Why does running a marathon make you poop? Long-distance runners have lengthy struggled with the urge to move No. 2 prior to, right through, and after a marathon.
Running a marathon is not for the vulnerable of center — or for the weak of sphincters.
Those who have tried to finish a 26.2-mile race know that once in a while nature calls at inopportune instances. In fact, here's an underlying concern amongst many runners that they may poop their pants in the middle of an tournament in front of 1000's of folks. (Because let's accept it, they by no means have enough port-a-pots.)
But why does running a marathon make you poop, anyway? Let's take a nearer glance.
Why does running a marathon make you poop?
The urge to poo while running a marathon moderately commonplace. In reality, the phenomenon is often known as "runner's diarrhea." Others aptly name it the "runner's trots."
There are a collection of reasons running a marathon makes you poop. For starters, a shift in blood glide occurs. "During physical exercise, the increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) redistributes blood flow from the splanchnic organs to the working muscles," a 2012 assessment published in the National Library of Medicine explains. "A severely reduced [blood flow to the abdominal gastrointestinal organs] may frequently cause GI ischaemia."
This reasons symptoms corresponding to belly ache, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, and more.
Another contributing issue to runners prairie-dogging-it right through a marathon has to do with the anal sphincter taking a back seat to different muscle teams. (You know, like leg muscles.)
"Someone in the middle of a strenuous physical activity, it’s really hard to voluntarily keep the muscle closed while engaging in other activities with other muscles in the legs and pelvis," Michael Dobson, DO, a colon and rectal surgeon at Novant Health in Charlotte, N.C., informed Mental Floss in 2021. "You can’t control the muscle when using muscle.”
There's also the rhythmic sloshing of the contents of your stomach and jostling of intestines while running — both of which don't exactly help the poo situation.
How many runners poop their pants?
According to a study published in 1992 in the National Library of Medicine, folks experiencing gastrointestinal distress before, during, and after long-distance running is pretty common. The study asked 109 long-distance runners about their poo habits in relation to the sport. Here's what it found:
- 62 percent said they had stopped to poop while training
- 43 percent said they had nervous diarrhea before a race
- 51 percent said they had diarrhea after a race
- 12 percent reported pooping their pants while running
- These instances often involved abdominal pain and rectal bleeding.
Furthermore, "any type of 'runners' diarrhea used to be unrelated to age, previous intestinal an infection or food poisoning, food allergic reactions, or nutritional fiber."
Marathon poop photos and videos have gone viral through the years.
Warning: Click on links to poop photos at your own risk.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, there is no shortage of photo and video evidence of marathon runners having publicly crapped their pants or actively squatting to drop the kids off at the pool.
A recent viral poop incident from the 2023 Boston Marathon involved video of a runner defecating in someone's front yard.
#BostonMarathon runner stuck going to the toilet on stranger's yard
♬ original sound - New York Post | NewsAt the 2005 London Marathon, Paula Radcliffe had to stop multiple times to poop in front of not only a crowd but also TV cameras. But hey, she ended up finishing in first place for women. So she made a strategic decision.
Another infamous poop photo went down at the 1982 World Ironman Championship in Hawaii when Julie Moss pooped her pants.
Who could forget Micke Ekvall, who experienced a case of the runner's trots and subsequently pooped his pants right through the Göteborg half-marathon in 2008?
The bottom line? S--t occurs — and for long-distance runners, it happens relatively regularly all over marathons.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXSramam6Ses7p6wqikaKhfrLW6ecOonKxloqq7r7XNoGSaZZ2Wv6LAx6ilZqWRoLJuxc6uZKmnn6U%3D