December 8, 2024
Half Marathon, 10K & 5K Races

My Worst Race

My Worst Race

When you’ve done over one hundred races, you are bound to have a bad one or two or ten. I am no exception. Aside from races that I’ve done when I’m coming off of injury and have no expectations, I think my worst race was the Detroit Free Press Marathon. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the course. I thought the expo was great and well run. But the weather that day was just so cold. It took me hours to finish the race. I started the race wearing a throw away fleece jacket that I was planning to get rid of in the first two miles like I do with most races. I was so cold that I didn’t throw it away at any point during the race.  And because this race went into Canada (so cool!) our bibs had to be visible for the race so I kept the jacket open the whole time. Running a marathon with a fleece jacket open is very difficult. So that is what made this race, my worst race. Imagine running for over five hours and never warming up. That’s how I felt that day in October.

As much as you can train for a race, there will always be times that there is something unexpected that happens. The biggest cause of a bad race is the weather. It is the one things that is completely unpredictable. Here is a list of things that can cause someone to have a bad race-

  • Poor fueling- often times when we travel for races, we forget about the food that we eat when training and cannot find it when we’re in another state or country.
  • Forgetting your shoes/socks/fuel belt etc. Having to scramble to find these items right before a race can cause anxiety!
  • Not knowing the course. Unless you live there, the course that you are going to run will probably be unfamiliar. It’s good to review the course prior to the start of the race.

So tell me , what’s your worst race?

Keep on running!


And if you haven’t done so already, don’t forget to sign up for the 2021 Reggae Marathon! The link is below.

https://secure.getmeregistered.com/get_information.php?event_id=134878

instagram
facebook
twitter
youtube