I pooped myself during a marathon – and it was one my personal bests 

An avid runner has revealed how she decided to poop herself instead of interrupting her run – and ended up achieving one of her personal bests. 

Event planner Tamara Torlakson, from Sacramento, told Insider how she emptied her bowels at the Long Beach Mountains 2 Beach Marathon in 2018, which she completed in three hours seven minutes.  

The keen jogger took part in the run 13 months after giving birth, and while she had taken her precautions and gone to the bathroom before the event’s kick off, she felt like she had to go again halfway through her run. 

Tamara, who was 31 at the time, explained she was on track to beat her personal record and did not want the pit stop to ruin her time, so decided to keep going. 

She said that no one noticed what had happened to her during the run, adding she wouldn’t have cared if they had, because ‘marathoners don’t judge.’ 

The Mountains 2 beach race starts in Ojai, California, and ends in Ventura, West Los Angeles.

It was Tamara’s sixth run of this distance at the time, and the first she would complete after giving birth to her child. 

Her training for the marathon had gone very well, and the mother-of-one felt she had a shot at beating her personal record. 

The runner said she started feeling the urge to empty her bowels after running for 13 miles, but did not want to lose both the physical and mental momentum she had built up. 

‘I thought, “I don’t know if it’s possible to poop while running, but I will try”,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want one poop to mess it all up.’

Tamara said she focused on the run, and relieved herself in her running shorts, feeling ‘a lot better’ as she did. 

The avid runner, taking part in another event, said she didn’t want her stomach trouble to keep her from beating her personal best 

The mother felt like no one noticed what had happened – not caring if anyone did – and continued on with her run, focusing on the finish line.

She ended up yelling ‘I pooped my pants’ to her friends as she passed the finish line, making the run one of her best yet. 

She completed the feat in three hours and seven minutes, making it her fastest by about one minute, 20 seconds. 

After completing the marathon and smashing her personal best, Tamara headed to the event’s medical tent and cleaned up in a Porta Potty with baby wipes.