What was your worst race ever???

In my cross country race I lost to three girls :(

I trained harder to retain the patriarchy.

It was a high school cross country. I had to poop really bad the whole race. My stomach hurt so bad and cramped from holding it in for 3 miles. Normally run like 20 minutes. Ran like 25 minutes that race. 😣

My worst race was this year memorial day weekend. I've trained my butt off running and it was windy that day. I ran a 30 second 200 and 14 second 100. I was being pushed all around the track with the wind. Slowest I ran in my life after training for months hard.

Film Rep wrote:

It was a high school cross country. I had to poop really bad the whole race. My stomach hurt so bad and cramped from holding it in for 3 miles. Normally run like 20 minutes. Ran like 25 minutes that race. 😣

oof that's uncomfortable!

Hmm.

Difficult..

Well, I remember dropping out of a 3000m once. It was the UK women's league and the race was in Swansea. It was an incredibly hot day. I had also run the 800 or 1500, can't remember which although think it could've been the 800. Did not feel well. Maybe I was dehydrated from the journey, don't know but I remember stepping off the track on the back straight and I rarely DNF'd (that might've been the only time).

The national XC championships one year, the team bus was late and got there minutes before the start of the U17 women's race... we were having to put on our spikes on the bus, unable to walk the course or warm up. I didn't run very well. Think the no warm up was the biggest factor as it was so cold and the race started very fast.

One time I remember that although it wasn't a bad race, I was very disappointed - I thought I had won, and it turned out I was 2nd woman. The woman who won had very short hair and wore loose running shorts (unisex ones). I spoke to the race organiser and apparently it had happened before. I spent pretty much the entire race thinking I was winning.

Ran some slow 400m but don't regret those as they were for fun, but objectively they may have been the 'worst' time wise.

I've had a few. Two that come to mind were a 10K and a 10 mile. Made it past half way on PR pace then had awful side stitches-the kind where you have to walk/jog and the people on the sidelines feel sorry for you. Ended up 5+ minutes above PRs.

Another I was entered in a half marathon championships I was able to squeeze into with barely a qualifier. Freaked out, took a wrong turn, then died a slow death five minutes longer than my PR. Even some women beat me. Never again

don't think about those races much. I remember the PR races the most. In the end just shake it off and keep at it. No one really cares but yourself but try to be forgiving and let these bad apples go and focus on the positive.

Definitely the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials marathon. I had hardly run at all since getting injured six weeks before the race. Had it been any other race I never would have toed the starting line, but I figured (correctly) that I might never have another chance to run the Trials and I should go and hope for a miracle. The miracle didn't happen, and I had the ignominious distinction of being the first runner to drop out of the race, about one mile in.

I'm still glad I gave it a try. I ran a number of marathons after that, winning a small race and bringing home significant prize money in another, but I never again hit the OTQ standard.

fhdhfghdfhg wrote:

don't think about those races much. I remember the PR races the most. In the end just shake it off and keep at it. No one really cares but yourself but try to be forgiving and let these bad apples go and focus on the positive.

thanks, I'm feeling a tad better. I just am frustrated because I don't race again for a while and have no idea how I could be 3 mins off my normal pace and yet still in pain haha. my leg did cramp up during warmups, but I'm not too certain what happened out there.

Very simple;

A long long long time ago in a far away Southern state - Senior year college - Outdoor Nationals - Extreme heat - Went for it anyway-Blew up-Should have stepped off the track- Finished DFL

It took YEARS to get over that. Upon reflection many decades decades later maybe I still haven't.

Senior year conference meet 800. There were two studs and the rest of us battling for third. Thing is, this day everyone decided they were going to hang with the big dogs for as long as they could. I came through 400 just two seconds off my 400 PB in DFL. I stopped right there and stepped off. After 5 seconds I wished I hadn't but it was too late. I watched as everyone except the big two cratered brutally. I can't believe I was that mentally weak that day. How did I bounce back? By swearing to never ever drop out of a race again. I'd rather finish DFL. I mean, I dropped out of a fvck1ng 800. Jesus.

Make Letsrun threads and troll Letsrun. You’re already off to a good start by starting multiple threads about the same thing.

My worst race?

Easy. The time I lined up to run a marathon on a hot day, overweight, undertrained and ill-prepared. I blew up at 18 miles and ended up walking the rest of the way for a 5:30 or something like that.

Fortunately I learned a lot from that day and have improved that to a recent 3:13, at age 47. Now I'm hoping to go sub 3:10 (maybe even sub 3:00?) at some point. But man, you sure do remember those sh!tty races. Lol

GettingFasterDude wrote:

My worst race?

Easy. The time I lined up to run a marathon on a hot day, overweight, undertrained and ill-prepared. I blew up at 18 miles and ended up walking the rest of the way for a 5:30 or something like that.

Fortunately I learned a lot from that day and have improved that to a recent 3:13, at age 47. Now I'm hoping to go sub 3:10 (maybe even sub 3:00?) at some point. But man, you sure do remember those sh!tty races. Lol

PS: How did I move past that and improve upon it?

I finally got serious about diet and nutrition (lost excess weight) and committed to running much higher mileage, as opposed to trying to use the lastest speed workout as a shortcut for putting the work in.

^^^^ But in the bigger picture, I haven't had my worse race yet.

And the simple truth is no one else really cares.

Put your shoes on. Go for a run. Enjoy the waning days of summer. And then find a fun local race to enter....

Ran 18:50 once in cross bad day

High school junior school championships 880. I was expected to win based on recent results. The best guys from a year earlier had graduated. I was 4th in that meet. But there was one kid I underestimated. He was the troublemaking stoner of the neighborhood and nobody had really seen much of him since 5th grade. I remembered he was a great athlete but like everyone else I assumed his lifestyle had eroded everything. Anyway I got into a stalking position and assumed that passing him would be no problem. Then I was shocked when he accelerated away from me rounding the final turn. He timed it perfectly. I ended up with my best time by several seconds but never threatened to catch him.

I can still picture and hear my coach in the infield, congratulating me on the breakthrough time. I didn't care in the slightest. I lost a race I perhaps could have won with more aggressive tactics. And that race has shaped my thought process ever since. I despise stretch runners who make poor assumptions, especially in the two-lapper.

Tied up so bad at the end of an 800 on PR pace that I fell onto the infield, tried to get back but an official grabbed me and didn't let me finish. Then I ripped darts and beers right after.

cramped up real bad during a mile last track season. Ran 5:30, then 4:50 the next week