This is really the first time that I have set a goal and been unable to attain it. I signed up for the 60K option but ended up dropping down a distance to 38K. I've always kind of been able to shut off my brain and not think too much about the task ahead and just run, but not this day.
Here's what I think went wrong:
- Not enough sleep. The last time I ran this race, I drove there the night before and stayed in a hotel. This year, I decided to save a few bucks and just get up the morning of the race. It's a 3 hour drive and a 7am start, so I was up at 3am and on the road shortly thereafter. I probably got about 3 hours of sleep. I usually don't have any trouble sleeping the night before a race and I don't require a large amount of sleep, but maybe an extra 3 hours of shut-eye would have been helpful.
- Snow. Huh? Well, because of all the snow that we received this winter, the original course had to be changed. Actually it was changed twice, the last time being 2 days before the race. The new course was more logging roads and less single/double track. A 6K loop consisted of mostly woodland trail and a 10K loop was mostly logging road.
- My trail shoes. I hate them. They have absolutely no cushioning and my feet were killing me. Also, I didn't get enough training in them. I switched them out for a pair of non-trail shoes and they felt better, but I had already decided that I was running my last 6K loop.
- The hills. I ran this race three years ago and was expecting the same type of terrain. I think that if the original course had been kept, it might have been OK. The 6K loop was fine, it was pretty much the same as it was 3 years ago. However, the 10K loop had much bigger hills than I was expecting.
- Training. I thought that I had got in some good training in the weeks before the race. My longest training run was 38K and I had a few 60K+ weeks. The plan I followed was a 50K plan and I figured that I could gut out the last 10K. I'm not sure that the training schedule is at fault, I think it was not enough hill training.
- Mentally not there. Because of the course changes, the 60K race that I signed up for became a 64K race. I figured 60K was going to take all I had and now I had an extra 4K? Doesn't sound like much...
I regret dropping at 38K. I could have done it. It wasn't even noon when I finished and I had all afternoon to go another 22K. And then there was the inevitable "how did your race go?" questions that I had to deal with. It's not fun having to tell people you failed.
But, what I considered failure, everyone else considered an accomplishment. Even though most of the people who inquire about my results are not runners, I have to assume that they are genuinely interested in my results and seeing me succeed. I realize that most people are never going to run 1K, let alone 38K. I've had to change my response to the question from "I only got to 38K" to "I got to 38K". It's all about perspective.
As time has passed, I've decided to let myself feel like it's OK to have failed. You learn from your mistakes and move on. I will be back to finish what I set out to do.
