What I did Wrong in the Marathon

Please learn from my mistakes. Hind sight is always 20/20 and as I train for my upcoming half-marathon in May I am remembering and learning from my mistakes from Columbus 2010. These apply to any race distance, not only a marathon. Distance just makes the mistakes more painful!

 



Running up High Street



Mistake 1. The correct watch - I should have

had a watch that saved my splits. I would've realized quickly I was going too fast. Cheap Walmart watch must go! 

 

Me and teething toddler

Mistake 2. I should've gotten more sleep. Easier said than done. Look at those HUGE pearly whites.

 

So here's the summary of things I've learned:

• New Watch -with split times ran too fast b/c I didn't know and couldn't figure how fast I was actually going!
• Stay with the Pace Group.
• Drive the course! What was I thinking? I should've driven the course, then I would've know that miles 15-25 were completely uphill...and lonely, empty, disgusting miles. Can you tell I despise them? I am already planning my revenge!
• Run past 20 miles, again and again and again.
• Take more the six weeks to train, especially while nursing a toddler.

Please avoid my errors so that you can do better than I did - please learn from my mistakes, they hurt me enough that I'm trying to learn from them as well. At the same time, I am thankful that I took the risk. It was crazy to try and I did it with the incredible support of my husband. He prayed for me every day and made sure I got my 3 runs in. Because of him, I did a lot of things right this time in spite of the mistakes I made. I was thankful for every step that God allowed me to run. I highly recommend whatever race you run, whether road race or in life in general, to be thankful for every step and leave the outcome to Christ.

What lessons have you learned from racing or life that have helped you along your journey?