What is your biggest running-related regret?

Ran a 5K fundraiser race at a very nice winery in Paso robles, all on dirt paths within vineyards a lot of steep hills, was in lead after 1 mile and reached a fork with unclear signage. I picked wrong way rest of pack stayed on correct path and I had to backtrack 150 meters.

caught back up to lead runner but took a lot of energy and ended up finishing 3rd by 10 meters to winner and lost second by a few feet in a sprint finish.

My detour cost me a case of $50 per bottle of wine for first place and 4 bottles for second. 3rd place got me a single bottle. Wine was fantastic and I decided to run the course a second time to finish my workout and signage was clearer than I remember.

I regret having permanently injured myself 50 years ago.

A half-century without running sucks.

I wish I was a distance runner in HS instead of a sprinter.

1. Not breaking 3 hours in the marathon. I hit my PR of 3:03:54 in 2009 and chased that sub 3 in years before and after that. I think with the right coach and training I could have done it (I didn't have a coach then), but that dream has long passed me by now.

2. I DNF'd in the very hot 2012 Boston Marathon at mile 14.75 after going out at what I thought was a conservative pace, but in hindsight it was not for me on that day. Wish I would have walked/ran to finish, or ever just plain walked to finish. It was not only the DNF in that race, but that one would have been my 8th consecutive Boston, so I broke the chain of going to 10 consecutive Bostons. Have run 9 Bostons since then...2013-2021 (if you count my virtual 2020 run); did not qualify for 2022 (again--missing that 10th consecutive!), but did qualify for 2023.

Not knowing anything about training in high school, and thus not training year-round, periodizing, etc. I wasted time on a couple other extracurriculars that upon reflection didn't really make me happy (and for which I had even less talent).

I didn't really train in a consistent, focused way until after college, and generally the people who hit the marks I've hit (2:35 marathon) were vastly, vastly better in high school.

Oh, also going out too fast in my last Boston. Conditions were really bad but rather than adjusting, I stubbornly held fast to what I thought I "should" be running and blew up with 1:15/1:21 (just barely missing a PR). Probably could have ended up at 2:33:x or so with a smarter race.

Trying carb depletion in the week prior to Boston ("eating this half pound of ground turkey sounds like a good idea"), catching strep throat, starting race with a bad fever, bus ride of shame after Heartbreak Hill back to downtown.

Regrets List:

1) Constantly overtraining until injuries developed.

2) Always tired as a result of #1, never rested for race day.

3) Never breaking 4:00 in mile (4:05 though never focusing on the distance)

4) Never running a marathon. Probably would have been my best event.

I regret not racing enough. Especially at 8k or 10k, I never ran enough to feel a rhythm developing and to really feel at home in it.

One race I regret not doing: a Thanksgiving 8k some 10 years back, where my running buddy told me "Stay away from this race, because I want to win it." We were both in peak shape, evenly matched in workouts, and I had beaten him in a couple races that fall. I obliged, stayed away, and he won the race in a time that was more than a minute faster than my PR. That month was the last time I was ever in peak racing shape. PR opportunity missed.

I regret I didn't know about the power of Lactate threshold intervals back at my prime time in the -80s.🧙‍♂️🇸🇪

1. Not having enough fun with it, taking it so seriously that I was nervous to the point of hating it at times.

2. Running too many miles. Thought I could run 90+ miles a week to become the 14 low 5k runner but should have just stuck with 50-60 and chipped away at my 1500 PR.

I regret that I only discovered pacing and hydration well after my peak racing years. My marathon PR is not terrible (2:33) but my times at the half and 25K would indicate I should have run about 2:26 or so. Also, other time constraints limited my weekly mileage to 55 miles/week. Not clear if I'd have gotten injured but with smarter pacing and another 20 miles/week I'm curious what I could have achieved. "Regret" is a little strong for how I feel about this, but I am at least curious

Not giving a damn abt running til my senior year of high school

Had I gone into marathoning right after college I think I could have qualified for the Olympic Trials. But I know that is the absolute top accomplishment I could ever hope to achieve given my ability.

It would have been nice to try, but decisions are not made in a vacuum. By the time I was out of college I was officially done with running and racing. I did not have it in me to put in that much more work, especially with no team, no weekly races, no season to look towards. Also, I had neither the time nor the money to engage in such endeavors.

Not realizing I was a 400-800 guy, just because I could run 14 miles in 8th grade.

I did pretty much little to no summer training til I went to a running camp after my junior year. Hence its why i didn’t PR in cross after my sophomore year and only PR’d in the 800 as a senior and not the mile. Had some natural talent when i started but was juggling that with basketball til I quit as a junior. If I trained then how I do now i probably would be running in college. Decided my freshman year of college to actually start training and tied my PR in a road mile before coming down with injury.

When you drop out that far from the finish, how do get back? Is there some kind of official along the course you have to flag down? Does a bus pick you up or are you responsible for getting back on you're own?

Choosing a D2 over a pretty good D1 school, and then just didn't reach the level I thought I would. An epic fail, really.