Tomorrow morning is my first official half marathon of the year. We were suppossed to run the Perk Up half marathon last weekend, but Hurricane Irene made the entire east coast unpassable. I attempted to run the course earlier this week, but made a stupid mistake of reading the map and didn't make a turn I should have. It taught me some valuable lessons though. :)
The first lesson is one I already knew. Get to the place super early if you don't know where you are going. Doing the trial run let me know exactly where I need to be tomorrow morning and now I don't need to sweat it out. I've gone to lots of races before I had the GPS and was stressed out beyond belief because I couldn't find the place. I vividly remember trying to find the Tenafly 5k because i printed out directions and didn't pay attention that I didn't have the actual address listed, just the town of Tenafly. I didn't have the GPS with me the other night, but I knew basically where I needed to go and sure enough I made a turn that I shouldn't have and had to back track. Won't make the same mistake tomorrow. :)
The second lesson is to put money in my shorts or sports band. Because of my wrong turn, I ran in a direction that was not circular, so I had to run back once it got dark. I ran out of water and was starving by the time I had to walk and would have LOVED to have a Dunkin Donut muffin or something. All I was able to think about was what food was in the car that i could devour once, if ever, i got back to the car!
The third lesson is to put more food in the car! I had fruit snacks and shredded mini wheats. I was thrilled to have them, so I put lots of snacks in the car and will be mindful to keep the supplies stocked. :)
The fourth lesson is that it gets dark.. Very dark. I did have my cell phone, but i should have the little pen light that I know I have someplace in the house. I can easily keep it in my belt for such occasions. I could not run all the way back because I was afraid of the uneven sidewalks. I was sure i would trip and injure myself. I would run through the street lights and walk the dark parts.
The fifth lesson - pack a change of clothes. I did have my work clothes, but i wanted the sweaty clothes off soo badly and would have been thrilled to have comfy clothes and flip flops to change into.
I now have snacks and a bag in the trunk of a change of clothes and stuff like tissues and advil in the bag.
The sixth lesson probably is to print out a regular map of the route. this was basically a hand sketched map and I don't think i would have missed the turn had i used MapMyRun.
All in all good lessons to learn now. All these issues would not have been issues on race day except the stress of finding the place, but they do prepare me for future runs and since I plan on running most nights now that it's getting dark early. I want to get a flashy light to attach to my clothes. I saw one at Five Below that I need to go get.
Can't wait until tomorrow and run the actual course. I'm getting up early and getting their early. I'm not sure how many people will be at this one. I didn't see it advertise very much so it may be a small event. wouldn't that be awesome if i could medal my age group?
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