Quick Tip: 5 Takeaways from the 2018 Boston Marathon

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The 2018 Boston Marathon was this week, and it certainly didn’t disappoint!

If you’re a runner, this year’s race had a little bit of everything.

Unexpected winners. Weather issues. Unplanned porta-potty stops.

Sometimes, I feel like watching the elites race doesn’t offer much in terms of tips/lessons for us mortals.

But this year’s race? Lessons galore!

5 Takeaways from the 2018 Boston Marathon

Weather

If there is one race day variable that we simply cannot control, it is the weather.

The weather this year was the story.

It was cold. The rain was pouring. And the wind was gusting.

The weather is the weather.

It could be hot. It could be cold. The skies could open up and water (in one form or another) could dump on you.

But whatever the case, if you’re going to race you have to make do when the weather takes a turn.

But here’s the thing, just because the weather isn’t ideal doesn’t mean you can’t still run well.

My half marathon PR is from the hottest half marathon I’ve ever run.

Several people still PRd in Boston this year.

The weather may or may not impact your race from a physical perspective. There’s nothing you can do about that.

But if you let the weather impact you mentally? That’s on you.

Don’t Quit…

One of the things that got more than a few chuckles and made more than a few headlines is that early on, Des thought she would probably drop out of the race.

Long races tend to have peaks and valleys.

Ask anyone that has run an ultra and they will tell you!

But halves and fulls are plenty long enough to have their highs and lows as well.

When the rough patches come early, which may not be common but certainly can happen, keep going.

When you come out of the valley, you may find yourself in a good place to go on and do something special before you reach the finish line.

…Know When to Quit

You may not realize this, but plenty of elites called it a day early in the 2018 Boston Marathon.

And honestly, that’s not terribly uncommon.

At the elite level, if you’re not having your best day it’s better to shut it down early and come back and run another race instead of wearing out their bodies and not finishing near the podium.

Most of us don’t have those same concerns, but that doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t be wise to take a DNF on occasion.

If there is a bit of a niggle that is getting worse as you go, it may be wise to shut it down instead of continuing on to the finish line and potentially (probably?) turn a little something into a much bigger deal.

Yes, it sucks to drop out of a race.

But perhaps it is better to accept that a DNF today could save you from several DNSs over the next 4-6 months.

Volunteers/Spectators

Shame on you if you’ve ever taken race volunteers or spectators for granted.

I know that there were plenty of runners that saw the weather forecast for Boston this year and said thanks but no thanks.

But the volunteers and spectators?

They showed up.

They put on their rain gear and came out to support us as runners.

I hope that everyone that ran Boston took every opportunity to thank ever volunteer and spectator for being out there and supporting them on race day.

Keep Showing Up

Running is hard.

We may be born to run, but pushing our limits (whether that’s 5k, 13.1, 26.2, or any other distance) is not an easy thing to do.

If we are lucky, we will have a decent number of good days.

Inevitably, however, we are going to have our fair share of not so good days as well.

Keep showing up.

If you have ambitions to reach new heights in your running, keep showing up.

Doesn’t matter if we are talking about races or workouts or strength training sessions.

Keep. Showing. Up.

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Lessons learned (for us non-elites) from watching the 2018 Boston Marathon #runchat Click To Tweet

What was Your Takeaway from Watching This Year’s Boston Marathon?

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