Dealing With Emergency Pit Stops

On Thursday morning, I found myself having to interrupt an already short run in order to make an emergency visit to the toilet. This rarely happens to me anymore, because I've learned to keep my food and drink intake very limited before my runs in order to keep my gastrocolic reflex from acting up. When participating in active sports, the activity stimulates peristalsis which increases the chance of needing to make one of these emergency stops.

Because I live in a town and it was nearby, I was able to stop in at the local YMCA to use the toilet. I've also been known to visit the porta-johns at area construction sites or the facilities at area parks and businesses. Those in the country have more difficulty with this, and if you have trouble with it, carrying some toilet paper sealed in a zipper-type sandwich bag can make an emergency visit to the woods much less unpleasant or risky.