All Hail the Marathon Rookie!

Holding the status of marathon rookie is a golden once in a lifetime opportunity to savor as it’s only the beginning of what will likely be a long and exciting journey of future distance running. With marathons at virtually all times of the year all over the world, there are so many cities to see, courses to explore, weird, whacky, fun and very often inspiring people to meet. OH and it’s also the only time you can claim complete ignorance for your stupid mistakes :)

26.2 miles is hard enough – why make things even harder for yourself if you can avoid it? Marathon veterans really may not know why we do the stupid things we do that results in unnecessary suffering. Is it self sabotage; a lack of planning; a last minute change of plans or maybe just plain stupidity (i.e. wearing cotton?)

Sock it To Me - My Classic Marathon Rookie Mistake

I always heard that it’s important not to wear new gear for your marathon. Make sure your gear is tried, tested and true before marathon day. I just couldn’t resist the phenomenal price of those dri-fit socks at the expo, with the nifty Canadian flag on the ankles. They do look a touch small but…those will be styling and dead sexy during my run the next day! By mile 18, my shoes were squishy…is that sweat or blood in my shoe? Reduced to a hobble the last 3 miles of the run, I finally finished and slowly proceeded to the medical tent. When my feet first came out of my shoes, I could not believe that the golf ball sized blood blisters on each of my baby toes, actually fit into my shoes with my feet! The medics cleaned, lanced the blisters to relieve the pressure, and wrapped them in gauze. Now, how the hell do I continue to walk around and keep these clean? They certainly can't go into shoes like this, and sandals would not be sanitary. OK...paper towels stuffed into extra large sandwich bags taped above the ankles with duct tape would do the trick. So, there I was, sitting in a busy subway after the marine corps marathon in Washington D.C., shod with huge sandwich bags. I’m sure some folks thought I was trying to start a new fad.

Top Marathon Rookie Mistakes

• Under train – At a bare minimum, you should have at least 1 18 mile long run under your belt before you hit the start line.
• Pick a hot course (summer marathon) – but maybe you're an author writing about the dangers of heat stroke. After all, you should write what you know!
• Have a time goal – it’s great to be prepared and have a plan, such as mile splits, what to drink, what to wear. It’s even a good idea to have a time range. It’s important that your main marathon goal is to finish. From this point, you’ll have the opportunity for reflection on your experience, and a clear challenging yet realistic time to beat for the next one.
• Wear cotton – cut off jogging pants and a 10 pound sweat soaked cotton t-shirt – now that’s what I’m talking 'bout – rash city and bloody nipples all the way!
• Wear brand new gear – 2 golf ball sized tomato blisters on each baby toe saw me wearing bags on my bare feet it the subway station after marine corps. Note to self – give the undersized sexy and styling running socks that you bought yesterday at the expo to your wife…they clearly don’t fit.
• Wear too much gear – are you running a marathon or one of the 3 wise men’s donkeys? Ditch the waist packs and water filled back packs. That’s one of the beauties of an organized run that you paid to be at; there are aid stations!
• Rely on a GPS – my brother in law trained for 6 months using his nifty positioning gadget with all of his walk breaks perfectly timed to the mile markers. Imagine the look on his face when his watch beeped 200 meters before the 1 mile sign. Oh that’s what calibration means!
• Try new fuel – Uh oh, gurgly guts. I guess chocolate thunder with caffeine doesn’t agree with me. Now, to find a good place to expel amongst these hundreds of people?
• Deviate from morning routine – get up, drink and eat exactly what you do in the mornings before your long runs - even at the biggest and most organized marathons, you’ll find there are WAY too few Johnny on the spots along the course.
• Go out too fast, pace with John Doe, pass on the aid stations, put fast miles in the bank – every single one of these mistakes become glaringly obvious as bad ideas as you are reduced to a shuffle and feel like you’re carrying a 50 pound pack on your back at mile 21!