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Where are runners actually supposed to run?

The sidewalk keeps you away from cars—but it’s uneven, cracked, and sometimes feels like it’s actively trying to trip you. The road is smoother—but now you’re sharing space with distracted drivers. Single-track trails are beautiful—but roots, rocks, and technical terrain bring their own risks. And multi-use paths seem like the perfect solution… until a cyclist blows past without warning.

In this episode of the **I Don’t Know Running Podcast**, Lewis and Mitch break down the good, bad, and frustrating parts of the surfaces runners use every day.

We talk about sidewalk wipeouts, close calls with cars, why Lewis has become more selective about technical trails, and a couple of recent encounters with high-speed cyclists on shared paths.

There may not be one “best” place to run. Sometimes it comes down to knowing the risks, making a good judgment call, and remembering that almost every place we run is being shared with somebody else.

**What’s your preferred running surface: road, sidewalk, single track, or multi-use path? And what’s your worst close-call story?**

Thanks for listening to the **I Don’t Know Running Podcast**, where we share what we’ve learned, what we’re still figuring out, and what we just don’t know.

Thanks for listening to the **I Don't Know Running Podcast**.

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You train for months. You survive the race. You cross the finish line, grab your medal...and discover you're officially a FINSHER.

Yep. Missing the "I."

And somehow, that's only the beginning.

This week on the I Don't Know Running Podcast, we're diving into some of the funniest, strangest, and most unbelievable race-day mistakes we've seen.

We're talking about thousands of misspelled finisher medals, runners getting medals featuring the wrong city, marketing ideas that probably should have gone through one more round of proofreading, and the wonderfully bizarre Barkley Marathons tradition of choosing a "human sacrifice."

Then we get to the mistakes runners make themselves—including what happens when you start celebrating before you've actually crossed the finish line.

Some of these mistakes became controversies. Some became instant collector's items. And some might actually make the race more memorable than if everything had gone perfectly.

🎙️ In this episode:
• The 2026 River Bank Run "FINSHER" medals
• Milwaukee's accidental "MARTHON" medals
• The Great North Run's wrong-city ribbon
• The controversial "One Nation, One Race" merchandise
• Barkley Marathons and the Human Sacrifice
• A race decided by a premature celebration and just 0.2 seconds
• The high school finish-line celebration that resulted in a DQ

What's the funniest or strangest race-day mistake you've ever experienced?

Let us know in the comments!

Thanks for listening to the I Don't Know Running Podcast.

Check out our Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/IDKR

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Western States gets the attention, the massive lottery numbers, the elite fields, and the biggest spotlight in ultrarunning. But does that actually make it the greatest 100-mile race—or is Hardrock the more demanding, more exclusive, and more unforgettable challenge?

In this episode, we compare two of the most iconic races in the sport. We break down the entry process, lottery demand, field sizes, altitude, elevation gain, course records, and the completely different experiences each race creates.

We also dive into this year’s Hardrock 100, including Ludovic Pommeret’s age-defying performance, Courtney Dauwalter’s painful march to another victory, Tara Dower’s incredible Western States–Hardrock double, and the dramatic final finisher who kissed the rock with less than six minutes remaining.

Western States may be the Super Bowl of ultrarunning—but is Hardrock its Everest?

Let us know: If you could only run one, which would you choose?


🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Check out our Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/IDKR

Support the show