Never running again...

I AM NEVER RUNNING AGAIN! Do you hear me? I am serious. I am NEVER running again.

Those were some of my first thoughts after the recent Princess Half Marathon at Disney. Why? Because it was HARD people...harder than I had anticipated. AND, because I made some serious rookie mistakes...

In order to confess my failures and get these mistakes out for the world to see, I will share them here. And, I hope that this full disclosure will help any of you to NOT follow in my footsteps!

My erroneous ways...let me count them...

1. Not training enough. I trained diligently for my first half in November that was held in Gulf Shores. So, I was fully prepared. This time I had slacked off on my weekday runs and wasn't as consistent on my long runs.
2. Wearing new shoes the week before the race (just to walk in and to run in once or twice). I LOVE my new shoes...LOVE. They are Newton's and they are designed to help me run correctly. Here's the problem...I haven't been running correctly since one of my feet has a mind of its own and bends outward after the three mile mark. But, my body has compensated for that wild foot. The new shoes make me line up correctly which causes my hip and left foot to hurt...a lot.
3. My left foot began hurting around mile 8 and didn't stop the entire race. I am not sure if I didn't tie my shoes tight enough or the heat caused my toes to swell...either way, it was painful.
4. No plan for water stations. When I ran in the half back in the fall, I knew where every station would be and had a plan on where to stop. Plus, there were only 300 or so people in that race and I didn't have to dodge a mound of water cups in the road. This time I knew there were LOTS of water stations but had not mentally prepared for where to stop and how to manage the stops. So, I stopped often and walked (because of the plethera of water cups EVERYWHERE) through them.
5. Lack of planning for food. I generally take Stinger orange chews on my runs over 5 miles. I like them and they are good. But, I have trained to just keep them in my car or at a location where I pick them up along the way. I didn't want to wear a belt because I had not trained in one and didn't have a place to carry them. So, I went without...big mistake!
6. In light of #5, I took some Cliff Gu at mile 8.7...this was my biggest error of all. I had not eaten it before, so I should have just said NO! But, alas I did not. It was like glue which forced me to stop for water soon thereafter. And, about a mile later, I thought I was going to lose all of my breakfast from the stomach cramps it caused. So, miles 10-13 were fairly miserable.
7. Not immediately eating afterwards. I will NOT be making this rookie mistake again. I do not care how stinky and sweaty I am, I will be eating a HUGE breakfast within 30 minutes of finishing the next race.

Yeah, you heard me...I said "the next race." I am NOT giving up that easily. I made plenty of mistakes that I am going to evaluate and learn from diligently. I will be running again..this week. I will not be defeated by my own choices.

Join me in learning to love to run (or walk or bike or whatever) this year...for our good and His ultimate glory!