and his beard offering minimum protection for his face, he would scream in agony every time we drove into the teeth of the wind that was sweeping the open field. Aah, the things we do to cover our sport!

[NotDutra5]

As a freshman in HS everyone tried every event but the PV which were left for the true crazies of which I was not one. The long jump pit was truly a pit with the sand below the cement surface surrounding the pit. On one attempt I attempted to run through the pit and....woke up with my coach telling me it would be ok. I had slipped and hit my head on the side of the pit.

[DET59]

That’s easy. Watching the US men’s 4x1 relays for the past 30 years. 😂😂😂

DJG....LOL best post for the topic

Personally, my first decathlon 1500 on a December afternoon at Glendale CC was not pleasant (my first time running anything longer than 180 low hurdles). Witness: late 70's, seeing UCSB decathlete John Serrano (a great guy) get hit in the back with a javelin, and then hauled off in an ambulance. Real sobering to the rest of us. 90 minutes later he show up bandaged and wrapped up like a torso mummy and won the 1500 at around 4:20. Guy had guts.

[schigh]

I ran at the State meet at UCLA in high school. I was the first leg of the mile relay. As I hit the final straightaway it was like I was standing still as they all ran away from me. I was clearly nowhere near the class of the likes of James Sanford and Andre Phillips (who obviously anchored their teams). That was my last 'competitive' race. We still broke our school record, but I'll never forget that feeling of pure hopelessness. Even a few seconds feels like an eternity in the quarter.

[spartacus]

even though i have run 400m races many times before, my first 400m this year as a masters athlete was my most painful ever. This was despite doing a lot of fitness work during the spring and winter. I thought i was cruising, but hit the wall at the 200m mark. By the time i got to the 300m, it was a struggle simply to put one foot in front of the other.

[DET59]

I ran at the State meet at UCLA in high school. I was the first leg of the mile relay. As I hit the final straightaway it was like I was standing still as they all ran away from me. I was clearly nowhere near the class of the likes of James Sanford and Andre Phillips (who obviously anchored their teams). That was my last 'competitive' race. We still broke our school record, but I'll never forget that feeling of pure hopelessness. Even a few seconds feels like an eternity in the quarter.

That was a great CA State meet for sprints, on the girls side you also had Centennial vs Locke (Bolden, Brisco). Amazing crowds in the 70's at SoCal/CA big high school meets. I had an early season similar experience the year prior, running against Charles White as he broke the NR in 330 hurdles... the distance between the last two hurdles and finish, while CW already finished, seemed like another 330.

[Peter Michaelson]

My first and only time (so far) competing at altitude was at the USATF Indoor Masters Champs in Albuquerque in 2017. I was in the 60-64 800m. As I saw my medal chances slipping away, with 100m to go I thought, "This is bad! I might not even finish!" Then with just 50m to go I thought, "I have no legs!" but somehow managed 4th place.

I thought there might be better air outside, so I left the indoor facility and decided I would walk 5 steps, jog 5 steps, walk 10 steps, jog 10 steps etc. to help me recover. Every few steps of walking or jogging, I had to stop to puke violently. This went on for a good half-hour.

When I flew home to Connecticut the next day, I went from a little sniffly to full-blown flu with fever in just a few hours. I respect anyone doing 800m or longer at altitude because that sh!t hurt!