This post is in partnership with BAND-AID® Brand. However, all opinions expressed are my own.
No matter how much you love running – when you’re training for a half marathon or full marathon there’s usually a point in at least one of your long runs when you want to quit. Not just kinda sorta call it a day and go home… No.
You want to QUIT forever with a capital Q and some cuss words thrown in for emphasis.
I’ve been there.
I’ve fallen on runs.
My headphones have died.
I got stung by a wasp (I got stung by a bee before too, but the wasp hurt A LOT more).
It’s been super HOT.
It’s been FREEZING.
As runners we face obstacles in form of weather / hills / injuries / motivation…
It’s part of the deal.
You never know what’s going to happen on race day. There might be hail or it could be 100 degrees … your best friend might surprise you at the finish line… the aid stations might run out of electrolyte drinks… you could wake up feeling like a million bucks and PR… or wake up that morning randomly sore…
It’s hard to predict what might happen on race day. So when you face challenges during training you have to decide how you want to deal with it. Use each obstacle as an opportunity to strengthen your mental game.
Don’t let it break you. This is your chance to face this problem, overcome it and increase your confidence before race day.
If you can keep going (without risk of injury or danger) you have the chance to persevere and build physical or mental confidence (or both).
When you’re training for a race, especially a distance you’ve never done before – there may be unexpected challenges or set-backs. I have a few stories like this and to be honest – I haven’t always been tough. But I’ve grown the most from the times when I’ve done something I thought I couldn’t.
I’m working with BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages and NEOSPORIN® + Pain, Itch, Scar Ointment to share my #StickWithIt story. There’s one particular run where I pushed through and kept going that popped in my head as I was thinking about this…
One of the times I fell (yep, there’s been a lot) during a run I skinned my knee pretty bad. I was doing a 5-mile loop 3 times for a total of 15 miles. I was on the second loop when my shoe caught on something on the sidewalk and before I knew it I came crashing down hard in one big sweaty heap.
It was embarrassing. It hurt. It was scary.
But once I realized I was not seriously injured I got up, checked out my bloody knee and thought about what I wanted to do.
Well, I wanted to feel sorry for myself. But more than that I realized – I was 10 miles into a 15 mile run. If I quit now I wouldn’t be able to do another long run tomorrow so I’d miss my long run for this week.
And I knew that in addition to the scrape, I had a bruise that was slowly forming where I hit the ground.
So I had a choice –
I could stop there and cut my run short. I was near my car, and my knee and ego were bruised.
Or
I could dust myself off and keep going. I could finish this run. I wasn’t seriously hurt. I would be fine to keep going another 5 miles before heading home to clean up my wounds.
I decided to stick with it and finish my run. I thought, “It already sucks that I fell, but it will be worse if I fell AND don’t finish.”
So I kept going. I hit 15 miles and then went home to clean up my scrapes and give myself some well-deserved rest (and plenty of ice cream for it’s amazing healing affects).
I was really proud of myself for finishing that run. I had an easy out. I could have totally justified stopping and going home. There have been times when I’ve cut runs short for similar reasons. But this time I pushed myself to keep going. And I’m glad I did.
When you face a roadblock during a run remember a few things:
Be smart – Keep your health and safety the main priority.
Be strong –Remember you are a runner. You are tough. You are training for a race!
Be brave – You got this. Have confidence in yourself. Choose the next step and move forward.
While I’ve been “off” running for a couple months (too much back pain/round ligament concerns from being massively pregnant 🙂 ), my friends used to make fun of my running mishaps quite a bit. I went through a super accident prone phase a couple years ago.
One time I was just trying to move over for a car and slipped into the ditch, which was full of thorny bushes.
Another time was during an ice storm (I live in Maine) and while trying to turn onto a side road, completely wiped out (I have a large turn radius apparently). There was a lot of traffic. Realizing it was probably not smart to continue running, I stood up, aware that I had an audience, and walked back to my apartment “acting natural.” Only when I got back did I realize I was half-covered in gravel and blood and probably would’ve been considered natural on The Walking Dead 🙂
So I guess my approach to falling & running is “’tis but a scratch!” (if I’m alone I totally wallow for an extra second though…)
Actually this post is great for life roadblocks! I’ve recently hit one and kinda I want to give up but I’m going to push forward! Thanks for the encouragement. I need to be smart, brave, and strong. Great words!
Kinda random, kinda along the same lines… I was running yesterday and had this ‘light bulb moment’ about taking walking breaks in life. It ‘s kind of along the same lines – you sometimes have to slow down and realize things are tough – but keep going. Keep going 🙂
I fell in front of my neighbors once with my dog after I had just started a run! So embarrassed. But I did pick myself up, check on the dog, and keep going. Sometimes, in races, it can be hard not to give up and especially hard when I’m doing a long training run alone and need encouragement. I have to get into those mantras that Jeff Galloway always talks about. Is “keep going” one of yours or do you have another?
Keep going is a good one. I think I change it up depending on what I need that day.
I have a whole list as a wallpaper on my phone when I am running a race!
That’s a good idea!
I used to fall all the time when I began running. It was because I wasn’t as experience and had yet to learn to balance my body when I went at faster speeds. I know, I’m a clumsy one!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Me too! I’m still clumsy though 🙂
Oh my gosh, almost the EXACT same thing happened to me a month ago! (And I still have scrape marks.) I picked myself up and ran 6 more miles, because, as I said, I did NOT get up that early for the privilege of scraping off a layer of skin and going home. Also, a pickup truck stopped to make sure I wasn’t dead and I wanted to confirm, so…
It’s so hard when someone sees and stops! On one hand it’s nice, on the other it’s super embarrassing.
Omg I just fell this morning and skinned my knee pretty bad! I didn’t have any choice but to keep going cause I was a few miles from home. I had to stop every 5 minutes to wipe off blood so it wasn’t dripping down my leg. I must have been quite the sight!!
I’d say I always have at least one crappy long run in any training cycle. Could be heat, hitting the wall, tired, the list goes on. I just try to push through cause I don’t like to quit. The few times I have quit was because I was sick and shouldn’t have been running in the first place. Lesson learned.