Friday 15 March 2013

Lessons learned from my first marathon

Its nearly two weeks since I ran the Duchy Marathon so I've had a bit of time to mull over how it all went.  The truth is it wasn't as bad as it could have been but it certainly could have gone better.  

Here's a few things I learned along the way:

1. Eating everything in sight for three days before your race is your reward for all the hard work you have put in. You are duty bound to make the most of it.

2. If you think you might have time for another quick trip to the toilet then you probably have.

3. When the race starts near a local supermarket there is at least one more public toilet available than you think.  This can be handy when considering point 2.

4. Switch your Garmin on before you think you need to.

5. When people say "start slow, finish strong" you should probably listen.

6. When people you overtook in the early part of the race come past you near the end, refer to point 5.

7. There is almost always a way of maintaining forward motion when you start to get a cramp.

8. Sometimes when you get a cramp you really can't keep running.

9. Bending over to stretch out a cramp after several hours of running can have strange effects on your sense of balance.

10. Just because you spent the last hour dreaming of the free pasty on offer at the finish line doesn't mean you will be able to eat it when you get there.

11. Beer goes down much easier than Cornish Pasties after running a marathon.

12. Have a goal time and stick to it.  Have a couple of backup goals you'd be happy with though, just in case.

13. Even though its just a little bit of chafing, bath water will make you feel like you just spilt acid on your genitals.  You have been warned.

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