10 lessons learned in a harder-than-usual half marathon

Race days surprise us, no matter how hard we train or how well we plan. Stuff like weather, traffic, and sudden health changes can trip us up. Anyone who has run more than a few races understands that.

On this occasion, for example, several carloads of runners never even made it to the start line. Apparently, a major truck vs. car accident tied up the tollway for hours.

But what about silly mistakes even veteran runners sometimes make?

Color me guilty this week. I had hoped to break a new personal time goal, but I missed it. Like most runners, I have replayed the details of the race in my head umpteen times since the weekend. And I can point to more than a few missteps I made.

It’s confession time.

Here are 10 lessons I learned (or re-learned) in this race, which proved to be much harder than it should have been. Sure, some of these sound like rookie mistakes. But I’ve gotten away with such stuff in earlier races. Just not this time. It was sort of the perfect storm.

1. Sometimes a sunny and non-windy day isn’t all that advantageous, especially if the temperature is unseasonably hot for the first time in a long while. (This is especially true for anyone with MS, like me.)
2. If I have tummy troubles the day before a longer race, I’d better hydrate a whole lot more than usual.
3. A front-clip sports bra is a bad idea on a hot and humid race day. Time to grab another Band-aid for my bleeding sternum and toss that bra in the clothing donation bag.
4. I definitely should have run more than a few miles with that new hydration pack before strapping it on for a freaking half marathon. And two bottles of water and assorted aid station sips were not enough this time.
5. Even though I hate Gatorade, I really ought to choke some down in the second half of a half marathon.
6. Ice cream is never a smart choice on race eve. Let’s just say the contractions started around mile 10.
7. My marathon music playlist is becoming a little too chill for actual running. It’s time to up the tempo again.
8. Just because I logged a half marathon PR last time (by 15+ minutes) doesn’t mean the next one will be soon in coming.
9. It really was a prudent choice not to eat that brat after the race.
10. Anything can happen on race day.

I’ve had big-city half marathons that went without a hitch and 5K fun runs that blew up in my face. Hey, it happens.

It’s easy to be discouraged by a disappointing race performance. I can look at the division standings and cringe. I can groan over missing my time goal. I can play my own miserable mind games, wondering how I’ll ever finish my first FULL marathon in a few short months.

Or I can step into my sneakers again and train on. Maybe I’ll be better prepared next time.

Related Items:

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• With MS, a hot flash may not be a hot flash at all.

• Heat intolerance - Facing MS symptoms from A to Z

•  Remember when bathing didn’t make you blind?

Images:

Marathon Start – public domain photo

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Race strategy: What’s the best practice for picking the right start corral?

Line jumpers, best beware. I’m about to drop a line on you.

Plenty of runners cross the line, in terms of truth-telling, when it comes to listing their per-mile paces on race registrations or choosing their spots (when allowed) on race days. Tons of athletes claim to run faster than they actually do, simply to snag spots in the prized early start corrals.

There is a fine line between ambition and exaggeration, especially when it comes to lining up for a big race.

Maybe runners who misrepresent their own mileage paces are simply angling for a head start, as if they don’t grasp the difference between gun time and chip time.

But that’s just corral dust, so to speak.

Sure, it’s encouraging to start up front with the faster folks. But it’s sort of demoralizing to see tons of fellow runners zipping past you throughout the first mile or so of a race. It may be just as invigorating to pass a bunch of runners at the outset of a race, although the zigzagging can slow a runner down.

That’s not even the point.

It’s considered bad form (and poor sportsmanship) for a runner to line up with the speedy athletes, if he or she doesn’t plan to bolt from the start at the listed pace. It means that runner will block those who can sprint off, making them duck and dodge and leapfrog past him or her.

A prime example would be a runner or slow jogger who slips into the elite runner corral, only to stroll onto the course at the starting gun.

One might say that behavior sort of draws battle lines.

Starting from the wrong corral definitely gets one off on the wrong foot.

It can even be dangerous.

Pile-ups and trip-ups happen. I’ve even seen runners actually shoving slower ones aside, just past the start of a race.

What’s the best practice for picking the right start corral?

It’s probably best to be as accurate as possible. Sometimes mistakes happen, even when race organizers assign start corrals. I’ve been in too-fast and too-slow corrals, and neither is ideal. But when we can help it, choosing the appropriate corrals helps everyone.

That’s the bottom line.

Images:

Marathon Start – public domain photo

Feel free to follow on GooglePlus and Twitter. Please visit my Amazon author page as well. And I am happy to share my RUNDERDOG ambassador code for 10% off on Bondi Band Athletic Headbands, Accessories, and Fashions. (Simply enter the code at online checkout.).