4 Things I Learned From Missing A Race

I’ve been training pretty hard for a race since July. I was so excited and feeling great about running the 10K in Denver at the Rock and Roll Marathon. I always like to test my limits in a higher altitude, because the scenery is so much better. I prepped my things the night before and laid my head to rest at a fairly decent time with an alarm set for 6am. I woke up at 4am and maybe it was a sign, I couldn’t get back to sleep until 5am and then my alarm went off at 6am. I felt a little groggy, but managed to get ready in the dark as much as I could without disturbing my fiance who wanted to sleep until the very last minute.

Time flew by that morning as I had breakfast and got ready, I guess I forgot to look at the clock most of the morning because by the time we had left it was 7:40 am. and I was planning on leaving around 7am. I knew this was really late, but figured the it would be ok. Well it wasn’t, because when I arrived at the start line they were tearing it down! I was devastated! On one hand it wasn’t the end of the world because I debated running this one due to time and financial commitments and then they announced the headliner band, Matisyahu. That changed my mind and I decided to commit to running a faster 10K instead of training to just finish a half marathon.

I had a great training season, getting my mileage up to 8 miles on long runs, hill work, intervals and an intense taper. I was ready to race! A couple of thoughts crossed my mind as I stumbled around in disbelief, I could stick around and pout about it or grab my paper map and get my miles in. I went with the second option. I had way too much energy in me to just hang out and I needed my runners high!

So I headed out and did the best to stay kind of on course without getting completely lost, which definitely impacted my time. I was pretty much balling under my shades, how did I let this happen!? I also heard someone holler at me that I was taking a short cut. Whatever! I wasn’t stopping until I hit 6 miles! I had finally found the race and ran the opposite direction for a while before jumping in and crossing the finish line. I ended up running close to a personal best but know I would’ve done much better if I wasn’t reading a map and stopping for traffic. It was somewhat rewarding, but not near as great as it would’ve been had I actually started and ran with other runners. But as my fiance always says, “there’s no future in the past”. So this experience taught me a few things about running and life.

1. Practice Gratitude- How many runners missed the start because of illness or injury. At least I was healthy and able to run my distance, I probably could've finished the half.
   
2. Forget the small stuff-I wasted a lot of time that morning on small things that weren't necessary. Details can be good, but when when it starts to become clutter or noise simplify. Use checklists to stay organized and and focused on what you really need.
   
3. Life is not perfect and that’s ok- When people decide they want to change their lifestyle to improve health, be more fit, feel and look better they often take an all or nothing approach. Put in the effort, but if you slip don’t beat yourself up over it, simply pick yourself up and get back on track by making the better choice next time.
   
4. Attitude can make or break your day-Had I not been thankful for the many things that were awesome that day and focused only on what went wrong, my experience would’ve been miserable.