You've trained and signed up for the TC 10K or half marathon and counting down the days? Here’s a few tips to get you race-ready.
"In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours."
Mark Twain
1. Don’t obsess about the weather.
Unless you can control the weather like Zeus, who’d lose a foot race anyways to his son Hermes, the patron of athletes who hangs around in winged sandals, don’t stress out about the possibility of rain or wind. Remember that your running buddies back east are still climbing over snowbanks. But in case, you can’t help yourself, here’s historical data on Victoria weather in April.
2. Do keep running if you’re struck by lightning.
I know I said not to worry about the weather, but if you are buffeted by winds along Dallas Road or – let’s say, perchance – hit by lightning, don’t use that as an excuse to slow down or quit.
Calgary’s Adam Campbell took a Harry Potter strike to the head and stared down his personal Voldemort during an ultramarathon and still finished the 100.5-mile race.
Adam Campbell - wild and tough. Photo credit: Competitor.com
In fact, he not only kept running, he finished third. Crazy? May be. Superhuman? May be. Both are definitions in my dictionary under the heading of ultra-runner.
3. Don’t start the race too fast.
This is common advice you hear over and over again. And again. It’s repeated so often because even seasoned runners get sucked into this vortex.
Why? First of all there’s the excitement and adrenalin. How often do you feel this way on your usual weekend run. I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually spend my Saturday morning plotting where I can pee (bus station? hotel? portapotty?) then anxiously stand around in a pen with thousands of other people in highly flammable ‘wicking’ apparel waiting for an airhorn so we can all start stampeding.
Also, that crowd robs us of the usual visual cues that our brain relies on to gauge how fast we’re running relative to a stationary landscape. That sensation is explained here. Being surrounded by people moving at the same speed, or faster, makes you feel as if you’re running slower than what you’ve usually experienced running on your own without people blocking your view. And if you go out too fast, you’ll tire more quickly. Just don’t.
4. Do ask your friends, family, neighbours, randomn strangers to cheer for you.
Hand-lettered signs provide an emotional boost
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The novelty of me being in races has worn off for my daughter who used to stand curbside with hand-lettered signs. No more. Now when I pass other people’s signs that cheer ‘go mom go’ I pretend they’re for me. When I see signs that say ‘go Jenny go,’ I pretend it’s me. When I see signs that say ‘go dad go!’ I pretend it’s me.
Some favourite signs:
If I see you collapse, I’ll pause your Garmin.
Dig deeper than a kid seeking boogers.
Hurry, Facebook is waiting.
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5. Do take a selfie. But stay the hell out of my way.
I realize the excitement of actually being in your first 10K or half marathon. I do, I truly do. I also cherish the pre or post race photos I’ve taken or had a stranger take of me.
But dear lord – if you feel compelled to take a picture of yourself during the race, because you need to text it immediately to your twin sister in Tanzania who is about to embark on a year-long sojourn where she will not have access to any communication, please move off the middle of the road out of courtesy to those of us who are struggling to put one foot in front of the other without the additional challenge of an immovable object.
This gal took selfies of herself at a New York race positioning her phone to get ‘hot guys’ in the frame. Her notoriety exposed something more than her taste in men. Turns out she was running with someone else’s bib. Nice going, bandit.
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6. Finally, remember to have fun out there!
