Ninth in a Series: Running Rules to Live By - Pass Gas, Not Judgement

Based loosely on a book by Mark Remy called The Runner's Rule Book as well as a Runner's World article from the January 2010 issue over the next week or so I will be posting a few running rules to live by.

I hope you enjoy the series.

Rule Nine: Pass Gas, Not Judgement



Runners ingest a fair amount of healthy foods, which produce gas in the GI tract, where it cannot stay forever. Especially when that GI tract is bounced and jostled. Passing gas while running is excusable and inevitable, but...

- You may not mock another runner for having passed gas, unless he has previously mocked you for the same or unless he mocks himself
- If a runner has taken pains to mask flatulence, pretend nothing happened
- It's fun to pretend that the gas you expelled is propelling you forward, like a little booster rocket. That isn't really a guideline, though, is it?