What is your biggest fear about Marathon weekend?

[goofeygirl]

I am doing the Dopey and so my biggest fear (outside of completing the races injury free of course) is that I will end up hitting that mental wall. I hit it this past year at mile 21 and really don't want to experience that again.
So outside of a safe journey for everyone...my fear is that mental wall...I never want to see it again.

 

[cewait]

Actually the wall is not a real fear of mine - mainly because I have not run anywhere near capability in the last 2-3 years.

My biggest fear is oversleeping on a race day. I know it is unlikely to happen, but it remains a huge fear. I usually set three alarms (watch, phone and wake up call); but maybe only once was in bead at the time I set them. I aim for a 0200 wakeup to get the body working before heading out the door at 0330.

To compound that fear, I am not a patient person when I have a huge project nearing its end and race day morning is not a day that I want to add stress pre-race. So I make a point of being on the road in the middle of the 3-4 AM bussing window.


Another somewhat irrational fear is waking up to an uncharged Garmin. Coming into 2013, my 610 may not make good contact with the carter and end up draining itself through the night. I ended up rubber banding the unit on the base each night for 2013 to be sure. I did end up running out of battery in the 2013 full. It was nearing time to replace the unit so I ran most of this year with a 305 and my 610; alternating the units.

 

[cewait]

I am doing the Dopey and so my biggest fear (outside of completing the races injury free of course) is that I will end up hitting that mental wall. I hit it this past year at mile 21 and really don't want to experience that again.
So outside of a safe journey for everyone...my fear is that mental wall...I never want to see it again.

Sorry, I missed a coachable moment....

This year when you start to feel that feeling come on, fight! First, slow up a bit, but DO NOT fall out of your norm. i.e. if running continuous, try dropping 30-90 seconds a mile off your pace but do not yield to the "if I could just walk" voice. Likewise, if run/walking, fight that loud voice saying, "just let me walk another 30 seconds, I promise, this will be the only one"

Yielding is losing as far as the wall go (and yes I know there is a point when you cannot keep the fight going). Work with all you fiber to not yield to the need to lose and walk. Great little games that MAY work are,

Running to the next corner
Running to the next street light
Running to the next stripe in the road
Running to the next crack in the road... These are getting shorter and shorter but the point is to give yourself a goal to make then pushing it out once you make the goal.

Tying an imaginary string onto a runner 15-20 feet in front of you and letting them pull

Dedicate each mile to a friend or family member who helped you get to race day.

Smile Shake out your hands and take a deep calming breath can relieve some of the stress causing you to want to stop.

Turning up the music or otherwise just trying to drown out the surroundings and pull your focus into a single spot on the road (like looking through a straw) will help keep the evil thoughts at bay.



One tool we coach folks as we try to get them into a mental zone is wall sitting. We have folks stand about 18" from a wall, and sit into the wall so the thighs are parallel with the floor (making sure we practice good form and keep the weight over the heals and not the toes) and hold that pose for 3 minutes. We talk about the various sections of a marathon while we work through the clock and have the runners use many of the mental tools I have discussed. The runners are not allowed to look at a clock during the exercise. The trick to the exercise is that we stay there for 5 minutes, not 3. What this does is reenforce the mental side of the game.

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

My biggest fear is forgetting or losing my race bib. I will check it approximately 8000 times between leaving the hotel and finishing the race (Yes, starting the race with the bib does not alleviate the fear!)

Since we're talking about how to get through the mental wall: when I hit it and can't keep pace anymore, I try to focus on form. Arms up? Check. Back straight? Check. Toes up? Check. (it seems to help calf/achilles pain.) Good push-off and follow-thru? Check.

Repeating the mental checklist keeps your mind off the miles to go, focuses you on what is going right, and gives you a chance to correct what's wrong.

At some point, even the mental checklist is too much. At that point, I switch to repeatedly singing the Kenny Loggins song: 'I'm alright and nobody worry 'bout me'. It's the only line I know, but it works!

 

[ironz]

Adding to the coachable moment....EAT! Very often, when you get in that funk and you just get unhappy or cranky or mentally weak, it is your body telling you that you are behind on nutrition. Get some calories in!

plus, everything Charles said. and the poster who advised a form check.

I like to break up the long races. Rough example: Start to MK. MK. MK to track. Track to back of AK. AK. Highway of death. WWOS. back to the cloverleaf. Rest of the way to HS. HS. Path to BW. BW. into Epcot. stupid hill on the bridge. France. Morocco. Japan. Italy. America. (rest of the countries) Get through FW. the choir!!Hallelujah! Finish.

(again, note that these divisions also get shorter and more manageable the more tired I am)

 

[garneska]

I like to break up the long races. Rough example: Start to MK. MK. MK to track. Track to back of AK. AK. Highway of death. WWOS. back to the cloverleaf. Rest of the way to HS. HS. Path to BW. BW. into Epcot. stupid hill on the bridge. France. Morocco. Japan. Italy. America. (rest of the countries) Get through FW. the choir!!Hallelujah! Finish.

Betsy Love the comment about Highway of death that is exactly what I think it is. Does not matter if it is mile 14 or 18, it is the Highway of death.

 

[cewait]

Upon leaving DHS you can almost hear the chant...

Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach then Epcot and Home ... Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach then Epcot and Home ... Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach then Epcot and Home ... Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach then Epcot and Home ...

Oh yes, the hills between England and France, why could we not take the Chunnel instead of the bridge. The BEST thing about that set of hills is that fact the 25 Mile Marker adorns the hill!

Building on the above, I find that at sometime in the 20+ mile range I lose the ability to run down hills comfortably so you will find me charging up hills grabbing folks and trying to get a pack together on the up in the hope of having enough energy from the pack to help pull me back down the opposite side.

And I also have a fear of not having my bib, even though at Disney its kind of hard to lose or forget it. I once drove 50 miles to a tri only to leave my bib, helmet and bike shoes at the house. The RD could help me with 2 of the 3 but the shoe issue sent me packing back to the house.

 

[paxsarah]

For this year's marathon, my biggest fear is that my weak left hip/glute/hamstring will not hold out for the whole race. I have a score to settle with the marathon distance after the last six miles of Space Coast ate me up last year. My other fears are the sort of "late for a test" kind of nightmares that are pretty unlikely in reality - forgot all my nutrition, running absurdly late, the corrals are really at my high school football field, that sort of thing.

As for forgetting the bib - a friend of mine discovered on race morning that her bib had been apparently trashed by the housekeeping staff at her off-site hotel. She was almost ready to bag it but decided to head down to the start area and the race-day support folks were able to get her a new one. So I wouldn't recommend forgetting your bib, but it can be fixed!

 

[dumbo_buddy]

Blisters! I just did NYC and at mile 24 (thank God 24 and not,say, 14) I got a wicked blister on the side of my big toe. I can run 2 miles with bad pain but longer than that and I probably would have had to stop. I pray during Dopey my now gross and ugly feet stay blister-free!!

Betsy - I love your breakdown!! Yeah stupid hill on the bridge!

 

[DoctorK]

Biggest fear is getting hurt in one of the earlier races in the Dopey, probably doing something stupid like trying to pass on the grass or something.

 

[DOOM1001]

Blisters! I just did NYC and at mile 24 (thank God 24 and not,say, 14) I got a wicked blister on the side of my big toe. I can run 2 miles with bad pain but longer than that and I probably would have had to stop. I pray during Dopey my now gross and ugly feet stay blister-free!!

Betsy - I love your breakdown!! Yeah stupid hill on the bridge!

Apply 2 coats of bodyglide to your feet and entire body and three to the areas you feel might need extra protection such as your feet.Then buy a small travel sized bodyglide and bring it with you to reapply in the race.I reapplied to prevent chafing in my inner thighs in the Everest bathroom even though I didn't need it at the time but it was close to halfway in the race and felt like it would be a good spot to do so.It got me through the entire race perfectly but amazingly I started feeling some chafing getting on the bus back to the hotel.For the race in January I'm reapplying mile 12 in the Everest bathrooms again and again at miles 18 and 24.I want no issues.

 

[Aw Phooey]

As cliche as it sounds, it's getting swept.

It's not just being nervous about getting swept. I mean I am actually slow enough that a stop at the john during the race could ruin me.

I hope they announce corrals soon. I had a freakishly good (for me) 10 miler and I need every second I can get.

 

[goofeygirl]

As for the mental wall...I am trying all those...but thinking about it, I remember doing a half earlier this year and began feeling that wall coming on and I was wearing bracelets and each one was dedicated to someone...so I look down at my bracelets to see who I dedicated that mile to and believe it or not it was the victims of the Boston Marathon and how odd that suddenly I felt rejuvenated again! So I must remember that!!!!

I don't fear losing the bib but do fear the housekeeper will toss it...but normally I place what I am wearing for the next day on a chair...all laid out like a mother lays their kids clothes out for them...and I pin my bib on...so it is ready for the next day...

As for not waking up...my body is like an alarm clock...somehow I always wake up before all the alarms go off.

 

[IamTrike]

I'm worried about going to fast in the earlier races and then paying for it during the full. I'm running with 2 friends that are both a little bit faster than myself. I can see pushing myself to keep up with them, and then really struggling during the full.

I'm worried about injuries too. I have chronic knee issues and really hope they don't flare up during the races.

 

[RJP77]

My biggest fear came true at last year's race. I had a cough leading up to the race but was willing to live with it. About 1 hour before my alarm was set to go off on the morning of the marathon I had a bad coughing fit and felt something pop in my rib cage. With each deep breath, cough or sneeze after that it felt like a knife was twisting in my ribs. I spent the next hour online reading about running with a rib injury, when my wife finally and firmly told me to take my shoes off. That was it. No race for me.

 

[Keogh1876]

My greatest fear is also over sleeping! Of course that is my fear for every long race. I also fear forgetting something silly like my shoes.

I just finished my 20 mile training run and I had a mental wall going into it! I knew I could do it; and that I had to do it but I just really didn't want to do it. I was in a bad mood the entire week before. Starting with mile one I just told myself every step forward was one step closer to my goal. After a bit my mind went on to other things and eventually I was at mile 20. I also just didn't give myself an option to stop. The only way to go was forward.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Dopey here. My only fear is losing the bib. This is my third marathon in four months.

 

[RnbwSktles]

This will be my first marathon so my fear is...everything!

-not finishing due to: injury, not having trained well enough, being sick, just being too slow, etc
-forgetting to pack something critical (I have never traveled for a race before)
- being in so much pain after that I can't enjoy the rest of my week at WDW!

I fear my last 2 long long runs of 18 and 20 miles just as much, if not more, than the race itself.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

This will be my first marathon so my fear is...everything!

-not finishing due to: injury, not having trained well enough, being sick, just being too slow, etc
-forgetting to pack something critical (I have never traveled for a race before)
- being in so much pain after that I can't enjoy the rest of my week at WDW!

I fear my last 2 long long runs of 18 and 20 miles just as much, if not more, than the race itself.

Make a list a few weeks before you pack. Look it over several times. Then, pack with the list RIGHT next to you, checking off each thing as you put it in your suitcase. And if you forget something running related, chances are you can find it at the expo.

 

[miker1251]

In ten years it
has never happened, but my biggest fear is oversleeping. This time I get to worry about it four mornings.