One morning about five years ago, I was making coffee at my family home when I noticed something strange outside the kitchen window.
asserted
I → make → window
For a moment, my groggy brain couldn’t put the pieces together.
asserted
brain → put → pieces
Then it registered: a woman was defecating on our front lawn.
asserted
woman → register → lawn
She was in full view of neighboring homes in our leafy Connecticut suburb, and just steps away from a main road frequented by dog walkers and parents pushing strollers.
asserted
She → neighbor → strollers
After finishing her business, the mystery woman jogged away — a little lighter on her feet.
asserted
woman → finish → feet
Left behind for my dad to dispose of with a shovel was the evidence: a pile of human waste and a few wet wipes.
asserted
evidence → leave → waste
For years afterward, my family retold the story of the “pooping runner,” laughing about the woman who relieved herself in broad daylight beneath our dogwood tree.
asserted
who → retell → tree
We assumed it was a weird, one-time thing.
asserted
it → assume → ?
But then, this month, it happened again.
asserted
it → happen → ?
“I was at the kitchen sink this morning to witness our pooping visitor,” my mom texted me on Oct. 13.
asserted
mom → witness → Oct.
This time, she went outside to speak to the woman, asking if she needed anything and where she’d left the mess.
asserted
she → go → mess
“She pointed to the tree and said ‘it will go away,’” my mom said.
asserted
mom → point → tree
“Not even an apology,” she added.
asserted
she → add → ?
The second incident left me with a question I never thought I’d ponder: How often are joggers just…dropping trou out in the open?
asserted
joggers → leave → open
After speaking to runners and exploring remote corners of social media, I discovered there are more than a handful of dump-and-dashers living among us.
asserted
I → speak → us
When nature calls mid-run, these people answer.
asserted
people → call → ?
Hiking trails, backyards, graveyards and busy roadways have been used as make-shift commodes.
asserted
trails → hike → commodes
“If I can be vulnerable, I had to go when I was running in Central Park the other day…
asserted
I → go → Park
I had to sprint into the woods…
asserted
I → have → woods
It was a dire situation,” a friend, who is training for the New York City Marathon and asked not to be named, told me.
asserted
who → train → me
“I think it’s safe to assume I’ve fertilized more than half of the bushes in my town.
asserted
I → think → town
I wish I were joking,” a Reddit user wrote in a running thread earlier this year.
asserted
user → wish → thread
“I once had diarrhea in a garbage can on the Brooklyn Bridge,” another added.
asserted
another → have → Bridge
The topic has sparked heated debate in the running community.
asserted
topic → spark → community
Many are unbothered by the mid-run squat — provided runners are discreet and clean up afterward — arguing it's preferable to soiling oneself.
asserted
it → provide → oneself
Others find the practice altogether revolting.
asserted
practice → find → ?
Some who relieve themselves along their routes say they have no choice, given the nearest public bathroom could be miles away.
uncertain
bathroom → relieve → choice
“I have maybe a minute, and then it's coming out whether I want it to or not,” Amanda Limon, a 33-year-old California nanny who frequently has “unauthorized evacuations” while jogging, told me.
asserted
who → have → me
Last month, she posted a TikTok video recounting how she pooped beside her car in a residential neighborhood, swinging the doors open for privacy.
asserted
she → post → privacy
Afterward, she picked up the waste with a bag and rinsed the spot with bottled water.
asserted
she → pick → water
Addison Marchi knows the feeling.
asserted
Marchi → know → feeling
The 36-year-old Ohio content creator and mother-of-three recently dashed into the woods to go No. 2 during an eight-mile run.
asserted
creator → dash → run
“I would say that running for me is, it's literally pretty much like a laxative,” she told me.
asserted
she → say → me
That sense of urgency is actually quite common, health and fitness experts say.
asserted
experts → say → urgency
As part of a 2017 study, 145 runners were asked to track their gastrointestinal symptoms for 30 days.
asserted
runners → ask → days
Moderate to severe symptoms affected about 14 percent of men’s runs and 22 percent of women’s runs.
asserted
symptoms → affect → runs
Physical activity in general can increase the urge to poop, said Patrick Wilson, an exercise science professor at Old Dominion University and an author of the study.
asserted
Wilson → increase → study
“But running specifically seems to be more problematic for people,” he told me.
asserted
he → run → me
“In particular, if you're running early in the morning, a little bit after awakening, and especially if you've eaten or had caffeine, that's kind of like a trifecta of things that we know can have an effect on, you know, the urge to defecate.
asserted
you → run → urge
Long-distance runners appear to experience more gastrointestinal symptoms than those who go for a few miles, Wilson said.
asserted
Wilson → appear → miles
…and 40 more, not listed.
The Aporia
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