You have revolutionized the “flimsy excuse,” “white lie” or “fib.” Pretty soon, we can just give the number (for example, NN.102).
These are all true excuses! (I’ll bet you don’t even have running shoes ...)
Going back to the ongoing thread on good religious etiquette, I think that one of the most important skills is to back out of an argument when somebody’s going ballistic.
If you’ve genuinely been in error, or said something you didn’t intend, then a genuine retraction is in order. However, even if the response to your post is excessive or irrational, it’s still useful to pull back, deploying a Flimsy Excuse if necessary.