essendoubleop

I just completed my 2nd marathon this past weekend. I have been in serious training for about half a year in preparation for a series of 3 marathons, culminating in February, and assumed my second marathon would be the best as it would take place during my prime.

However, I completely bombed it.

More importantly than any time goal, I wanted to just make it all the way without walking. Other runners have given me conflicting advice as to walking hills, but I decided to only walk the hills near the end. Even with supposedly fresher legs for the end, I pretty much gave up. I was in such a bad place mentally, it really shocked me.

Granted, I had a list of things go wrong that were unfortunate and really a series of small set-backs. My shoes pretty much busted, I forgot my running socks and had to use thick wool socks that squeezed my feet, my sleep was constantly interrupted the night before, I was stressing out the day before because of travel plans, I had major gashes on the back of my ankle, 2 trainers commented on my knees being excessively tight and stretched me out overtime, etc. I think I could have overcome 1 or 2 of them, but all of them added up really did me in.

But even with all these excuses, it doesn't really make me feel any better. I had been working really hard for a long time towards one event I did drastically worse than I had predicted. Runners often mention a depression they get following a marathon, mainly stemming from having their major goal they had been working towards end. Coupling that with my poor performance, it feels really awful. I badly want a do-over, but it's hard to climb that mountain again after getting knocked off when you were so close. I still got a medal and a shirt, but I have nearly thrown them away every morning since then because they're basically mementos of fail.

So, uh... not sure where to go with this... Any similar experiences with marathons or coming up short? Words of encouragement? Mockery?