When the Wheels Fall Off

If you have raced long enough, you know what I speak of - whether it's a training day or an A-race, there are just days that don't go right.  It can happen for a multitude of reasons, from gear failure to tough conditions to poor preparation.  For me, that race was the Barcelona marathon last weekend.  I went in thinking of Barcelona as a training day - my intent was to run it easy, get the stimulus in, and then really race the Paris marathon three weeks later.  In part, the goals were achieved.  I ran the race, got the stimulus in, but it was far from easy.  I buried myself in the last six miles trying to run a time that, at the end of the day, I wasn't that pleased with.  It was not the confidence boost I was looking for going into the Paris race, which is now two weeks out.

A friend of mine did the same race, except he followed a slightly different training plan.  He signed up for Barcelona, his first marathon (also what would end up being his first 5K, 10K, or half marathon) about 40 days out.  Early on, we discussed the need for running shoes (he's a big tennis player and thought he could get by with his tennis shoes), proper clothing, and the training that he could do to make his marathon dream a reality.  Two days after that talk, I went for a walk late at night and ran into him eating a pizza.  He proudly told me that he had just finished training - a 5 mile walk around the city - and was waiting for a friend to go get ice cream.  Despite being all for pizza and ice cream, which I am, it spoke volumes about what my friend's training regiment would likely consist of - that ended up being the longest training he did.

Unsurprisingly, race day for him was what many of us would consider to be a disaster.  I heard from my wife, who had agreed to run the last half with him, that when he made it to the halfway point, they were literally closing the course down behind him.  There was a van trailing him, pleading for him to get in and that his day was over.  He walked on.  About one mile after linking up with my wife, he stopped and sat down on a Vespa in order to do some stretching.  At his behest, my wife bought him a pastry (aid station food is so bland, after all).  Shortly after that, he decided to take a cab to where his girlfriend was waiting for him - about the 25 mile mark.  He made it to the finish line ten minutes after the official race end - 6:10 with a cab ride and a pastry.  When we met for dinner later though, I heard none of this from him.  He was unfailingly positive about the experience, how much he had learned from it, and how it had lit a curiosity about what running a full would be like.  He was telling me this as he massaged anti-inflammatory cream into his foot at the dinner table.

At the end of the day, it really is all about managing expectations and perspectives.  While I was hugely disappointed in my own race and effort, my friend was amazed by it and excited for me.  Conversely, while I was dismayed by all he had gone through (in part because I felt somewhat responsible), he was upbeat and positive.  I don't know if Paris will go better - spraining my ankle yesterday doing that all-important cross-training I was lauding earlier in the year certainly didn't help - but I hope to have learned more from my friend's attitude than I did from my own race.  Sometimes the wheels fall off and that's okay - there's always something that can be learned and, at the end of the day, it's such a privilege to be able to race at all.

There is a lot of racing going on this weekend - good luck to all Team RWBers, pros and age groupers alike, who are heading out to toe the line.  Please send us your race reports so we can get them up on the web page!

Happy trails.