8 Crazy NIghts of Blogging: Night 2

8 Things I Learned From the 2011 Training/Racing Season: Night 2 - Pick Your Races Wisely

It's easy to get sucked into running "cool" races, You may have several friends running and want to join them, it may be a in an interesting destination, you may have read favorable reviews of the race, or there may be a cool aspect of the race that you want to experience.

There aren't many spring marathons in the Northeast. I ran NJ in 2009 and Poconos in 2010. So when I asked for spring 2011 marathon suggestions the overwhelming response was the Vermont City Marathon at the end of May. Everything I read about the race was positive and we'd be able to get away over Memorial Day Weekend. The one aspect of the race I didn't consider was the weather. It turns out that it's been quite warm (over 70) in Burlington around Memorial Day. 2011 was no different.Shabbat was particularly warm and I remember commenting to Mike that if race day is anything like today then I was in trouble. Race day started off cool with a light drizzle. About an hour into the race, it stopped raining, the sun came out, and it became very humid. My asthma starting flaring up and at 11 miles I dropped out and took my first ever DNF.

What I learned is it's important to consider everything when picking your "A" race for the season. It's doesn't matter how "cool" the race is. If there's one aspect of the race that could prevent you from achieving your goal, then you may want to pick a different race or change your goal.

Happy Chanukah!