First Time Half/Full Marathoners - What Are You Nervous About?

[disney_mommy]

Okay, here's my idea-I am walking the half Princess in March of next year, and it will be my very first race of any kind, and I'm sure there are many others like me out there. I would love for you first-timers to post here about what your worries and concerns are, then after you have completed your trip, come back here and post if those concerns were valid, and what you did about them. Also, any other issues that may have popped up while you were there that you weren't prepared for.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who would really appreciate any insight into this!

 

[JoanneNC]

Grats on signing up and training for your 1st race.. I would however recommend that you sign up for some local smaller races between now and then. It will help remove some of the race unknowns such as timing of eating - vs traveling vs porta-potty lines and the common race killer, starting out too fast.....

 

[georgiasmom]

I am walking the full in TWO WEEKS!!! I've been training since August and I feel good. Did 20 miles last weekend and 10 yesterday. Amazingly the 10 was like nothing! I think I am ready.

 

[BamaEd1]

Follow your training plan. I'm going into the 1/2 (my 5th and 2 fulls) and I am not trained. I will finish but will not have a good race (personal performance, I mean...running at Disney will be great). I don't like feeling this way as I taper into the race. I'm doing the best I can to be in good shape but uninjured and I hate it!!!!! A lot of stress at work and I haven't handled it well...my training suffered a lot.

 

[windwalker]

I'm doing the Goofy and haven't done any distance training. The last time I did 13.1 was May and only 2 ten milers and a few 8s since then. I will be testing the theory that it's your fitness level as much as your training.

Dave

 

[cewait]

I see a couple vets have popped in so I will..

This is the year of persaverance for me. I had three really bad bike wrecks one that kept me from running for over a month. That was in March.

I still feel the effects of that wreck in my long runs so like others I am coming into the race undertrained. I have not been very good with my hard weekday runs.

Like Ed and Dave I will be testing the theory of better undertrained and healthy then iwell trained and injured.

My fear is heading out the gate at a pace I carried over the last two years then hitting mile 9 on the second day and entering the death march mode.

I know I will make the end but I also have a need/desire to have a time.

 

[sk8ingmom]

Leg cramps.

DH is a runner (Goofy this year) and he often complains about running through leg cramps. In all my training, I've never had them, so I'm not sure what I will do or how I will react if it happens during the 1/2 (my first race longer than 5K).

 

[MapleGirl]

#1 Fear: Not finishing

I'm also afraid that I'll moon people in my running skirt and that I'll be miserable and in pain after the race.

 

[Paul (tigger fan)]

Hi Guys,

Biggest fears as a 1st timer are:

1. Not finishing and letting myself down.

2 . Sleeping in on day of race, staying in offsite villa need to order taxi, panic it wont turn up on time and need to wake wife up at 3am to drive me (i will then be sporting a fresh black eye at start line and possible damage to a few other parts of my body).

3. I dont know if i have done enough either ran 15,16,17,18 and 19 miles(3hrs 10 mins) plus 3 hard six mile runs every week for the last 5 weeks as well as all the work in last few months just nervous its not enough. I feel ready mind u.

4. This might sound nuts, but not knowing anyone and not meeting family till end just worried all goes to plan.

I am quite a positive person mind you, just cant come quick enough now to experience it all.

Good luck to everyone on day, i,m sure it will all fall into place.

Paul

 

[GBBTomorrow]

Fear #1: Not finishing.

I've followed my training plan closely, but my 20-milers were awful. I did a very good 12 yesterday, so that gave me a boost in confidence, but the specter of how bad I felt in those 20's is really nagging at me. I keep telling myself, "Hey, the 20's were awful, but you FINISHED them," but I still find myself anxious.

Fear #2: Stomach Problems

I've been to the doctor and gotten good advice and have had no trouble on my last two runs, but the fear is there: "what if it comes back during the race?" I don't want any drama on race day.

Those are my two biggies.

 

[Suzy Mouse]

I hope I'm not giving myself the kiss of death here....

My biggest fear is that something is going to come up here that will prevent me from getting to Disney.

Once I get beyond that my next fear is that my recent "Knee activity" (pain) will cause me not to finish.

I just want to wear that medal around my neck and parade myself around the park with my sister and my dad. I don't want anything stopping me from doing that.

 

[ksoehrlein]

#1 fear = injury
#2 fear = not finishing

 

[Ronda93]

In order of probability...

1. Oversleeping. 2:30 is not a natural time to wake up - this one has already appeared in my dreams.
2. Not seeing DGF along the route - the only unknown.
3. Getting hurt between now and then.
4. Not finishing.

Ronda

 

[UGAFan0829]

This will also be my first "distance" race as well. I've done two 5k's and will have done a 3rd by the time the Princess rolls around. My biggest fear(s) are...
1. Not finishing
2. Not being comfortable-for example being too cold or too hot, and that having an impact on my pace.
My DH and I ran a 5K on Thanksgiving morning, when it was 30-something degrees out. I started out with running pants, running shirt and a fleece jacket. Since we got there so early, we ended up waiting about 30 minutes before the start of the race. I was freezing by that time, so I put on the long-sleeve race shirt over my other shirt. After the first mile or so I was burning up, and having a hard time breathing. For some reason, I have a lot harder time breathing in the cold. That's one thing that I'm definitely worried about come race day.

 

[syko]

It's my first WDW marathon, but not for the distance.
My worries are always the same.....mechanical breakdown.
I'm so i'm getting a secound chair, I've allready told my Dh that we are taking both with us to every race just in case.

 

[PeterPan09]

I signed up to "wog" the half after being successful in 5k's and wanting to reach a larger goal.

Biggest Fear-Getting swept


Second Biggest Fear-injury.


I broke a bone in my foot during training which created both fears. I lost so much time healing that I'm afraid I'm not physically ready and will get swept, and I'm also afraid that I'll get injured AGAIN which will ruin my plan of running the ESPN 5k in February.

 

[rubato]

I'm running my first half in April. My biggest fear is not being able to listen to music. Silly, I know. But, my music motivates me. How will I ever run the longest distance in my life with no tunes? Second is injury. I, too, had a bad bike wreck last year and hurt my knee. Plus, I have arthritis in my hips. I just want to have a somewhat pain free run (at least as pain free as I get).

 

[JoanneNC]

I'm running my first half in April. My biggest fear is not being able to listen to music. Silly, I know. But, my music motivates me. How will I ever run the longest distance in my life with no tunes? Second is injury. I, too, had a bad bike wreck last year and hurt my knee. Plus, I have arthritis in my hips. I just want to have a somewhat pain free run (at least as pain free as I get).

I was the same way with music but recently did 11 miles without any and survived

Good luck

 

[MapleGirl]

Great. My fear of not finishing/getting swept just gained some ground. I was running on the treadmill at the gym. Started to feel funny after a mile (struggling with that mile, but no more than usual). Took a break, then went back to try for another mile. Thought it was just a motivation problem. I had to stop after a quarter of a mile because I had a coughing fit. Last night I was laughing and then had a coughing fit and threw up. This coughing fit was like that. I noticed when I was taking that break that I couldn't take a deep breath without rasping/wheezing in the lower back of my throat. How on earth am I going to finish this race if I can't run 2 miles!?!? Is it nerves? Lack of motivation? Am I getting sick?

Help! What should I do?? Any veterans experience something like this?

 

[GBBTomorrow]

Great. My fear of not finishing/getting swept just gained some ground. I was running on the treadmill at the gym. Started to feel funny after a mile (struggling with that mile, but no more than usual). Took a break, then went back to try for another mile. Thought it was just a motivation problem. I had to stop after a quarter of a mile because I had a coughing fit. Last night I was laughing and then had a coughing fit and threw up. This coughing fit was like that. I noticed when I was taking that break that I couldn't take a deep breath without rasping/wheezing in the lower back of my throat. How on earth am I going to finish this race if I can't run 2 miles!?!? Is it nerves? Lack of motivation? Am I getting sick?

Help! What should I do?? Any veterans experience something like this?

What you are describing sounds like when my son had pertussis (whooping cough). His coughing fits usually ended with vomiting, and were often induced by exercise or laughing. Sometimes, though, they would start out of the blue when he was at rest.

I'm in no way suggesting that I know what you have, just that the symptoms sound like what I'm familiar with. On the one in a million chance that you would have it, if you get certain antibiotics early in the course of the illness, it can lessen the severity and duration.

Just to be on the safe side, with a respiratory illness of any kind, I'd take a trip to the doctor.

Good luck and good wishes!