Saturday, May 19, 2012

My Worst Race

This week, the MagMileRunner photo challenge is an interesting one.
Your worst race. Not necessarily your worst race photo, but a photo or representation of your worst race to date. It can be a photo of you before, during or after the race, or if you don’t have one, something that represents the race (maybe your bib, shirt, medal). And an explanation of why it was your worst race. 

Well, the answer to this one was easy! The Chicago Marathon 2011.

I wasn't properly prepared hydration-wise. I didn't have a proper fueling plan. I let the my mind overwhelm my body while trying to prepare. I didn't have a plan b. Anything other than my time goal was failure. I didn't adjust when things needed adjusting. BUT, I learned so much from the experience. Not only about myself, but about running and life in general. I think I am a different person and a different runner because of it. It is okay to not meet your goals sometimes. It is okay to fall short of everyone and your own expectations. If you finish a marathon, you are not a failure. It took me a long time to realize this and I'm glad I did. :)

To find out more about my marathon experience as a whole, click here. It is also one of my favorite posts, fully discussing all of my lessons learned from my marathon!

8 comments:

  1. I'm right there with you!!! That day was so hot and my body did not agree with the heat. But I learned a lot and got totally hooked! :)

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  2. It was definitely a learning experience for me... And I am more hooked than ever!!!

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  3. Im glad you were able to take a bummer of a marathon and turn it into a positive learning experience. The heat got to me in that race among other things- that day was a tough one. But its these "crap" days which keep me coming back for more. Marathon and I have unfinished business :)

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  4. Ugh! I bet Chicago could be on a lot of people's lists with the heat, and especially since it's so many people's first! I am so happy you only had to wait a week for a better marathon!

    Should it be if you don't finish a marathon, you are not a failure?

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  5. Thanks for the encouragement! I totally agree. I have to tackle another marathon at some point in my life. I'm due... :)

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  6. I didn't want to wait until Indianapolis in November. I felt I was ready and I just wanted it to be over with. In hind sight, if I would have waited and let things soak in from the day and all of my mistakes, I might have had a better go the 2nd time around. Oh well, live and learn, right?

    When I wrote the sentence the first time, I was thinking about how disappointed I was with my original 5:28 finish time. If you finish a marathon, you are not a failure... But I totally agree that if you DON'T finish a marathon, you are not a failure! There is always next time, thankfully... :)

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  7. Thanks for explaining! I was like "of course you are not a failure if you finish!" :) So I thought I was misreading ;) Sorry :)

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  8. In retrospect, I should have explained it better in my original post. It's all good! I never take pics on my run so this week's challenge should be interesting.

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