Hey! How about this crazy Nor’easter that blew through this week? Thankfully, Philadelphia barely got an inch this time around, but I saw that the New York City, Connecticut and Boston areas weren’t so lucky. If you live in those areas, I hope you and your family stays safe!
It’s Tuesday and I am joining the Tuesdays on the Run Linkup with April at Run the Great Wide Somewhere, Erika at MCM Mama Runs, and Patty at My No-Guilt Life. This week’s theme is talking about our worst race ever and what we learned in the process. Fortunately/unfortunately, I have a perfect candidate for the title of Worst.Race.Ever!
Philly Half Marathon 2012
Let me set the stage leading up to the Philadelphia Half Marathon in November 2012: This was a big year of racing for me. The previous year was my introduction to distance running and I fell in love hard and fast. When spring racing season came in 2012, I was ready to go! And I signed up for a LOT of races that took place in a short period of time:
- Clean Air Council 5K (3.1 miles)
- Generation 8K (4.97 miles)
- Broad Street Run (10 miles)
- Let Love Grow 5K
- Oddyssey Half Marathon (13.1 miles)
These 5 races all took place in a period of 7 weeks…which was clearly a recipe for disaster.
By the time I completed the Oddyssey Half Marathon in late May, my body had had enough. My knees felt terrible pain during my runs and I went to see my Primary Care Physician. Diagnosis? Runner’s Knee. I was set up with physical therapy, and had no choice but to demote my marathon to a half marathon.
Training for the Race
By the time I finished physical therapy, it was the end of August. At this point, I had to find a training plan and have some semblance of preparation for a race I had already paid full price. I didn’t do much running at all during PT…so I was literally starting from scratch.
I honestly didn’t know what I was doing. I ran maybe a couple of days a week, and never got beyond 7 miles. Even though I had run the distance before, I needed those long runs to truly be ready for the half. Muscle memory did not apply here.
Around October, I bought new running shoes: Newton Lady Isaac’s. (affiliate link) I was obsessed with fixing my running form (because I thought this was the cause of my knee pain, NOT the overtraining!). At the time minimalist shoes and barefoot running was very popular, touted as the “natural” way to run. Did I mention I had NO CLUE what I was doing?
Race Recap
So with all of that said it’s no surprise that the race didn’t go well. My friend Sonya was also running the race and she decided to run with me. I still feel bad that I held her back, but there’s no way I would have finished without her by my side.
We started out with a pace group. My last half marathon was finished in under 2:20 and I think we hopped in with the 2:10 crew. Somehow I thought this would motivate me to keep up the pace and get the race over with. Nope, that didn’t work! We lost them pretty quickly, and then another group, and another…
The best part of the race was around the 6 mile mark. I was running down Chestnut street and there was Bret. He came out and gave me a hug, so that was a very special moment for me!
But once we moved on, I just didn’t have the energy to get things going. I never did any special fueling, so when I was tired, I had to walk. And I walked a lot. I was embarrased because one of my friends came out to watch me and I was walking! I tried to pick it up but once he was out of sight I was walking again.
What is known as an amazing race in Philly was just a complete drag for me. The weather wasn’t even that bad for late November. I blew it, and there was no one to blame but me.
My finishing time was 2:37:01, my personal worst for the half marathon. I was so glad for it to be over! Thankfully I didn’t feel any pain, other than in my pride. Thanks again Sonya for being there with me the whole way!
Lessons Learned
I learned a LOT from this experience, and these are lessons that I will never forget! Here are my 5 takeaways. Hopefully, this advice will be helpful to you too if you’re new to running!
- Don’t overtrain! In my excitement for running, I burned out my body the spring before the half marathon. I am now very cautious about scheduling races. If I was a 30 mile a week runner, I could probably handle racing almost every weekend…but I’m not! You have to listen to your body at all costs!
- Don’t undertrain either! The overtraining led to my undertraining since I lost months of training time due to my knee injury. In my gut, I knew that this race wasn’t going to go well, but I went underprepared anyway. This was not a smart move. I could have injured myself in the process of trying to get my money’s worth.
- Don’t run a race in brand new shoes. Again, I’m lucky I didn’t have any issues during the race. I didn’t log enough miles in my Newtons to take them 13.1 miles. Ironically, a few months later still wearing the Newtons I ended up wtih a stress fracture in my foot. Who knows, maybe this race had something to do with that?
- Learn how to fuel for a race. I never even knew that you were supposed to fuel for a race. Now I swear by Clif Shotbloks, which worked great during my last half marathon. There are tons of other options out there to choose from, but you need to give your body the right amount of energy in order to be able to successfully run a long distance race.
- Seek professional advice – don’t rely on the Internet! This was one of my biggest mistakes. Somehow I convinced myself that I needed to change my running form to prevent my knee issues. Even though I did a few exercises in physical therapy, I never really continued with them. I didn’t work on strengthening my hips, quads..what a fool! Now I work with a coach, I do prehab exercises, and I follow a training plan that works best for me.
I purchased this photo from the Philly Half Marathon as a reminder of what not to do when it comes to racing. There’s no joy on my face when I finished…it was complete defeat and disappointment. And that’s why I worked so hard to do things the right way when I trained for the Rock and Roll Philly Half Marathon in 2014! Wow, have I come a LONG way!
[bctt tweet=”What was the worst race you ever had? #totr #sweatpink via @Janelle_RWNR”]
Note: I’ve also posted my review of this race on bibrave.com – it’s a free site 100% dedicated to race reviews. I’m a BibRave Pro Ambassador for 2016, and I’d love if you considered joining the site!
It sounds like you learned alot of important lessons from this race! I also switched to minimalist shoes in 2012, but luckily I didn’t have any issues. I was really careful about slowly transitioning into them because I was really scared of getting hurt. Sometimes I think when we are injured we put so much time and energy into trying to fix ourselves that we end up doing more harm than good! Glad that you got alot out of a race that didn’t go so well!
Great tips. Just as bad is running in old shoes. I had a rough race recently due to not enough cushion left in my shoe.
Ouchie. Bad races hurt, don’t they? I ran too far too soon in Lady Isaacs, strained my peroneal tendon and was out (well pool running) for 6 freaking weeks. The Philly Marathon 2011 was a DNS for me due to hip injury. Running is tough to get right sometimes! Congrats on pushing thru and finishing that sucker!
Great post! I swore off half-marathons after a bad race in 2011… and 4 years later I’m at the level where I’m never out of half-marathon shape haha. I think you can learn so much from a bad race – and it seems like you have!! Now on and up to the next one – and a PR!
Don’t relay on the internet! I have that problem too, and then it leads me down the rabbit hole of the most random problems. I really shouldn’t reach for my smart phone whenever I have a medical question.
I think it’s just as important to remember the good AND the bad when it comes like things like races. They really help you grow and learn from your experiences. I’m glad you got that race over and done with, though. Thanks for the tips on how to avoid a bad run! I’m signing up for my first half marathon in May and am just a little bit nervous to say the least 😉
I’m no runner, but I give you MAJOR props for being able to pull all of these races off! I think I broke a sweat just reading about them all…
And it’s really great that you took some positive lessons away from them. Even though it might not have been the funnest or best experience, it always makes it worth it if you are able to come away with a good lesson!
At least you finished. Good thing for you friend. Sometimes it’s worth sacrificing your own PR to help a friend or in my instance a sister. And I am completely fine w that.
Ouch – you do not look like a happy camper in that photo. Definitely a tough experience but your big comeback at RnR Philly proves you learned a lot!
I’m finding a lot of people don’t train right for that first race… at least you got a good picture out of it 🙂
It’s nice to look back and see how far you’ve come! I really believe there’s no such thing as a bad run or race…as long as you learn something from it. It’s obvious that you did here! 2:37 is like…not even that slow!
Oh, this post just reinforces why I limit my races. I’d love to do more, but I love to run, and if I do too much, I get injured…
I always have to worry about injuries in the back of my mind, so when I planned my races for the year I tried to spread them out as best as I could.
It’s so hard not to go overboard when I get excited about something! I think it’s really great that you bought that picture to remind you of what went wrong so you don’t repeat your mistakes. What a motivating reminder! Thanks for linking up with us today!
Glad to link up! Yes, I was overzealous back then but never again…now I don’t even like to sign up for races too early because you never know what’s going to happen.
It’s experiences like these that make us better runners. I’ve also bought race pictures just so I could remember the struggle in a particular race. And, the help me remember I can finish anything!
Absolutely! It’s also pretty humbling to look at that old picture too.
Yeah, not a happy pic, but good for you for buying it to remind yourself of what not to do! You had a busy schedule and with new shoes and not enough mileage training, things didn’t go well. But awesome job for redeeming yourself at RNR Philly. Shows you learned a lot since that race.
It’s crazy looking back and seeing how clueless I was!
Great post. I have a lot to learn in terms of “fueling” for a race. As of now, I can’t even run over 2 miles without water, so I know it would be helpful to have a fuel bar of some sort for the midpoint of the race. While you do look miserable, you FINISHED, and as we say, #MischiefManaged
I think having the right fuel before you run is even more important…something like toast with a little jam is a good way to have energy before you run, and of course it’s great to carry water with you. Taking Gu and other gels comes more in play when you’re running longer than an hour.
Fantastic post! I recently fell in love with running and decided to run all the races last fall. The last race I ran was a 5 mile turkey trot that was after 2 halfs in 2 weeks lol (crazy.org)…I could barely get through it! Lesson learned.
I was introduced to the clif shots at the philly half last november and they taste SO much better than GU! Its amazing!
Like I posted on another bad racing day post, all races are good because one day you might not be able to run anymore so enjoy the ride. I find most runners have to give it up when they reach their late 40’s and 50’s, if they had be running for 10 years or more. #wowlinkup
I hope to have a long time running, so I’m doing the best I can to stay healthy and strong! I hate to think that this could all be over soon — well, 20 years isn’t bad! 🙂
Great lessons learned…I think quite a few of those are on my personal list. I like that you bought a photo to remind you of what you learned from this race. Learn from it, don’t hate it!
The photo…beautiful shot except for my complete misery lol! Always great to learn.
Oh man bad races can teach you so much!! I had to back out of a half marathon this past December from hip issues. I’m so glad I didn’t push through because it took me so long to recover! Thanks for reminding me you can recover though!
Hip issues, ouch! Glad you’re feeling better now. Sometimes we runners can be STUBBORN! It’s important to think of the big picture and there is no shame in a DNS!
I totally get this! It is easy to get wrapped up in it all and not realize that it takes time to build. I’ve been to the PT several times with similar issues 🙂 Sometimes you learn the most from the bad races.
I simply felt no joy at all during that race…I never want that feeling again! Ahhh PT…so helpful, but I never want to go back!
Oh wow Janelle, that sounds like a very tough race! I really like your comment about not relying on the internet for advice. There is so much good information on the net…but also a lot of bad information. Ultimately finding someone (be it a chiro, PT or coach) who can give you advice for your specific problem is worth its weight in gold!
I’m a head case, so reading the internet can really make my head spin and give me all kinds of crazy theories on what to do when it comes to running! I’ve learned to trust the professionals that I work with!
Thanks for the lessons! I learned a few of those myself….the hard way!
Seriously, it can be tough! It’s good to look back.
Oh poor thing sounds like you had a TIME with your half marathon. Stress fractures, undertraining, over training, getting left by your pacer group? WOW (no pun intended). Glad you learned from it. #wowlinkup
I am always in awe of people that run marathons…I bow down to you in total admiration!! I work out regularly, but I’m not a runner. I’ve tried and tried and tried to like running, but I’m finally at the point where I accept that it’s just not me, lol (and I’ve talked about it with friends that run marathons!). Your post just strengthens my respect…the dedication and the injuries you overcame…well done, you!! Even though you feel it was your worst race, you still did it!! Hope your next race is better for you! 🙂 #badassbabes
Aw thanks so much Vicky! I’ve learned so much from running…I never thought it would be for me but I love it so much, even when it drives me crazy! Really appreciate your kind words! 🙂
It’s the bad races that are memorable and teach us the most important lessons sometimes. I completely agree on finding the right training plan for YOU. There are many plans that claim on being the best, but really it depends on the person. I have friends that run 4 or 5 times a week. My body doesn’t work that way. I have run 3xweek training for a half and it worked fine for me. #wowlinkup