There was one other time that I didn’t finish a race. It was last fall at the Crystal Lake half, but I was just doing it as part of a training run and I ran 7 miles before the race started. Plus I was still injured. After run-walking back to the finish line park, I just walked back to my car. But this was a real race. My spring A race that I trained for. I have a million and one excuses, but it is all my fault and I learned from my mistakes. I have a new race ready to go on 6/24.
Excuse #1: breakfast. I ate too much in the morning and not enough the night before. I forgot to pick up a peanut butter builder bar (my usual long run meal), so I got this bagel at the breakfast buffet. I didn’t eat it all but it was still about 100 calories more than what I usually eat and only 45 minutes before the start.
Excuse #2: water. I didn’t drink enough of it on Saturday and was dehydrated.
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Excuse #3: temperature. I wish the half and full marathons started together. Starting at 6:30 would have made a huge difference. In the sunny spots, it was vert hot at 8. The humidity was bad, too.
Time – Temperature – Dew point – Humidity
6:30 Marathon Start:
Excuse #4: the 1:40 pace group. I thought I would try running with the 1:40 pace group. It was a little faster than what I trained for, but it would be nice to run with a group. Except, the 1:40 pace group, which was supposed to be doing 7:38, was really doing 7:30 and that was 15-20 seconds faster than what I trained for. I let them get out of my sight after mile 4 and just tried to focus on running a 7:45, but it was too late.
I stopped for about a minute before stopping my watch, stretching my calves (as if that was going to help).
After the race, we went to Cafe Luce, which offers vegan pizzas (gluten-free is also available).
The post race pizza that made everything better; the Rustler with rinotta (not ricotta) cheese. I don’t care for pineapple (and I did scrape some off), but this was so good!
The peanut butter bar that helped me create an awesome marathon schedule.
