Before I get to our Tuesdays on the Run Linkup topic, congrats to everyone who ran Boston yesterday! It was a Hottie McHotterson and you all rock!
Moving on:
This week we’re talking about racing mistakes. Gasp! What? I’ll be the first to tell you I am guilty as charged on the mistake making front. I could tell you about pacing or fueling mistakes and gear mishaps but that would be too ordinary. Let’s go with a rather unique (I hope) mistake I made at my first marathon.
Forgive the poor picture quality. Apparently we only had postage-stamp sized photos…and white running shoes… in the dark ages.
Back in 2007 when I ran my first marathon, I carried Hammer Gel in a flask. Let the record show it was Espresso Hammer Gel. Espresso being the operative word. Espresso as in brown. Cue ominous foreshadowing. So I was clipping along around mile 5 when it was time to take some gel. I grabbed the flask, which hung upside down in my fuel belt (more foreshadowing) took a good swig and continued on my hot, sweaty way. Remember it was a billion degrees that year. After awhile I felt something sticky under the tongue of my shoe. It stuck and pulled away from my foot with each step. Stick, pull, stick, pull, stick, pull. Like a Bandaid going on and off. I glanced down to see a pool of Hammer gel accumulated there at the top of my foot, running into my shoe. What the what?? I kept glancing down and realized I hadn’t closed my upside-down gel flask as completely as I should have and gel…runny brown gel…was seeping down my shorts, down my leg, through my sock and into my shoe. Mortified does not do the incident justice. I didn’t have to wonder why suddenly everyone was keeping their distance from me. Let’s just say some extremely vigorous rinsing took place at the next couple of water stations.
Moral of the story: Be sure to snap your gel flask closed. Or better yet, don’t use a flask.
What running/racing mistakes have you made? Any unique ones? Did you enter my giveaway?
I’m linking up with Suz, Rachel, Debbie and Lora for Coaches’ Corner.
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Oh no! That would be so uncomfortable (and Im sure a bit embarrassing too!) I hate even getting gel stuck to my fingers, so all over like that would be no good. My first half was in 2007 and my pics look similar…but I didnt even know about gels back then!
Oh NO! That is crazy and pretty funny! hehe I think a strawberry gel would have been just as bad! I am going to say just say no to the gels!
At least you didn’t smell bad! LOLOLOLOL!
Tailwind…just sayin’….
Aw man that had to be pretty mortifying! I’ve had my shoelaces come loose on more than one occasion during a race but one time when I retied them they were so tight that it was painful to run. Very frustrating to have to stop again and make it right.
Oh no!! I feel bad for laughing, but that is pretty funny!
One of my racing mistakes involved wearing light colored capri pants. I sweat…A LOT, so by the end of the race it looked like I had peed myself LOL
I’ve never heard of a gel flask. Do you still us it?
Oh no….!!!! Now THAT is one mistake I never want to make. Thanks for sharing and for hosting the link up!
Yuck!! I’ve made a lot of mistakes – read my post. None as unique as yours. I just remembered the time I used my alarm clock to wake up early for a race and we had a power failure. I’ve never driven 1h30 so fast.
Oh no! I think that’s the most unique story I’ve read. Don’t use brown, and cap the flask!
That is a hilarious story!
Oh no! I did use a hammer gel flask for a while, but eventually gave it up because I couldn’t really tell how much I was taking in so easily. Thankfully that never happened to me. At least it wasn’t what people thought for you!
Probably my worst mistake was the time I decided 2 weeks before a half was the time to get rid of the plantar’s wart on the ball of my foot. It wasn’t really painful, but I figured I should get rid of it before it got too deep (having had a really bad one in college, but thankfully this was the first one since),
The problem? Then I had a hole in the ball of my foot! Deeper than expecting. And running on that DID hurt. Thankfully it healed before the race.
Repeat with me: nothing new in the last couple of weeks . . .
OH MY GOSH!!! Hahahaha. That would have been so terrible!! Not only the runny brown stuff but just the overall stickiness! Ick!!!
But what a story… 🙂
I’m sorry, but I’m totally LOL. I used chocolate gels for my first half marathon – I have chocolate all over my face in the finish pictures. Not as bad as down a leg, but I never used chocolate in a race again…
HAHA, that’s pretty funny. I’ve made a lot of running mistakes …. some worse than gel, we’ll just leave it at that! 🙂
this is so so so why I SWORE it would be one marathon and done
and then I made a few mistakes
and now I want ONE MORE SO I CAN FIX ‘EM 🙂
Ha ha ha…at least you can laugh about it now. A big mistake I made a few years ago was not read the fine print on some antiobiotics…I’d only been taking them for a few days, but had a 13.1. Side affects were dehydration, fatigue, and diarrhea! I spent those 2-ish hours feeling like I was gonna have a major emergency because my tummy was in knots and cramping. Fortunately, no accidents…but this race was on trails in a park and the porta pots were extremely scarce.
OMG!! that is a BAD mistake!!!
I once did a 20KM trail race in new (well… I had worn them once) shoes with my new orthotic inserts in them… cue blisters on both feet half the size of my feet. I was in so much pain. I was last. It was cold. There wasn’t even a damn medal or a cup of tea at the finish.
I can just imagine your shoe sticking to the pavement with each step! It was so cold at Mississippi Blues Half Marathon a few years ago, my GU actually froze and I couldn’t get anything out of it. There were icicles on my water bottle! Lol. I don’t think I will need to carry one in freezing temps. Lesson learned!
I don’t think I’ve ever made a racing mistake quite like that. I’m sure you can laugh about it now (at least I was), but it must have been completely mortifying then.
Oh my gosh that is horrid and hilarious all at once.
My biggest running mistakes was thinking more is better. More miles. More runs. More is better right. Wrong! As a newbie runner, sadly, I had to learn that lesson the hard way. More than once. Runners can be stubborn that way, right? Or is it just me?
Oh my! So far my worst mistakes have been wearing an item of clothing (or two) that hadn’t been road tested enough and wound up with some lovely chafing.
This spring completely snuck up on me. I had two friends run Boston and I couldn’t believe that the race was here already. I wanted to go cheer them on but I waited too long to plan the weekend getaway. Maybe next year!
Wow, that must have been a terrible experience
My one mistake was almost running out of water on one of the hardest hikes I have ever done!