How to avoid pooping during a marathon, and what to do if the urge strikes anyway

• Running long distances can be tough on the digestive system due to mechanics and blood flow.
• To lower the risk of race-day runs, practice your diet and hydration and avoid greasy foods.
• In case the urge strikes, study the Porta Potty route ahead of time, and bring baby wipes.

Running a marathon isn't just a feat of strength, endurance, and perseverance – it can also be an accomplishment of the colon.

After all, pounding the pavement for hours jostles your organs, Tamara Duker Freuman, a New York City dietitian who works in a gastroenterology practice, told Insider.

It also shuttles blood away from the digestive tract and toward your legs, she said. That can leave some runners incontinent and others constipated.

Then there's early start times that can prevent some racers from fully relieving themselves before the gun goes off. Race day jitters don't help either, Wisconsin-based running coach Carrie Zimmerman told Insider. "The anxiety of running a race or running with new people can trigger" the bowels at inopportune times, she said.

In effect, digestive distress mid-race is common. Studies have shown 30% to 65% of runners have an abdominal complaint.

But there are ways to lessen the chances of runner's trots on marathon day - and to make the need to go a little less comfortable if it does strike.

How to reduce the risk of runs on the run

What goes in before a race affects what comes out and when. Spicy, fatty, or highly fibrous foods can backfire.

Jenn Savedge, a marketing professional in Virginia, learned this the hard way by treating herself to a hefty roast beef sandwich from a classic New York deli the day before the marathon in 2014. The race, she said, "was literally a tour of the city's Porta Potties."

Instead, experts recommend small, carbohydrate-rich meals the day before, as well as a carb-rich breakfast at least a few hours before your start time. A bagel with peanut butter and banana is an example of a pre-race meal with a good carb-to-fat-to-protein ratio.

During the race, be cautious of gels made with lactose or fructose, rather than simple glucose, which can be harder for some people to digest, Duker-Freuman said.

Hydration leading up to and during the race is key too, but not with caffeinated beverages if your stomach is sensitive to it.

No matter what you eat and drink before and while running, it should be well-rehearsed. "Practice your prerun meal just like you practice your run," Amy Goodson, a sports dietitian told Runner's World. "Try a few breakfasts on long run days and see what works best."

Deirdre Keane usually bucks most of this advice, and has still completed 34 marathons. But in 2014, her hurried breakfast didn't fully digest - and forced her to stop in nine Porta Potties in the first 16 miles of the 26.2-mile race.

What to do if the urge strikes

Sometimes the race-day runs just happen. In that case, runners recommend noting ahead of time where the portable toilets will be on the route and tucking some toilet paper or baby wipes in your pocket or fanny pack.

Drinking cool liquids and slowing down can help settle an upset stomach too. That "allows blood flow to redistribute to your GI tract, and it might help you feel better," Goodson told Runner's World.

Hoping the feeling will pass, though, isn't typically effective. If you can spot a portable toilet, Zimmerman suggests taking advantage of it. "I would just duck in and go quickly, and take care of business, and then oftentimes you'll run faster because you're more comfortable," she said.

Even elite athlete Shalane Flanagan, who won the New York Marathon in 2017, had to make a pit stop in Boston in 2018. It only cost her 13 seconds, and she soon caught back up with the pack, ultimately placing seventh.

But some runners pull off to a secluded-as-possible area to relieve themselves in nature, and the rare runner goes in their pants. Doing so was Tamara Torlakson's choice - and she wound up achieving a personal record just 13 months postpartum.

"I didn't want one poop to mess it all up," she told Insider.