Wise words from the runner formerly known as Meganerd.

That's what she told me yesterday as we sat in the car driving back home from the Woodrow Wilson half marathon where she had an awesome race and I struggled with all sorts of problems.


Me and Megan sharing a space blanket at the start

As I was shuffling along the course (which I still completely and totally love), I wrote a million different blog posts in my head about this race, mostly angry rants at myself for not taking it seriously enough.

But with a day of reflection, I have a slightly better perspective on the whole thing.

Some things that contributed to my racing downfall were out of my control, like the rain that forced me to wear older shoes so I didn't ruin my good pair or the fact that I woke up feeling under the weather. Some things were completely my fault, like my pre-race nutrition.

In total, I had two really great miles of running and lots of really, really crappy ones.

My old shoes apparently had so little cushioning remaining, that every time my left foot hit the ground it felt like my bones were cracking in to pieces. I highly considered dropping out of the race multiple times. But I only saw a medic team at mile 10 and at that point, I was too stubborn to quit, even if I had to walk the rest, which almost happened.

Instead, I spent the rest of the day not able to put any weight on my left foot.


No one has ever accused me of being the smartest racer.

In good news, it seems like it was just some sort of bruising or something, and it's mostly better today. I don't think it did anything to damage my MCM training too much.

Because I had no intention of racing this race, I didn't follow my normal pre-race routine. I set myself up for a bit of failure there. At the tailgate the day before, I ate a lot of food I would never normally eat, let alone eat the day before a race. Two of my friends also made some of their signature drinks for the tailgate and I didn't want to pass up the chance try them.



So Sunday morning, I felt slow and heavy and weighed down by all the less-than-ideal food. Definitely not the way you want to feel going into a race.

While I was running, I spent the whole time thinking how I did not want to feel like this during MCM. That I didn't put it months and months of hard training to completely blow up in my A race.

So in order to prevent completely blowing up in my marathon, I'm taking a few precautions.

1. I'm ordering a pair of new shoes. I haven't been wearing my current pair for all that long, but those long runs really pile on the miles. Now I'm paranoid that my current pair of shoes will bonk on race day. So I'm avoiding that by getting a new pair now that I can wear on a few runs before race day, knowing full well that they will still be in great condition in three weeks.

2. I'm going to clean up my eating. I'm not going to make any drastic changes or go on any sort of crazy diet, I'm just going to try to make better choices most of the time. No, I will not give up tailgating. Yes I will still eat dessert because I love it, but most days of the week, I'd like to focus on putting good foods in my body that will help me feel energized on race day and not sluggish.

3. I'm going to get more sleep so I'm not so run down. I mentioned that I woke up on race morning feeling under the weather. My throat was scratchy and my nose was stuffy. By last night, I was full blown sick with a 100 degree fever and the chills. I was bundled up in sweatpants and a sweatshirt and under six or seven blankets and still shivering. I feel a little better this morning. My fever is gone, but I'm still congested. I definitely don't want to wake up sick on marathon morning, so it's time to start getting plenty of sleep so I'm not susceptible to anything going around the office.

Not every race is going to be perfect and sometimes stuff happens that you can't control. But the Woodrow Wilson half was a good reminder that I can control some things, and I can take steps to make sure I have a great marathon.



So the race itself might have sucked, but I walked away from the whole thing with a good learning experience.