First-time marathoner Mike Riley claims that nobody told him that running a marathon could make his nipples bleed.

“If anyone had mentioned that to me before, you can bet I wouldn’t have run,” said Riley, moments after completing the 26.2-mile Marathon for Cancer course Sunday in Seattle, an experience that left his nipples severely chafed and bloody. “I volunteered to do this for charity, and now I’m in the type of pain that no human being should have to experience.”

Riley said that his nipples never bled in any of his pre-marathon training runs, all of which were less than 16 miles. “Apparently, once you run more than 16 miles or so, the constant friction of your shirt rubbing against your nipples gets them all chafed and bloody,” he said. “Now they tell me I could have put tape over my nipples and prevented this from happening, but it’s a bit too late to tell me that now, don’t you think?”

The Seattle financial advisor raised more than $850 dollars for cancer by participating in the marathon, but says he would have donated all of that and more himself if he could have not run and prevented his nipples from such abuse. “This girl in my office came around months ago trying to get people to participate in the marathon and I thought, ‘why not, it’s for a good cause and it will help me get in shape,’” said Riley. “But I don’t remember anywhere on the application there being a disclaimer saying the tips of one’s nipples could be rubbed off.”

Riley claims he didn’t notice his nipples were bleeding until approximately mile 18. “I saw this guy pass me with blood stains all over his shirt from his nipples to his waste and I was absolutely disgusted. I almost threw up,” he said. “Then I noticed people along the side of the course were pointing at me with looks of utter revulsion. I looked down, and to my horror, saw that my own nipples were bleeding. It was all I could do to keep running and not pass out.”

Riley said the psychological battle that marathoners face is one of the hardest parts of the race, but even more so when their nipples are bleeding.

“All kinds of crazy stuff starts going through your head, like: ‘Oh my God, have they been rubbed completely off?’ or ‘Is my shirt ruined?’ or ‘Is the tip of my penis also bloody and rubbed off only I can’t see the blood because I’m wearing dark shorts and when I have to go to the bathroom after the race there isn’t going to be anything there, just a big, gaping hole into my bladder?’ or ‘Am I keeping up with my split times?’ It’s not pleasant.”

However, Riley admitted that his panic over his bleeding nipples made the latter quarter of the race go by rather quickly. “I was so worried I would be permanently scarred that the running became secondary to me,” he said. “Before I knew it the race was over.”

Even though Riley was assured by other runners after the race that his wounds would heal up nicely in a week or so, he said he is going to visit a doctor just to be safe.

“I think I might have it a little worse off than some of the other bleeders,” he said. “The problem is that I didn’t change immediately after the race and my nipple scabs dried to my shirt, so when I pulled off my shirt, big chunks of nipple came with it. Boy, was that painful. I can only imagine what it’s going to feel like when I get in the shower tonight.”