Runner Insight

What I Did Wrong: 5 Lessons From My Marathon Experience

I think it’s important to look at an experience and figure out what could have gone better, in addition to what went right.  So, in considering my first marathon experience, I wanted to expand on some of the things I did wrong with my marathon training and preparation for the race.

As I look at it, I see about 5 significant things that I could have done differently to improve my overall marathon experience.  

I recently heard it said that it’s not “Experience is the best teacher,” but rather “Someone else’s experience is the best teacher.”

Obviously experience, whether your own or someone else’s, is a good teacher, but in the spirit of providing you with the best instructor (someone else’s experience) I’m going to share with you lessons from my own marathon trials and tribulations. That way, if you should decide to train for a marathon or half-marathon, these lessons that I learned could be beneficial to both of us.

After all if we’re going to spend 6 months training and preparing for an endurance race that lasts multiple hours, it would be wise for us to do more things right than wrong.

So…Away we go.

One of the first things that I know I did wrong during my marathon training program (and actually, I was aware of it when it was happening) was not doing any strength training, especially core strength exercises.

Even though it wasn’t until over a year later that I found out that my back was way out of alignment and that I was running over 13 lbs heavier on my right side than my left, by doing the core strength exercises I know I would not have had as much trouble with my right hip and foot during the 26.2 mile race.

Not to mention it would have been a quicker and easier recovery afterwards.

Another thing I should have done but chose not to (purely from an immediate gratification standpoint) was training in hot weather.  Since the Missoula Marathon is in mid-July, it should have been a no brainer…but I despised running in hot weather.  Big mistake on my part, as we had the hottest summer on record! 

By only training during the cool morning hours, my body was not prepared for the 90 to 100 degree weather that day. I totally screwed up my water and nutritional intake.  While I was racing, I was consuming way too many power gels. But I was in a panic – not knowing what else to do, trying to maintain my fuel tank and hydration levels.  Granted, in temps over 95 degrees I’m not sure how anyone can stay hydrated running for more than four hours, but I clearly didn’t help the situation.

The third major mistake I made was a mental error: starting out too fast.  For some unexplained reason, in my mind I thought I could run a 4:00 marathon – even though I had never run that fast in any of my training runs.  In fact, I had not done any speed work at all!  So that I chalk up to plain ol’ ego! 

By starting out at too fast of a pace, I set myself up for right hip pain, my foot going numb, and hitting the wall at mile 20.

And the one genuinely stupid thing I did, that I actually knew better than to do was wearing a pair of socks that I had not washed yet. And believe me, I paid for it with a nasty blister on the back of my heel.

Remember that thing I said about someone else’s experience being the best teacher? Well take advantage of this last lesson, cause this one I learned the hard way – I couldn’t have known it before I did it – but you can, now that I’m going to tell you: never, never sit down right after the race!  Not only will it be excruciating to try and get back up, but it’s embarrassing as you’re providing entertainment for anyone watching when you do try it. Walk around for about ten minutes or so after hitting the finish line.

I know the first instinct is to sit – for crying out loud you’ve just run 26.2 miles!  But don’t do it!   You’ll thank me when you don’t have to call for help to get off the toilet! Sure, it’s funny…but I’m not really kidding.

So now that you know what I did wrong, you won’t have to make the same mistakes – you can make your own. For that’s what it’s all about: learning from your mistakes, so the next race will be that much better.     

Ready to Run?

How ‘bout it?

-Vision Runner

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Do What Ya Gotta Do 

Last year I ran in a little 4 mile race that took place in an area of town I am not as familiar with.  The Missoula Roots Run is in conjunction with the Missoula Roots Festival:  lots of live music, arts and crafts and plenty of food!  Having lived in Missoula all my life, I knew the area but had not run in this particular part of town since the mid-90’s.  So while I “knew” where I was, I was still a little bit nervous about running this race and staying on the race route. 

The race started at 11 a.m. which I thought was kind of a late start for the end of August.  But as it turned out, it was quite pleasant: not too hot yet with blue, sunny skies.  

The time was getting close to the start of the race, so T positioned me somewhere in the middle of the group of runners off to the right side.  

We were waiting for the bang of the start gun to go off when Anders, the owner of our local running store “The Runners Edge,” announced that we had to wait a few minutes to start the race as there was a train crossing right on the road we were starting on.  

As we stood there, a gal who was waiting next to us said she has seen me running out by her house.  I commented on the hill we would be running less than a mile into the race.  I told her I had not run hills in years, and was not sure how I would do.  She told us about what a fellow runner had advised.  

He said, “If you want to be good at running hills, Run Hills. If you want to run fast…Run Fast.”  

This was such a straight-forward concept, but very profound at the same time.  How many times do we say “I wish I could….”  But how simple it is, really: If we just simply did it, eventually we would get good at it.  

Me, personally, however, I do not wish to be good at running hills…

How ‘bout it?

-Vision Runner 

P.S. The hill was fairly easy, and I also ended up with lots of help on the race route as people were so generous when they saw I was using my white cane.  I am so grateful for the kind and loving women who took the time during their run to make sure I was okay and following the right route.  Sure makes me proud of my fellow runners! 

And I finished the four miles in about 46 minutes…Not too bad for a blind runner.

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Running in the winter provides me with some of my most enjoyable runs.  When I can get past the mental barriers I have about running in cold temperatures, I really do enjoy the sights and sounds, and even the stillness of winter.  

The best part of my winter runs is when I’m going over a bridge that’s about 3 miles into my 8 mile run.  I just love the way the winter sun hits the river.  The angle of the sun is lower in the sky, casting a more diffuse light across the water at a different angle than during the rest of the year.  It looks like the cascading of diamonds across the surface, sparkling, glimmering and fading, over and over again, millions of times each instant. Awesome.

Sometimes I’ll just pause and take in all that this winter scene has to offer, free of charge, just for the price of a minute’s stopping and savoring: peace, tranquility, and a calming of my soul.  And even though I can’t see the river the way I used to be able to, the cool thing is that my eyes allow me to view the rushing water in a way I have never before experienced it.  Abstract trees line the banks, as an artists’ brush paints a serene,  indistinct, yet beautiful landscape for my eyes only.  

Nothing makes me feel more alive than when I’m running in the cool winter air, and I find myself grinning like a fool just for the pure pleasure of running. And that’s the way I like it!

How ‘bout it?

-Vision Runner

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