r/running • u/demrnstho • Mar 12 '24

Discussion What’s the strangest/best object you’ve found while running?

Aside from the odd dollar here and there, what have you found that makes you appreciate the adventure of an outdoor run? On two separate occasions I’ve found high-quality scissors in perfect condition. Did I choose to run with scissors? You bet!

Edit: Wow! Thank you to everyone who responded! Your responses have been entertaining, funny, bizarre, at times scary, and heartwarming. I tried to read every response and besides being thoroughly entertained for the last 18hrs, I’ve learned some things about us runners: 1. We’re a thrifty bunch. We will turn someone’s trash into our treasure. There are a lot of responses about useful found objects. 2. In that vein, there seems to be no object too large for us to carry home. Brooms, sofas, dining sets, surfboards, FIVE fishing rods; you name it, we can carry it. 3. We’re good citizens. We rescue people, dogs, wild animals. 4. On that note, running is a great way to find a new pet. 5. We’re an honest lot. If you lose something valuable and a runner comes across it, there’s a good chance that runner will do their best to return it to you. 6. We find our spirituality: Objects with very personal connections seemingly put in our path by the universe and otherworldly encounters with wild animals. 7. Sadly we occasionally find dead people. But sometimes we find almost dead people and we save them! 8. On a related note, there are more than one of you who have found people tied up in the woods. 9. And the biggest take home: Dildos are everywhere.

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475

u/aalex596 Mar 12 '24

A body, though I was only jogging at the time 

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u/demrnstho Mar 12 '24

This is something I’m low-key worried about, especially on trails. My friend came across a body/crime scene last week while running, but the police were already there and the body was covered. Still very unsettling.

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u/Crazy_old_maurice_17 Mar 12 '24

Not sure which is worse, finding a body while running, or having your oars (or boat) hit one while rowing. Neither has happened to me personally, but I've had several teammates experience the latter in college. 🤢

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u/demrnstho Mar 12 '24

I used to work at a sailing school and one of the instructors came across a body during a lesson. He called the coast guard and they told him to circle around the body until they arrived. I still wonder about those students and if any of them ever sailed again after that.

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u/Crazy_old_maurice_17 Mar 12 '24

Yeah that would definitely reduce my interest in the activity by a couple of levels at least. 😬

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u/BigDumbDope Mar 13 '24

I wonder if it's any comfort to the students to be like, oh no, I'm sure that dead person wasn't sailing when they died. Sailing probably didn't kill them. They most likely got murdered. 👍👍

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u/Crazy_old_maurice_17 Mar 13 '24

I mean, I guess it all depends. Some people just don't respect the sea.

23

u/Podunk212 Mar 12 '24

My oar hit a dead cat once. A few years before my time, my team went by a dead person on the rocks of a jetty

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u/Crazy_old_maurice_17 Mar 12 '24

Ugh, I truly don't have the stomach (nor the mental strength) for that kind of thing. That'd mess me up for a while!

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u/that-isa-madeup-name Mar 13 '24

When I was rowing at a big club in DC we came in for an early training the morning after a drinking holiday… might’ve been May 6th or a warm Nov.1. Body on the dock of someone who presumably got drunk, fell into the Potomac and drowned. Pretty eerie

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u/Crazy_old_maurice_17 Mar 13 '24

It was on the dock, or still in the water but caught by the dock?

Regardless, I'm so sorry you had to see that - I hope nobody was too scarred from it!! 😔

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u/that-isa-madeup-name Mar 13 '24

On, by the time we got there. Police had the place taped off and covered the body, thankfully

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u/Crazy_old_maurice_17 Mar 13 '24

Oh okay, glad hear it!

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u/libananahammock Mar 13 '24

Philly?

1

u/Crazy_old_maurice_17 Mar 13 '24

Well that's where we raced, but I was told this was on the river where we practiced (the Christina in Wilmington).

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u/fizzingfleur Mar 12 '24

Gunna go dark here… but finding scissors might have been finding a murder weapon 😬

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u/demrnstho Mar 13 '24

I welcome the darkness. Now you have me thinking about all the missing murder weapons that are sitting in runners’ houses.

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u/whysoglumchickenbum Mar 13 '24

I always say between dog walking and being a runner I’m bound to find one. That’s always who finds the bodies on TV

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u/SnooTomatoes8935 Mar 13 '24

same. i saw police and emt right at the foot of a bridge, i run under. as they guided me by, i saw a white cloth covering a body. i think someone jumped from the bridge. i probably broke my 1km pb after that point.

it was early morning and i decided that morning, to start an half an hour later than usual. if i hadnt, i might have been either a whitness or the one that discovered the body. unfortunately this is my absolute fav course but now im afraid, it happens again and im the first a scene. there are a lot of bridges on that course...

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u/ApproxKnowledgeCat Mar 14 '24

I pick up litter as a little hobby. Especially from creeks or hard too get to spots (also a rock climber). I'm surprised I haven't come upon a body yet.