An Almost-Exhaustive List of Things That Could Go Wrong on Your Run Today

A few seconds after I walked in the door on a recent afternoon, Hilary asked, “How was your run?” And I immediately replied, “Good,” without even thinking about it, which is what I do most of the time, unless something notable happens, in which case I might say something like, “Good—I saw a heron the size of a giraffe, over by the river.”

But sometimes things do go wrong on my runs. Usually nothing catastrophic, but little things. And I started thinking: Maybe I should make a sort of post-run questionnaire, kind of like the comment cards you sometimes see in restaurants to encourage you to rate your experience.

So I did that. Here it is—I hope it helps.

Brendan Leonard’s latest book,Have Fun Out There or Not: The Semi-Rad Running Essays,is available now.