10 Things I learned after a failed marathon PR.

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1. Not Running for two weeks is great-I had the slightest temptation to take a day off and sign up for Rehoboth !Marathon for another go around. Once I saw my coach had put active recovery on the schedule I knew I needed that time off. It’s a marathon it’s still 26.2 miles no matter how fast or slow you run it. Not running is good, my body needs the rest.
2. It’s okay if you aren’t satisfied with your race.-I feel like this can go either way. You run either run your goal and are motivated af to run faster or you don’t hit your goal and want to surpass that goal. I am no way satisfied with my race. Some people get excited by this and others get frustrated. I am frustrated with my end result and that’s okay. I will be okay.
3. Being upset with yourself is okay.- I always second guess my race and wonder if I’m weak and give up too quickly and I’m pissed off about that. Grieving the race is apart of the process, it’s good to be upset with yourself but don’t let it be destructive. Be mad for a couple of days. Get over it. Move on.
4. Let people help you. Let me people reach out to you.-I always think I can figure out what I did wrong by myself. I don’t need help I’m an independent person that’s what I thought for the longest time. I could do everything by myself until I got a coach and didn’t allow for second guessing. I had so many people reach out to me after Philly offering their help and I still wanted to figure it by myself but I knew I couldn’t figure out what happened by myself.
5. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself.- I know this from many experiences that putting pressure always ends badly. When you hype yourself up with goals and exceptions you only end up harming yourself.
6. Set new goals.- after mourning your old goals, make new goals. easy enough right?
7. You can achieve anything (or not) if you set your mind to it.- I always dig myself into a hole. Even before the marathon I was thinking about how I was probably going to need a second chance (third fourth or fifth) because I probably wasn’t going to get a BQ. Yup if you don’t believe in yourself it probably won’t happen.
8. Don’t compare yourself to others.​- I was envious of people who ran faster than me, or ran a PR but I am me, not them not her nor him. Everyone has a different journey and people deserve to achieve their goals because for all I know they probably had bad moments too.
9. Fall down 7, stand up 8 -If I were to get a tattoo I would probably get this. I’ve failed myself many times or many bad things have happened to me but heck I want to achieve my dreams and I will keep on going on.
10. I will be okay and will do a spring marathon.- So what’s next? Get back in shape and get back on the horse. I want to find the joy in running and not put so much pressure on myself. I’m going to be okay. Yes, two weeks later I’m still upset but I am mad and want this to be the last time I mentally give up during a race. I’m going to run with friends, run without a watch and just have fun and focus on mental strength more rather than lots of fast miles.