Lessons learned at another multi-race series

I’ve finished another multi-state adventure. It went both better and worse than I expected. I also learned a few new things at this race. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about each and every race soon. For Friday 2.0 with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness, here’s what I learned this time.

1. ChafeX is amazing. Not only does it help prevent chafing, but if you chafe (because you didn’t think to put it someplace), it helps you survive the next day’s race without crying.
2. When you are running out and backs multiple times, a hilly course is killer. I was quite literally counting how many hills I had left, rather than laps.
3. Salty broth and noodles are better than Gatorade. I swear nothing tastes better 10 or so miles into a hot, sunny race.
4. Getting up at 2:30am to start racing at 4am is crazy. But it was nice to run in the cool dark morning and watch the sun rise. Bonus: I was done running before 6:30am. (This will not become my norm.)
5. Doubt your limits, not your abilities. My first day was rough (it always is). My second day was awesome, until it wasn’t. My 3rd day I made a crazy choice (and had fun doing it.) So, I expected to walk a lot on the final day. Instead, I ran by feel, had a great race, and mile 13 on my last day ended up being my fastest mile in the whole series!

What wasn’t new was how awesome Mainly Marathons is. I love the race crew. And words cannot express how incredible and inspiring all of the other runners are. I was so sad to leave before the Series ended. I don’t know when I’ll race with them again, but it WILL happen.

Next up: ZOOMA Annapolis! The only question is which length race I run LOL.