Hey everyone!

It’s been a while. To be honest, I’ve just been really busy. As things start opening up again my social life has re-emerged from nothing and it’s taken a while to adjust.

I’d also been working on a half marathon training plan for Southport Half Marathon, but that’s all done now so it’d be rude not to provide an update.

I always imagined this blog post to be one about how I achieved my goal and how hard work pays off… but as you can probably tell from the title, that didn’t happen.

My race sucked. I was nowhere near a PB and it left me heartbroken. I was ready for the race, both body and mind. I knew I had it in me to succeed, but it just didn’t turn out that way.

I took the first few days to just let those tears out and sulk. There’s no point keeping it all in. I also had a break from social media.

Once I calmed down I started to process what didn’t go to plan…

What went wrong?

Looking back it was a hot day with no clouds and I hadn’t prepared for it.

Yes, I had trained in the heat. In training, I had taken water and electrolytes.

On race day, I relied on the aid stations. There were 4 water stations on the route, but no electrolytes. During the run, I noticed that many people had taken their own. Definitely wish I had!

I set off feeling fine, nice and relaxed. I got halfway through however and felt there was something wrong. I couldn’t focus on anything, I struggled to swing my arms and my knees weren’t lifting. I saw all these people who were overtaking and I couldn’t focus on catching them up.

It was worrying. I decided to walk a little, but this didn’t help either. I started to feel dizzy.

I have never felt that way before and I never want to feel that way again.

I’ve never raced in the summer before and I definitely don’t think it’s for me. I don’t cope well in the heat walking never mind racing!

What would I do next time?

Well, in future (if there’s not another crazy pandemic going on), I won’t sign up to summer races.

If I do choose to race, I will take my own hydration and electrolytes.

I’ll also make sure I rest more the day before, even if I want to be a tourist and explore.

Most importantly, I’ll manage my expectations better. If I see that it’s going to be a hot day, I’ll decide to not race as hard and take it steady. Then, I’m less likely to burn out and finish strong.

What’s next?

So I do actually have another summer race, London Landmarks Half Marathon this Sunday. This was supposed to take place March 2019 – but you know how things went…!

No expectations for this race at all. I just want to enjoy it and not feel the way I did at Southport.

Then, I have Liverpool Rock n Roll Half Marathon in October. This is where I will attempt a PB again – fingers crossed!

Whilst having a bad race did really upset me, it isn’t going to stop me from getting up and trying again. If it was easy, we’d all be doing it ey?

How did you ‘come back’ after a bad race?