Forums >Running 101>10 Mistakes I made in my First Marathon (and yet survived it)
Slower but happier
I showed up for a race 1 hr late (Huff 50k). Forgot to account for time zone change. Still ran it. just a little lonely at the start. “Hey where is everyone!!” Its a winter race and dropped gloves in the porta potty (no i dindnt retrieve). Other mistake was parking at the top of a big hill. Nothing like a post race hypothermic hike.
TIL: some states have 2 time zones.
2020 goal: couch to 5K, currently working on the couch block
I should write an article. "I've run six marathons with no issues". But I guess that would be terribly boring. I've never found the training to be tricky. I always write my own training guides with knowledge from books I've read plus tons of articles here, in magazines and on the web. The events have always gone as planned, hitting near my expected finish time, no issues with water or fueling. Of course, every marathon has been a great challenge but at the same time if you do your homework, follow your training, they are pretty straight forward affairs. My only issue is I always feel too strong at the start, so I go out too fast, but hey, that's "my style". I think my experience is pretty typical.
I should write an article. "I've run six marathons with no issues". But I guess that would be terribly boring. I've never found the training to be tricky. I always write my own training guides with knowledge from books I've read plus tons of articles here, in magazines and on the web. The events have always gone as planned, hitting near my expected finish time, no issues with water or fueling. Of course, every marathon has been a great challenge but at the same time if you do your homework, follow your training, they are pretty straight forward affairs. My only issue is I always feel too strong at the start, so I go out too fast, but hey, that's "my style".
I think my experience is pretty typical.
Nice job. Do you ever want to just throw caution to the wind and go for a stretch goal even if it might mean not finishing? Even when things go as planned, I always wonder, how do i know whether i could have pushed harder? Of course, i agreel a well planned and executed race is preferable to blowing up.
Runs with the pack
I don't quite understand this concept. Every marathon I've run I feel like I've given 100% and during those last six miles I've pushed to the point where I don't think I could run any further or any faster. Back when I was running 2:56 marathons I thought I could train better, push myself more and get down to 2:45. I couldn't. There was no way I could push myself to the point of collapse or anything. That's all I had.
The closest I got was at Grandma's Marathon where I ran the first half in 1:24 but I couldn't keep up that pace. Even still I couldn't push hard enough to not finish.
I don't quite understand this concept. Every marathon I've run I feel like I've given 100% and during those last six miles I've pushed to the point where I don't think I could run any further or any faster. Back when I was running 2:56 marathons I thought I could train better, push myself more and get down to 2:45. I couldn't. There was no way I could push myself to the point of collapse or anything. That's all I had. The closest I got was at Grandma's Marathon where I ran the first half in 1:24 but I couldn't keep up that pace. Even still I couldn't push hard enough to not finish.
I read your comment things have “always gone as planned” literally. But if you went out 1:24 and couldn’t maintain it sounds like you did find that place (unless of course that was planned).
I guess there's more than one way to look at it. Did I go out too fast, yes, but that's my style or my weakness. But the way I look at it, it didn't impact my time. I finished with a 2:56, the same time as the previous year, so I didn't exactly "crash and burn". After that race I pretty much assumed that was about as fast as i could run.
Mmmm Bop
If he ran a 1:24 first half and finished with a 2:56 then he obviously did throw caution to the wind as that’s an 8 minute positive split. Not exactly a blow up, but not great pacing either.
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)